![]() Partnering with Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation has helped the mission, Lewis notes. She saw a need for increasing Indigenous representation and “getting our voices to the table where decisions are made,” she says, adding, “Being Indigenous folks, we see our voices being muted, especially in big urban spaces such as these.” “I grew up on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation and left my community on a basketball scholarship,” Lewis says, “and when I came into the city, it was culture shock for me.” Webb adds there’s more momentum for Indigenous voices, from TV series and films like Dark Winds and Prey, which feature all-Indigenous casts, to others like Resident Alien and Rutherford Falls that feature Indigenous characters and writers.Īcclaimed novelists such as Louise Erdrich ( The Round House) and Tommy Orange ( There There) also are newsmakers, as are Indigenous issues such as awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would have run through sacred and historic sites and ancestral lands.Īlthough Phoenix is situated on Native land and surrounded by reservations, Indigenous voices had been pushed out and were lacking in its arts and business scene, said founding member Melody Lewis (Mojave, Tewa, and Hopi).Ĭahokia PHX, which is 95 percent Indigenous-led, was intended as a space for “creative placekeeping,” or a way of reversing the gentrification. The celebration ties in with a burst of exposure to Indigenous people and issues, Webb says: “We felt this is our year because of all the focus on Indigenous people within the media, within politics, in the community.” To encourage the use of public transit to attend the festival, the city’s District 7 donated monthlong bus passes they’re first come, first serve at Cahokia PHX. The block party is free VIP tickets start at $50 and are sold online. There’s also a VIP area in The Churchill with a fashion show and musical performances sponsored by NDN Collective. and will include 10 collaborative experiences, including three stages featuring live music and storytellers, a gallery exhibit at Cahokia PHX, Indigenous film screenings courtesy of Indie Film Fest, the Indige Design Collab fourth annual RISE Mural + Projection show, live mural creation, Downtown Showdown Skateboarding Competition by Seven Layer Army Skate Co., an Indigenous pop-up market, food vendors, and appearances by the Phoenix Suns and Cardinals. The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Phoenix Fest 2022 will run from 3 to 10 p.m. ![]() ![]() That’s why this year the celebration has become so huge. “It was an almost immediate affirmation that people really liked what we were doing or were interested to see what we were doing here,” he notes. That launch - a gallery poster art show opening - attracted such a huge crowd that the 3,000-square-foot space reached capacity quickly, Webb says. 11, 2021, which was timed to coincide with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The seed for the block party started last year at the grand opening on Oct. “We are a platform to launch ideas,” says Mike Webb (Chickasaw and Xicano), Cahokia PHX’s community cultivator. What started as a vision to give a voice to Indigenous people in the downtown arts community has blossomed into a collaborative endeavor for creatives and their allies and advocates. Cahokia Socialtech + Artspace, an Indigenous-led community and cultural space downtown, is celebrating its first year of business on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Monday, October 10, with a massive block party centered at First and Garfield streets.
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