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July 15, 2016 to July 17, 2016 3:00 PM - 10:00 PM

National Museum of the American Indian, 4th St & Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20560, USA

The seventh annual Living Earth Festival on the National Mall continues the Museum’s efforts to inform the public about environmental issues. This year’s festival focuses on traditional agricultural practices and the importance of Native foods in our diets, while also including music and dance and Native art demonstrations. On Friday, the Museum will present a symposium with chefs Loretta Barrett Oden (Citizen Band Potawatomi), Velvet Button (Tohono O’odham), Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz (Xicana/Tiwa) and Terri Ami (Hopi/Navajo). They will discuss sustainable farming practices, food sovereignty, and the decolonization food movement.

Sunday (11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.) in the Rasmuson Theatre there will be two cooking demonstrations by Chef Felicia Ruiz (Xicana/Tiwa) is a natural foods activist, teacher, and private chef in Phoenix, Arizona where she shares her knowledge on indigenous and plant based foods and Chef Terri Ami (Hopi/Navajo) whose culinary expertise is driven by traditional native foods that closely relate to her growing up on the reservation.

Artist demonstrators are as varied as the talents they possess, from bead-workers, basket-makers, weavers, sculptors, potters and carvers. This year’s artists include Porfirio Gutierrez (Oaxacan) a traditional weaver who uses all-natural plants and insect dyes; Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag), an artist who creates naturally dyed milkweed weavings and wampum jewelry from the quahog shell; Jesus Garcia, a cultural interpreter at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum who will demonstrate the art and science of weaving horsehair and agave rope; Joey Lopez (Tohono O’odham), who will demonstrate basket weaving and Wilma and Dena Skenandore (Potawatomi/Oneida) will demonstrate the healing qualities of their essential oils, creams, and salves. Rounding out the festival offerings will be Music and Dance Along the Inka Road by Tinkus Llajtaymanta, Tradiciones Bolivianas and Grupo Etnia.

http://www.nmai.si.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D1324162