The Old ... The New
Schedule Follows Below
New Native American
Exhibit at Penn Museum
Saturday, March 1, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Exhibition Opening
Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now
Native Americans from around the region and across North America come to the Penn Museum Saturday, March 1, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, to share their art, culture, and perspectives and to celebrate the opening of 'Native American Voices: The People -- Here and Now,' a new exhibition at the Penn Museum. Native Nations Dance Theater performs in an afternoon that features talks, demonstrations and storytelling by Native American leaders in film and journalism, scholarship, community development, archaeology, sports, language retention and social activism. Mini-workshops, special activities for families, and Native American foods on the Pepper Mill Café menu, round out the day. The celebration is free with regular Museum admission.
Highlights of the Celebration:
11:00 am - Penn Museum Williams Director Julian Siggers joins Exhibition Curator and Senior Keeper of the American Section Lucy Fowler Williams, Keeper of the American Section William Wierzbowski, and advisors and consultants from the Native American community, at a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the new exhibition.
11:30 am - Native Nations Dance Theater presents a dance demonstration and open workshop for visitors.
12:00 - Suzan Harjo (at right), Cheyenne/Muscogee, Director
of the Morningstar Institute and a lead advisor for the exhibition,offers a reading of her own poetry about sacred places, with time to talk and answer questions about the importance of places on the landscape for Native American peoples today.
12:30 pm - Namorah Gayle Byrd, Chitimacha/Cherokee, Associate Professor of Composition and Literature at Gloucester County College, tells Native American trickster tales during a storytelling session.
1:00 pm - Native Nations Dance Theater offers a music workshop and demonstration for guests.
1:00 pm - Gewas Schindler, the General Manager of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team (Haudenosaunee/Oneida), joins the celebration, for a demonstration and talk about the history and significance of the game. Haudenosaunee legend states that Lacrosse is a reminder of the talents hidden within all people.
1:30 pm - Joe Watkins, Choctaw, National Park Service Chief Anthropologist, shares insights into indigenous archaeology; then, Joseph Aguilar, Tewa Pueblo, and a University of Pennsylvania graduate student, talks about his archaeological research to understand how his ancestors experienced the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
2:00 pm - Shelley DePaul, Chief, Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, introduces visitors to the local Lenape Indian language at an interactive workshop.
2:00 pm - Collections Assistant Stephanie Mach, Diné, offers a behind-the-scenes visit to the Museum's Collections Study Room, and an up-close look at some diverse Native American materials from the vast North American collections, which number over 140,000.
2:30 pm - Margaret Bruchac, Abenaki, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, speaks about the role of wampum, drawing upon materials from the Penn Museum collection.
2:30 pm - Namorah Gayle Byrd (at left), Chitimacha/Cherokee, Associate Professor of Composition and Literature at Gloucester County College, tells Native American trickster tales during an encore storytelling session.
2:45 pm - Gewas Schindler, the General Manager of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team (Haudenosaunee/Oneida), joins the celebration, for a demonstration and talk about the history and significance of the game. Haudenosaunee legend states that Lacrosse is a reminder of the talents hidden within all people.
3:00 pm - Advisor Patty Talahongva, a Hopi journalist and filmmaker whose work formed the basis of much of the video content in the exhibition, speaks about her work as a journalist and shares aspects of her Hopi culture, drawing on material inspirations in the Penn Museum collection.
3:30 pm - Native Nations Dance Theater returns for a finale performance of music and dance.