Living Earth 2011: So many things people love about the museum, all on one weekend

When I began applying for internships this past winter, the National Museum of the American Indian was on the top of my list for several reasons. One was its commitment to showcasing Native voices, an approach that makes it unique among the Smithsonian museums—or museums in general, for that matter. Programs featuring Native performers and artists make the NMAI a living museum, a site for meaningful interactions between the traditional and the contemporary. Another reason I wanted to intern at NMAI was for its beautiful landscape, which serves to establish the museum as an organic oasis amidst the bustle of downtown DC.

Now that I’m at the as a summer intern, I’m thrilled to be working on a program that combines all the things I love about the museum. The Living Earth Festival, which takes place this weekend, July 22, 23, and 24, celebrates indigenous contributions to environmental sustainability and activism. The festival seeks to present both traditional and modern methods of addressing climate change, environmental issues, and health concerns.

This year, the Living Earth Festival is being held in tandem with several other museum programs. Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change, a new multimedia exhibition, will open on Friday, July 22, alongside the festival. Also Friday, as part of the Dinner and a Movie series, artist Will Wilson (Diné) will present his Auto Immune Response project, a work that examines humans’ impact on the environment. 

Knowledge and Technologies

The festival will showcase three themes, the first of which is knowledge and technologies. Both Native and non-Native researchers and practitioners will demonstrate how they and others in their fields apply science and technology to current environmental and food health concerns. Friday from 2 to 4 PM EDT, the museum will host a live webcast on diabetes awareness, education, and healthy living with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) in Albuquerque, NM. Panelists include Dr. Neal Barnard, Margaret Brascoupé (Tesuque Pueblo), and Caitlin Baker (Mvskoke Creek) in the museum's Rasmuson Theater, and Lois Ellen Frank at IPCC. 

Saturday from 1:30 to 4 PM EDT, the symposium Creating a Climate of Change: A Sustainable Future for the Living Earth, featuring Jeremy Rifkin, Gregory Cajete (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Melissa K. Nelson (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), will discuss how we can cultivate a culture that embraces the principles of sustainability. also available via live webcast. 

Celebration and Ceremony

The second theme highlighted at the festival is celebration and ceremony, which rejoices in and respects the complex relationship between ourselves and the environment. Native performers will demonstrate traditional and contemporary songs, dances, and storytelling that honor our relationship with the Earth. As part of the Indian Summer Showcase concert series, an outdoor concert Saturday from 5 to 8 PM EDT will feature Native musicians including Gregg Analla (Laguna and Isleta Pueblo), the Plateros from Tohajilee, NM,, and the Pappy Johns Band, from the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, as well as the Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Team. The festival will also include hands-on activities that utilize natural materials and traditional techniques, giving visitors the chance to create their own pottery and make cornhusk dragonflies. 

Plateros, a three-piece family band from from Tohajilee, New Mexcio, the eastern agency of the Navajo Nation, will perform Saturday evening, July 23 at the Living Earth Festival. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Bounty and Artistry

The final theme showcased in the festival is bounty and artistry, acknowledging the Earth’s role in nourishing both our bodies and our creativity. Native artists will demonstrate traditional arts including basket-weaving, bow-and-arrow-making, and carving. Demonstrators will also illustrate traditional culinary methods and dishes. On Sunday, an outdoor cooking competition will pit Don McClellan (executive chef of Atria Vista del Rio) against reigning champ (and Mitsitam Native Foods Café executive chef) Richard Hetzler in a battle to serve up appetizers, entrées, and desserts that incorporate local foods and the traditional Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. Each of the competing chefs will be accompanied by culinary students from the DC Central Kitchen. In support of the DC Central Kitchen's Healthy Returns Program, festival-goers will receive a biodegradable totebag as a thank you for making a $10-value food donation such as granola bars, packets of trail mix, individual 100% juice boxes, or individual boxes of raisins or nuts. (Please do not donate perishable items or sweets such as candy or cookies.)

The 2011 Living Earth Festival will include an outdoor farmers’ market with fresh produce, New Mexico roasted peppers, and traditional American Indian dishes from local and Native-owned farms and cooperatives. Photo by Katherine Fogden (Mohawk), NMAI.

Local farmers will participate in an outdoor farmers’ market, and each participant will address an aspect of agriculture, covering topics such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), urban gardening, bees, and commercial vs. free-range beef.

Finally, visitors will be able to purchase green chiles and have them roasted by the University of New Mexico Alumni Association (UNMAA), Washington, DC, Chapter.  Donations accepted by UNMAA for the roasting go to support their scholarship fund.

Whether you are interested in environmental issues, traditional Native arts, or just love great music and fresh food, the Living Earth Festival has something for you! The festival is a great opportunity to experience all of NMAI’s excellent programming, all rolled in to one fun-filled weekend. We hope to see you there!

—Lindsay Inge

Living Earth Festival schedule 2011

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Summertime and the Fooding is Easy (and delicious)

The new menu for Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe made it’s debut last week.   As always, this summer’s menu brings tastes from five distinct Native regions. Using traditional summer foods, the variety of dishes is truly inspired. 

(Fresno Chili, Coffee Rubbed Pork Loin, Coconut, Vanilla Bean Sauce)
(Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

From the Northern Woodlands, Crawfish Gumbo serves as an appetizer followed by Chilled Tomato Soup, Fried Okra and Cucumber Dust.  Choose a hot dish of Stewed Summer Squash and Zucchini, Pumpkin Seed Oil, Oven Roasted Crab Apples and New Potatoes or a cold dish of Wild Rice and Watercress Salad for the main course and finish with one of this summer’s berry tarts.  YUM! 

Journey to South America for Pheasant Croquette dressed in an Olive Oil Puree, with Pimientos Rojas, Smoked Chili Sauce and Cilantro Oil.  Cool off with Conch ceviche, fresh papaya and chives.  As a main course the Fresno Chili Coffee Rubbed Pork Loin in a Coconut and Vanilla Bean Sauce or the Annatto Spiced Yucca and Chayote Salad provide an adventure for the taste buds. 

(Pheasant Croquette, Olive Oil Puree, Pimientos Rojas, Smoked Chili Sauce, Cilantro)
(Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

The Northwest Coast offers a delicious variety of seafood dishes starting with Baked Oysters with Yellow Potato and Corn Cream.  Feeling in the mood for the daily catch?  The Maple Juniper Glazed, Cedar Planked Fire-Roasted Salmon is the perfect choice.  Also on the summer menu is Hominy and Parched Corn Salad with grilled leeks and roasted garlic vinaigrette.  The Cornmeal Buck Skin Cake with Saskatoon berries  and whipped cream is a must. 

(Baked Oysters, Yellow Potato, Corn Cream)
(Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

Mesoamerica adds a little spice to the menu featuring Roasted Calabasas Squash and Plantain Burrito with a Red Chili Sauce and Beef Tongue, Pork Pibil and Fish Tacos. This is not your grandmother’s salsa:  Fried Plantain Salsa, Tomatillo and Raspberry Salsa and Salsa Quenmada, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

 
(Roasted Calabasas Squash and Plantain Burrito with a Red Chili Sauce)
(Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

(Fish Tacos)
(Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

Buffalo is the focus of many of the dishes from the Great Plains beginning with Buffalo Chili. Buffalo burgers served with Green Chilies, Duck burgers, pulled Buffalo Sandwiches and Buffalo chili cheese fries bring a new spin on classic dishes. Tepary Bean Salad with caramelized onions, roasted fennel and agave offer an alternative to the many buffalo dishes.  I’m having memory flashes of the first time I saw herds of buffalo across the plains of Oklahoma, AMAZING! And of course delicious.  

Chef Richard Hetzler has created a cornucopia of dishes that highlight each unique region through the very best foods the summer has to offer.  There is something for every palette this season

(The ladies of the Choctaw Nation sample Chef's dishes- Chef is explaining the dishes from just outside the frame. Photo by Brieahn DeMeo, NMAI)

 

 - Brieahn DeMeo (Osage), Public Affairs Intern

Choctaw Days! June 22 through 25 at NMAI in Washington

Join the people of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as they celebrate Choctaw Days, Wednesday, June 22, through Saturday, 25, 2011, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Showcased during the four days will be Choctaw food, cultural performances, hands-on activities, stickball demonstrations, dancing, singing, and storytelling. Booths will be set up featuring pottery, beadwork, flutes, tribal cooking, and tribal language. One unique highlight of Choctaw Days will be a re-enactment of a traditional Choctaw wedding.

The McKinney Dancers. Photo courtesy of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Each morning will begin with the Choctaw Youth Dancers accompanied by singer Ron McKinney at the museum’s east entrance. The youth dancers will perform the jump dance, fast war dance, stealing partners dance, and snake dance. Throughout each day, guests can view the work of the Choctaw Nation’s most celebrated artists, with opportunities to purchase contemporary and traditional pieces from flute maker Presley Byington, basket weaver Eveline Steele, modern and traditional bead workers Marcus and Roger Amerman, and pottery makers Ian and Amy Thompson. “I will be demonstrating step-by-step, how to make a six-hole flute, in the fashion that the Choctaw's make their medicine whistles out of cane and bamboo,” said Presley Byington.

Beadwork by Roger Amerman (Choctaw). Photo courtesy of the artist.

Paul King, a painter and illustrator whose award-winning art is featured as the image of Choctaw Days 2011, will have several pieces on hand. Gwen Coleman Lester, another award-winning Choctaw artist, will have paintings, prints, and hand-painted gourd Christmas ornaments on display. Regina Green, director of the Choctaw Nation Museum in Tushka Homma, and traditionalist Les Williston will demonstrate the craftsmanship of tools, weaponry, clothing, basketry and pottery.

NMAI Executive Chef Richard Hetzler will collaborate with Vonna Shults and Shirley Barboan to feature ten Choctaw-styled dishes in the museum’s Mitsitam Native Foods Café. During Choctaw Days, the menu will include fried salt pork, pinto beans, tanchi labona (hominy corn and pork mixture), fried rabbit, rabbit gumbo, braised venison, banaha Indian bread, grape dumplings, wild onions and eggs, and pumpkin soup. Chef Richard will cook samples of the dishes at 11:30 AM Wednesday and Saturday.

For families, the Choctaw Nation Cultural Events Department will facilitate hands-on activities on the third floor of the museum where visitors are invited to create a basket, clay pot, or piece of beadwork to take home. Two daily sessions will be held: 10 AM to 12 PM and 2 to 4:30 PM.  “It is a great chance for the whole family to do something together,” said Cultural Events Executive Director Sue Folsom, “and they will have a small sample of Choctaw culture to take home with them.” Celebrated storytellers Tim Tingle and Greg Rodgers will share their unique Choctaw stories each afternoon. Both storytellers have been instrumental in sharing Choctaw culture in schools throughout the United States.

The films Choctaw Code Talkers and The Long Walk will be shown continuously in the Rasmuson Theater on the first floor of the museum. The Choctaw Code Talkers Program, created during World War I, was the first formal American Indian code program and is credited with saving thousands of American lives. Also taking place several times each day are performances by Brad Joe and the Johnson Family Singers, who will share Choctaw songs throughout the festival.

Language instructor Lillie Roberts will be available to share information and answer questions concerning different types of Choctaw language classes currently available. A computer will be set up to give visitors the opportunity to interact with a language instructor in Oklahoma, similar to One-Net classes held in schools throughout Southeastern Oklahoma. At 1:30 PM Saturday, a special, re-enactment of the centuries-old, traditional Choctaw wedding ceremony will take place in the Rasmuson Theater.

—Dennis Zotigh, NMAI

Click here for a printable pdf of the schedule of daily activities.

Here are the links to each day's online schedule of events, suitable for posting on the web, saving to your calendar, or emailing to friends:

Wednesday, June 22

Thursday, June 23

Friday, June 24

Saturday, June 25

Dinner & A Movie: The Gift of Pachamama, March 19th

Friday, March 19^th, the NMAI will screen the feature film The Gift of Pachamama (El Regalo de Pachamama) (Bolivia/Japan, 2009, 102 min.), preceded by the short film Indigenous Plant Diva (Canada, 2008, 10 min.)  The screenings are free and open to the public, and begin at 7 p.m.  The director of Pachamama, Toshifumi Matsushita, will attend the screening and a Q&A session following the films.  These films are shown in partnership with the 2010 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.

The Gift of Pachamama is a spiritual docudrama set in Bolivia, where a 13-year-old boy lives a traditional life with his family near Uyuni, a salt lake. One spring, he goes with this father on his first caravan. With blocks of salt strapped to their herd of llamas, they travel the Salt Trail for several months, exchanging salt for other products of the Andes. The boy begins to learn who he is as a young man and a Quechua from their many experiences and encounters. As the trip comes to its close, he meets a beautiful girl at a festival in a sacred Quechuan place. The two young people feel a stirring in their hearts as they share a simple but profound dream: to ride a bicycle together across the salt lake. By the end, he discovers what his grandfather means by “the gift of Pachamama.”

Before Pachamama, we will screen the short film Indigenous Plant Diva profiles Cease Wyss, a Squamish woman from Vancouver, B.C., who shares her knowledge of the spiritual and medicinal uses of native plant species in her area.  Her Squamish name, T'Uy'Tanat, means "woman who travels by canoe to gather medicines for all people.”

We hope you can join us for these two fantastic, moving films.  Please visit our website to register for the film. The screening is free, but registration is strongly recommended. (You do not need to register for dinner.)  Tickets can be picked up as early as 5 p.m., and we will begin to let people into the theater at 6:30 p.m.  

For more information on the film festival, please visit http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org.