Native American Arts Festival Week at Idyllwild Arts to feature food, stand-up comedy
Native American Arts Festival Week at Idyllwild Arts Academy has attracted a broad audience over two decades and features a vast offering of Native contemporary art, food tastings, lectures, stand-up comedy and more.
Dr. Meranda Roberts, a citizen of the Yerington Paiute and Xicana tribes and curator of this year’s invitational exhibition, “Still We Smile: Humor as Correction and Joy,” described the Idyllwild community as “integral” because of its connection to the Cahuilla Band of Indians and the festival provides an opportunity for visitors to gain a better understanding of Native American culture.
“This exhibition and festival provide Native creatives the opportunity to get outside of our comfort zones and find different ways of expressing issues related to Native culture that maybe other spaces don’t to have or have the capacity to. Because of the beauty provided to us in those spaces, especially in Idyllwild, it’s a key source of inspiration and you have the ability to build connections.”
The festival runs on June 18-23 and is free to the public. Some highlights are the Opening Day Celebration “Welcoming Home the Birds” featuring Cahuilla and Serrano Bird Singing. At noon on June 20, 21, and 22 the Michael Kabotie Lecture Series will present comedy-themed lectures, which will also stream on Facebook and YouTube.
A full schedule of events is available at idyllwildarts.org/nativeamericanarts
Roberts, a graduate of the University of California, Riverside, has worked as a curator in institutional settings on Native American basketry and historical collection items at Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. When the festival’s executive director Shaliyah Ben reached out to her earlier this year, Roberts jumped at the opportunity to work in a contemporary art setting.
Breaking from the archetypal themes and presentations of Native American art, Roberts created a humorous exhibition of multimedia art, prints and photography and said comedy has always been used by Native American communities as a way to cope, correct behaviors within families or the general public and bring light to certain issues that might be uncomfortable to talk about.
“I think a lot of times Native communities and stories get told from the aspect of trauma or hurt,” Roberts said. “Instead, we are encompassed with these beautiful stories of our aunties, ancestral traditions and things we find humorous within our community, but non-Native audiences don’t always understand as comedy. I wanted to make people get a sense for the humor we have and to think more thoroughly about how indigenous people have maintained these traditions based in love, joy and laughter to move away from the narrative that had been there before.”
Aside from lectures, bird singing and comedy, festivalgoers can observe and experience Cahuilla traditions and practices through artist vendors, hands-on activities, food tastings by Luiseño and Cupeño tribal elder Willie Pink of California's Native foods and more.
"A lot of the time, our communities live in this past narrative as being historical when in reality there's so many beautiful things happening today that deserve to be brought attention to, and I really think this type of festival with these types of engagements allow us to see a full range of those issues instead of just one particular topic or them. It helps us stay in community with one another," Roberts said.
Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.
If you go
What: Native American Festival Week at Idyllwild Arts Academy
When: June 18-23
Where: Idyllwild Arts Academy, 52-500 Temecula Road, Idyllwild-Pine Cove
How much: Free
More information: idyllwildarts.org/nativeamericanarts
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Native American Arts Festival Week at Idyllwild Arts to feature comedy
