Events for Oct. 14, 2023

• Cautionary Tales: Climate Crisis & Indigenous Arts is a one-day symposium that brings Indigenous artists and advocates into conversation about the climate crisis, which disproportionately affects Native communities “first and worst.” Coastal erosion, flooding, drought, wildfires, and severe storms threaten the well-being, lands, livelihoods, and arts of Indigenous peoples, with the impact being felt right now.

Featuring Diné ethnobotanist Arnold Clifford, Northern Chumash visual artist Leah Mata Fragua, Iñupiaq parka maker and climate initiatives program director Qataliña Jackie Schaeffer, and curator Tony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo). With a reading by Iñupiaq poet dg nanouk okpik and a spoken word performance by IAIA students of Sheila Rocha’s Performance Poetry course.

Admission to both the symposium and the museum is free, and includes a Pueblo feast-style lunch for participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Time will be scheduled for viewing the annular solar eclipse. 

Full schedule:

• 9:00am            Blessing, John Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo)

• 9:20am            “An exploration of memory, resistance, and creativity amid environmental flux,” Leah Mata Fragua (Yak Tityu Tityu Yak Tiłhini (Northern Chumash))

• 10:20am          “Look Up!” and solar eclipse viewing, Tony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), Curator of Ethnology, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture  

• 11:00am          Ethnobotany and Climate Change, Arnold Clifford (Diné)                            

• Noon-1:30pm  Pueblo feast lunch, catered by Rena Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo)

• Self-guided exploration of Ghhúunayúkata/To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka

• 1:00pm            Avan Nu Voices, a Performance Poetry Ensemble, Institute of American Indian Arts students and Sheila Rocha (Tarasco)

• 1:45pm            “Northern Light,” poetry reading by dg nanouk okpik (Iñupiaq)                              

• 2:00pm            “The Fashion & Climate Intersect,” Qataliña Jackie Schaeffer (Iñupiaq)

• 3:15pm            Group discussion, facilitated by Tony Chavarria, with Arnold Clifford, Leah Mata Fragua, and Qataliña Jackie Schaeffer

ASL interpretation will be provided throughout the program.

This is a free event. Entry is first come first serve and subject to venue capacity. 

To RSVP please click https://cautionarytalessymposium.eventbrite.com

Cautionary Tales is organized by the Museum of International Folk Art in collaboration with the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the School for Advanced Research, and in conjunction with the Museum of International Folk Art’s current exhibition Ghhúunayúkata/To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka. Funding for the symposium and the exhibition Ghhúunayúkata is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.