Idyllwild Arts Foundation to Present Annual Native American Arts Festival Week

Idyllwild Arts Foundation will present the annual Native American Arts Festival Week, taking place at the Idyllwild Arts campus on Monday, June 16 to Friday, June 20, 2025. This week-long celebration, held every summer for more than two decades, is organized to enhance the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program through a variety of Native American arts-focused activities. These include an invitational exhibition, tastings of traditional Native cuisine, the Michael Kabotie Lecture Series, a curated evening of film, the Welcoming Home the Birds event, and a staged reading of the latest play by three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) featuring Jazz trumpetist Delbert Anderson (Diné). All festival week events are free and open to the public.

Idyllwild Arts is an institution rooted in respect, reverence, and support for Native American people and is the only residential arts high school in the country to offer a Native American Arts program. This year's Native American Arts Festival is again being led by Executive Director Shaliyah Ben (Diné), whose goal is to celebrate Indigenous People actively making positive change in the world.

The week of unique programming will kick off on Monday, June 16 with the invitational exhibition Renegades of Art, curated by Pamela Peters (Diné). The four artists featured will showcase works that convey the strength, perseverance, and cultural resilience of tribal nations via murals, mixed media, and tribal presence. The artist/curator-led panel discussion takes place at 7:00 pm in the Parks Exhibition Center on the Idyllwild Arts campus. A reception with Native foods taste testing to follow at 7:45pm. The Parks Exhibition Center will also showcase and sell artwork by all Adult Arts and Native American Arts faculty from the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, as well as leading Native American artists.

The return of the popular Michael Kabotie Lecture Series this year will feature famed poet & performer Kinsale Drake(Diné), N8ive Beauty cosmetics line creator and host of PBS/FNX series This is Indian Country Ruth Ann Thorn (Luiseño), and Yup'ik song and dance with Ossie from Inuit-soul band PAMYUA.

This year's Festival also features a screening of documentary Indian Alley, written & directed by Pamela Peters (Diné), and a special event on June 18 at 7 pm in the Bowman IAF Theatre on the Idyllwild Arts campus with Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) - famed poet and U.S. Poet Laureate - who comes to Idyllwild Arts for the first time to present her newest play, "We Were Here When Jazz Was Invented," accompanied by fellow Jazz great Delbert Anderson (Diné).

The week culminates with "Welcoming Home the Birds," honoring the relationship the Cahuilla and Serrano have with their traditional homelands. The annual family-friendly event commences at 5:00 pm with a Native artist marketplace, hands-on activities for all ages, and a lineup of Native song and dance. Bird Singing kicks off at 7: 45 pm, welcoming groups throughout Southern California and beyond to share and dance Bird!

Idyllwild Arts respectfully acknowledges the Qawishpa Cahuillangnah (also known as Cahuilla Band of Indians) on whose land the Idyllwild Arts community dwells.

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