ISDA is based in Ajo, Arizona.  Ajo was formerly a ‘company town' built by mining giant Phelps Dodge to house the workers and management of an open pit copper mine.  The municipality was developed as Mexican Town, Indian Village and Ajo utilizing planned segregation as a management tool and thus, as a consequence, guaranteeing some of the tensions that are present today.  In addition to the legacy of disenfranchisement and unequal development among the traditional white, Hispanic and Native American populations the area's shifting sands are further complicated by both seasonal and long-term swelling populations of older adults attracted to the region's natural beauty, climate, relative affordability and cultural diversity.  As a result of this influx of ‘snow birds', property values are rising adding housing pressures.  Ajo is also close to a major highway corridor used heavily by international travelers to and from Mexico.  This has complicated the relationships between the various cultures as Native American arts are heavily commoditized without much of a boon to the native culture that provides the ‘attraction'.  ISDA write of this group:

Moreover, most Native Americans in Ajo are Hia C-ed O'odham (the People of the Sand) - the people who for centuries lived on the land in this region, including Ajo.  The Hia C-ed O'odham have not been recognized as a tribe by the Federal Government (they are said to be extinct), forcing them to register as members of the Tohono O'odham tribe (the People of the Desert) in order to obtain their rights.

ISDA represents an alliance of Ajo's three traditional populations.  While working primarily to support Ajo's collective economic development through arts-based programming, the development of housing for artists, and community branding as an arts and cultural destination, the organization has also been working to support the integration of voices.  The group's work has meant multiple partnerships with arts and youth groups in Ajo, in Mexico, and on the Tohono O'odham Nation, as well as undertaking the acquisition and development of a large school building slated to incubate arts-based microbusiness, provide affordable housing for artists and artisans, and house a range of cultural programming.

For more information on ISDA visit: www.isdanet.org or contact: