Magnify Utah Project Featured on KRCL – RadioACTive

cloayza Stories

This August, the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs (MCA) was featured on KRCL’s RadioACTive, the station’s weekly program that focuses on community affairs and conversations supplemented by appropriately themed playlists. MCA’s own Planning Policy and Engagement Coordinator, Claudia Loayza, and Development & Program Specialist, Rozanna Benally-Sagg, were invited to announce and celebrate the Magnify Utah project! The “Magnify Utah” project is a compilation of stories, people, and places featuring StoryMaps, and an asset mapping directory.

Placemaking is at the core of Magnify Utah. Places hold stories, traditions, culture and significance— and often become tangible declarations of a group’s contributions and belonging in a community. These places can manifest in any location, such as a mural or a public park, and be purposefully built or naturally become through a community’s shared experiences. Magnify Utah seeks to centralize these stories and locations so that current and new Utahns have a resource to find a place they can seek comfort and feel seen in.  

Each week through early September, community members can tune into KRCL 90.9FM in the evening to learn more about what stories Magnify Utah has to offer. From Indigenous land acknowledgments, thriving immigrant communities, and personal connections to history, our radio guests will share inspiring stories and information about the diversity of our state! Listen to the full episodes below:

“[Magnify Utah] is an overarching tool to not just celebrate the diversity growing in our state, but also as a way to retain it, and put it on a platform where we can connect and share those stories.”

– Claudia Loayza

Magnify Utah Resources Spotlight: Land Acknowledgements StoryMap

With such a heavy emphasis on places, it only makes sense that Magnify Utah featured an Indigenous Land Acknowledgements StoryMap during a recent radio episode. This interactive article built through a communal effort between MCA’s team and local Native American leaders and community members was the headlining subject of the KRCL feature on August 8th. Land acknowledgments are a traditional, and recently popularized, practice that recognizes and respects Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of this land and their enduring relationship with it. Land acknowledgments are complex, as there isn’t a single way they can be done. Every tribe, clan, and nation in every region of Utah has been honoring their respective lands through ceremony for centuries— and modern lived experiences can vary just how much one identifies with their respective ancestral lands.   

“… When it comes to land acknowledgements it’s a learning opportunity to recognize where you’re at, the history, the treaties, and where the people have come from. With modern times too, there’s tribal sovereignty and an urban native population, how do we recognize that through land acknowledgements as well?”

– Rozanna Benally-Sagg

Even with the complex nuances, land acknowledgments are necessary steps in recognizing past injustices and vocalizing a need for action. These messages and the importance of land and places often manifest in art, literature, and music! Since it is KRCL, Rozanna and Claudia shared inspiring music centered around places that pertained to their respective identities and lived experiences as Latinx and Indigenous Americans.  

Thank you again to Lara Jones and KRCL for hosting Claudia and Rozanna! Listen to their in-depth conversation on identity, music, and land acknowledgments here and stay tuned for more Magnify Utah features every week through Labor Day!