What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/991544
JUNE 10-16, 2018 WHAT'S UP! 3 BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette C harlotte Buchanan-Yale didn't grow up reveling in her Native American heritage. She says she probably has none — but her "Aunt Isabelle by marriage" did. "She grew up in the Oklahoma Territory with a full-blood Pottawatomie mother and an Irish territorial sheriff father," Buchanan-Yale recalls. "She wore her Native pride so well." That was the first lesson. Another lesson Buchanan- Yale learned early in her life was how to "bring more people into the circle to play." It's a Montessori concept, she says, that she applied to her career as an event producer, always trying to see "how many different kinds of people I could encourage to stand side by side." When they do, she says, "they talk to each other. They share a space with each other. Art and music and the written word bring us together." So when Buchanan-Yale moved to Northwest Arkansas — without a job or family here — she didn't know that everything she'd learned would apply itself to the work she's now doing. "I have watched my life spiral around significant road markers that have brought me to this day — to have the honor to be the director of the Museum of Native American History and to make this a welcoming place for visitors to learn these stories and to give a platform for contemporary Native authors, playwrights, performers, artists and historians to make Northwest Arkansas a destination," she says. "We all have to realize that Native history is also our American history — and there is so much to learn. We see further as elders. We know history repeats itself. But the next generation? They see the solutions." Thus, the theme for this year's second Native American Cultural Symposium is "Reunification Through Reinvention: The Creative Visions of Contemporary Native America." Thanks to support from the Walton Family Foundation and a partnership with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the symposium will "bring together an array of Native cultural leaders for a weekend of performances, presentations and workshops" June 14-17, Buchanan- Yale says, and stretch across Bentonville to multiple venues, with MONAH as home base. "This museum is more than art and artifacts of the past; it's a fulcrum that can connect the past to future generations," she explains. FYI Symposium Highlights June 14 Outdoor Film — "Rumble: Indians Who Rocked the World," 8 p.m., Crystal Bridges. June 15 Live Painting — With Bunky Echo-Hawk, 10 a.m., MONAH Reading — With Bobby Bridger, 11 a.m., MONAH Storytelling — With Gayle Ross, noon, MONAH Presenter Spotlight — Xiuh- tezcatl Martinez, 2 p.m., The Record "Crossing Mnisose" — A play by Mary Kathryn Nagle, 4 p.m., The Record Keynote Speaker — Walter Echo-Hawk, 7 p.m., The Record Performance Spotlight — Brooke Simpson, 8:45 p.m., The Record Performance Spotlight — Bobby Bridger, 9:15 p.m., The Record June 16 Meet & Greet — With presenters and performers, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., MONAH Garden Party — With Bobby Bridger and Gayle Ross, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Crystal Bridges Forest Concert Series — With Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Brooke Simpson, Bunky Echo-Hawk & Digging Roots, 7 p.m., Crystal Bridges June 17 Prairie to Table Dinner — 6 p.m., MONAH. $47. Tickets at monah.us. FAQ Native American Cultural Symposium WHEN — June 14-17 WHERE — Museum of Native American History, Crystal Bridges Museum of Amer- ican Art, Record, all in Bentonville COST — Free INFO — 273-2456 or monah.us BONUS — A free shuttle service will run June 15-16 between MONAH and the Bentonville square. See MONAH Page 40 Courtesy Photo Brooke Simpson recorded her first song when she was 2, but it was her appearance on NBC's "The Voice" last year that earned her attention beyond her native Haliwa-Saponi tribe. She is one of the featured presenters at this year's Native American Cultural Symposium in Bentonville. She'll perform at 8:45 p.m. June 15 at The Record and at 7 p.m. June 16 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. MONAH considers contemporary Native America COVER STORY