We invite you to celebrate the many artistic and cultural contributions of California Indians and Native Americans with a FREE, family-oriented day of exploration and learning on Sunday, October 20.

The excitement begins with a welcome and land acknowledgement in Crocker Park at 11 AM, featuring the dancers of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. After this moving experience, activities will commence back on the Museum campus.

Scheduled Events

Enjoy a 40 minute slate of short films — Joseph's War Pony, Land of Little Big, and How I Am — in the Setzer Auditorium at 11:30, and again at 1:30 PM. The films were created by On Native Ground, a Hoopa tribal nonprofit media organization dedicated to bringing positive and uplifting films about Native peoples to the screen and television.

Father/son Native blues duo Paul & Rich Steward (Twice As Good Blues Band) will perform in the Main Courtyard at 11:30 AM and again at 2 PM. Winners of the 2010 Nammy Award, this soulful R&B team was birthed on the Pomo Indian lands of the Elem Indian Colony reservation carrying that Native beat, and have traveled worldwide with their mesmerizing sound.

The Karuk Youth Dancers represent the Karuk Tribe from far northern California. The Karuk Arrarras, or upriver people, inhabit an aboriginal territory along the Klamath and Salmon Rivers. They will be sharing a Brush Dance demonstration, a traditional ceremony that still continues today. A Brush Dance is a ceremony done to heal or bless a child. The Karuk Youth Dancers group started sharing culture about 14 years ago to teach traditions to tribal youth but to also bring awareness to viewers that indigenous peoples are still here and not just in history books. The group will share their skills at 12 PM on the Main Courtyard stage.

Sage Andrew Romero is from the Big Pine Paiute and Taos Pueblo tribes. He is an accomplished hoop dancer who has traveled throughout the world sharing the hoop dance and Native culture with international audiences to help educate against stereotypes. Be wowed by his moves in the Main Courtyard at 12:30 and 2:30 PM.

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians convene again at 1:30 PM in the Main Courtyard to demonstrate T.E.K. (Traditional Ecological Knowledge), their art and history.

Ongoing Activities

Our Native Artisan Marketplace in Friedman Court brings together artists from across the region, sharing their histories and work with the community. Participants include Ah’Gapae Designs (Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska), Alan Wallace (Nisenan, Washoe), Alice Lincoln-Cook (Karuk), California Indian Basketweaver’s Association, Cindy La Marr (Paiute), concept: art + movement, Gemma Benton (Menominee Western Shoshone, Filipino), Jeremy Peconom (Maidu), Karma Henry (Paiute), Kimberley Stevenot/Austin Stevenot/Carson Bates (Northern Sierra Mewuk), Lyn Risling (Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Tribe), Melissa Melero-Moose (Northern Paiute), Meyo Marrufo (Eastern Pomo), Michael Rogers (Paiute), Monique Sonoquie (Chumash, Yaqui, Apache, Zapotec), Pauline’s Creations (Yurok), Native Three Feathers (Esselen), RichN8v Designs (Wintu), Stan Padilla (California Yaqui), and Yellowhammer Designs/Tiffany Adams (Chemehuevi, Konkow, Nisenan).

Outside in the Main Courtyard, discover and connect with our gathering of Community Groups, including the Foothill Indian Education Alliance, Sacramento Native American Health Center (SNAHC), the Shingle Springs Rancheria, the California Rural Indian Health Board, and the Native Dads Network.

At 1:45 PM in the Ballroom, guests can enjoy a cultural music experience with members of the choir Vox Musica, presenting Nisenan: A Cultural Project, a collaboration that provides the rare opportunity to share and document the Nisenan tribe’s rich tradition of culture through music and film, share their history and their struggle for federal recognition. Videos of the group and their process will play throughout the day.

On the third floor Early American Gallery (318), find hands-on basket weaving demonstrations with Sandy and Stephanie Clark (Mono Indian), from 11:15 AM - 3 PM.

Docent-led tours will be available throughout the day, exploring temporary exhibitions Pueblo Dynasties: Master Potters from Matriarchs to Contemporaries and When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California. Please note, due to gallery capacity, access to When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California may be limited during the festival.

In the E. Kendell Davis (EKD) Courtyard, guests can find a host of hands-on activities for all ages, like basketweaving with Dixie Rogers of the Karuk Tribe, pottery and coil-building with Barbara and Cavan Gonzalez of the San Ildefonso Pueblo, Acorn Preparation with Kimberly Stevenot of the Northern Sierra Mewuk, slate painting and stave game playing with the Foot Hill Indian Education Alliance, plus water tables and sensory play for little kids, clay building inspired by Pueblo Dynasties, and the Crocker's mobile museum, the Art Ark.

This program was developed in partnership with members of a Native American Advisory Committee: Sigrid Benson, Jacklyn Calanchini, Gabe Cayton, James Allen Crouch, Cheewa James, and Christina Prairie Chicken Narvaez. The committee was instrumental in planning the programs, finding funding sources, and reaching out to tribal members and communities. We are appreciative of their help in ensuring a fuller understanding of the history and culture of local Native American communities.

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