National Museum of the American Indian Presents Indian Summer Showcase 2011

Events Include Free Outdoor Concerts, Tribal Festivals and Cooking Demonstrations

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian announces the 2011 schedule for its sixth annual concert and festival series promoting Native musicians, films, performers and artists from across the Western Hemisphere. This summer the museum hosts the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Siletz Tribe of Oregon during festivals that celebrate each community's unique music, culture, food and art. In July, the museum's annual Living Earth Festival coincides with the opening of the exhibition, "Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change."

On Saturday, June 11, at 5 p.m., country singers Victoria Blackie (Navajo), Rebecca Miller (Mohawk) and Becky Hobbs (Cherokee) will hold an outdoor concert, Indian Country/Country Indian, on the museum's Welcome Plaza. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma brings the tribe's music, food, games and more to the museum Wednesday, June 22, through Saturday, June 25, during Choctaw Days. The four-day event includes a reenactment of a traditional Choctaw wedding, stickball demonstrations, dance performances, storytelling and booths showcasing beadwork, pottery, flutes and Choctaw cuisine.

Starting Friday, July 22, and continuing through Sunday, July 24, the museum invites visitors to explore indigenous contributions to environmental sustainability at our annual Living Earth Festival. Presented in tandem with the opening of the exhibition "Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change," the three-day celebration includes an outdoor farmers market; an Iron Chef-style cook-off in the museum's outdoor amphitheater; and an evening concert with the Pappy Johns Band, a blues and rock band from the Six Nations in Ontario; the Plateros, a blues rock family trio from the Navajo Nation; and Gregg Analla, an Isleta and Laguna Pueblo musician from Albuquerque, N.M.

"Conversations with the Earth," a multimedia exhibition devoted to indigenous knowledge on global climate change, offers first-person accounts of the effects of environmental abuse and misuse from 15 tribal communities in 13 countries, as well as traditional knowledge and its value in developing a global response to environmental issues.

Since 2006, the Indian Summer Showcase has hosted 22 concerts featuring 29 groups from more than 15 Native communities in the U.S., Canada and five Latin American countries.

For the full schedule and more information, visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu/IndianSummerShowcase.

Media website: http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/national-museum-american-indian-presents-indian-summer-showcase-2011

CONTACT: Leonda Levchuk, [email protected], 202-633-6613

SOURCE Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian