Living Earth Festival: Protecting the Elements 

Saturday and Sunday, April 26–27, 10 AM–5 PM

Oversight of protecting the earth’s natural resources and expansive habitats and ecosystems are taken seriously by Indigenous communities throughout the world. Their efforts are focused on the well-being of their homelands through conservation and sustainable management of the elements of nature: air, fire, water, and earth. Learn how Native innovators and practitioners are using Indigenous knowledge to steward and sustain the environment. Free, Saturday and Sunday, April 26–27, 10 AM–5 PM.
***Schedule and programs subject to change. Additional program timing to be confirmed.

SCHEDULE

11 AM ET, Rasmuson Theater, Level 1

• FILM| Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life
  • Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life (USA, 2024, 60 min.) is inspired by the late Chexanexwh Larry Kinley, a Lummi fisherman and tribal leader who embodied a belief in tribal sovereignty. Directors: Darrell Hillaire (Lummi Nation) and Beth Basa Pielert.

2 PM ET, Rasmuson Theater, Level 1

• FILM| Resident Orca
  • Resident Orca (Canada, 2024, 97 min.) tells the shocking true story of a captive whale’s fight for survival and freedom. Directors: Sarah Sharkey Pearce, Simon Schneider, Executive Producers: Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris (Lummi), Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley (Lummi), James Costa, Lynne Kirby, Sarah Sharkey Pearce, Simon Schneider, Romney Grant, Melissa Gaucher.

Potomac Atrium, Level 1

10 AM–5 PM

Visitors can meet with speakers at informational tables in the Potomac Atrium throughout the festival. *Timing of individual talks to be confirmed.

• TALK | Safeguarding Our Waters
  • Learn how cultural leaders are working in and out of their communities to safeguard the water we all share.
    • Raynell Morris, enrolled member and matriarch of the Lummi nation, will share her community work to safeguard the waters surrounding Lummi lands.
    • Raven Morris (Lummi) is an artist, canoe builder, cultural leader and conservationist in the Lummi community. She has worked to save orcas from captivity and to preserve the practice of salmon fishing among the Lummi. 
• TALK | Burning Issues: Cultural Land Management and Regeneration
  • Indigenous practices in fire management may be the key to future prevention of what are now known as “super fires.” Elizabeth Azzuz (Yurok) leads a team of firefighters with the goal of rejuvenating Yurok land. She will discuss the importance of cultural land management and regeneration, as well as the relationship between the land and Indigenous tribes of California. Basket weaver Dorothy Obie-Sylvia (Yurok/Hupa/Karuk) joins Azzuz to discuss the importance of natural growth of plants which sustains the creation of traditional basketry of the Indigenous communities.
• TALK | Roots of Resistance: A Fight for the Forest
  • Learn how ash basket weavers are using their art to raise awareness and preserve this long held tradition. 
    • Hailing from a prominent black ash weaving family in the Great Lakes region, Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians) continues a tradition passed down from a long lineage of black ash basket weavers.
    • Award-winning Onondaga basket artist Ronni-Leigh Goeman has been weaving baskets since she was a teenager, under the mentorship of Akwesasne Mohawk weaver, Mae Big Tree.
• TALK | The Rise of the Buffalo Nation
  • Members of the Intertribal Buffalo Council, a collection of 80 tribes, will discuss how the council has grown since its inception through increased communication across tribal nations and the cascading effects on land, nature, and tribal communities due to the growth in buffalo herds.
• TALK | Preserving the Smithsonian Gardens’ Tree Collection
  • Eric Calhoun and Christine Price-Abelow, horticulturists at Smithsonian Gardens, discuss how their teams care for the Tree Collection throughout the seasons and highlight some of the significant species in the collection.

URL: https://americanindian.si.edu/events/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D1833050

Photo credit: Crave