Part I: The Business of Agriculture in Indian Country
In celebration of Earth Day, the National Museum of the American Indian’s annual Living Earth Festival will be available on demand over four days. The festival will open with a message from Notah Begay III (Navajo/San Felipe/Isleta), four-time PGA Tour champion, sportscaster and founder of the Notah Begay III Foundation, which provides health and wellness education to Native youth. Living Earth brings together Native innovators and practitioners dedicated to using Indigenous knowledge to protect and sustain the environment. Through cooking demonstrations, conversations and film screenings, this year’s festival explores agriculture trends, innovations and sustainability in Indigenous communities and Native-owned businesses. This festival is made possible through the generous support of the Native American Agriculture Fund.
Cooking Demonstration Mariah Gladstone (Blackfeet/Cherokee Nation), founder of Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform, will explore traditional Indigenous foods and show how to incorporate them into our everyday lives. Building an Agriculture Business in Indian Country Experts address a crucial issue—creating innovative, robust and ecologically sound food systems and agricultural businesses in Indigenous communities. Speakers include Dawn Sherman (Lakota/Lenape/Shawnee), CEO of Native American Natural Foods; Mark N. Fox, Chairman, Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation; and Leonard Forsman, Chairman, Suquamish Tribe. Moderated by Carmen Davis (Makah/Chippewa Cree/Yakama), editor of Native Business magazine.
Film Screenings
Gather
(USA,2020,74 min.)
Director: Sanjay Rawal
Producer: Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek)
Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.
Voices from the Barrens: Native People, Blueberries and Sovereignty
(USA, 2020, 56 min.)
Director: Nancy Ghertner
Canadian Director: Brian J. Francis (Mi’kmaq) This film documents the wild blueberry harvest of the Wabanaki, who live in both the United States and Canada.
Crow Country: The Right to Food Sovereignty
(USA, 2020, 21 min.)
Director: Tsanavi Spoonhunter (Northern Arapaho/Northern Paiute) Crow Country follows several tribal members who are fighting for better food and a better future for their community.
One Word Sawalmem
(USA, 2019, 18 min.)
Director: Natasha Deganello Giraudie
Co-director: Michael “Pom” Preston (Winnemem Wintu) A rare look into the life of Native wisdom keepers, men and women respected within Indigenous communities for their intimate knowledge about living in balance with the natural world.
Guardianes de semilla (Guardians of the Seeds)
(Colombia, 2020,8 min.)
Director: Mauricio Telpiz Four Pastos community members known as guardians of the ancestral seeds showcase traditional rituals.
Part II: Voices from the Field: The Business of Native Agriculture (Summer/Fall Webinar Series) Learn from Native farmers and ranchers about sustainable food systems and agricultural economic development in their Nations.
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