Zuni Festival of Arts & Culture

Heritage Insights Programming at the Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture

Click Here to read more about the Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture.

At the Zuni Festival of Arts & Culture, the Ashiwi, or Zuni people, travel to Flagstaff from Zuni to share the Zuni language, life ways, traditional music, and dances. Zuni, New Mexico, is an integral part of the cultural landscape of the Colorado Plateau. Enjoy performing artists such as the Nawetsa Family Dancers who perform traditional Zuni dances, and music from the Zuni Pueblo Band. Learn about the importance of art and cultural place-names in the perpetuation of traditional identity. Meet and buy directly from Zuni artists and demonstrators. This event is created in partnership with the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center in Zuni, New Mexico.

The Museum of Northern Arizona will integrate humanities content into its 25^th Zuni Festival of Art and Culture through specific programs led by tribal educators and elders. This year, the public will explore collaboration from a Zuni perspective and visitors can learn about the language and history of the Zuni people.

The Heritage Insights Programs are funded in part by a grant from Arizona Humanities.

Sunday, May 24

10:30 a.m., Easton Collection Center
Collecting Zuni Artworks: Advice from artists and curators
First-come, first served. Registration Saturday, May 23 through Sunday, May 24 @ 10am.
Capacity: Up to 10 festival guests

Free with paid Festival admission, wristband required. Learn more about Zuni artistic traditions from Jim Enote, director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center, and Museum of Northern Arizona curator, Kelley Hays-Gilpin. Study and discuss 2-4 Zuni objects that are in the museum’s collection, and learn what to look for when buying and collecting Zuni art. To register, please visit the membership table located in the Branigar/Chase lobby entrance. Shuttle service provided; registered guests may meet outside the Museum’s north entrance, Sunday at 10:15 am.

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Ethnology Gallery
Where the Waters Run Home: the Confluence of the Little Colorado River and the Colorado River

An informative presentation that focuses on the Zuni point of view—including Zuni origins and sacred practices—and why the confluence is so important to the A:shiwi, or Zuni people. Zuni Pueblo community members give voice to the ramifications of these development projects, and how political and cultural sovereignty are at risk.

3:00 p.m., Ethnology Gallery
A:shiwi to Halona:wa: Zuni Emergence & Migration

According to the Zuni or A:shiwi, their place of origin was Chimik’yana’kya dey’a, known to modern hikers as Ribbon Falls on Bright Angel Creek, which flows to the Colorado River from the north rim wall of the Grand Canyon. Learn the story of Zuni Emergence in the Grand Canyon, their migration throughout the Colorado Plateau, and the eventual settlement at the “Middle Place,” in what is now Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico.