SEWICKLEY ― Black and Indigenous artists from the region will share the spotlight at Mavuno, the annual festival and exhibition Sept. 15-16 hosted by Sweetwater Center for The Arts.

Beaver County ties this year include exhibited artist Marlon Gist from Aliquippa; an appearance by Day Bracey, founder of the Barrel & Flow beer festival named the nation’s best by USA Today readers; and a poetry tribute to the late Elizabeth Asche “Betty” Douglas, a Beaver Falls native and co-founder of Mavuno, launched 27 years ago.

Mavuno’s opening reception takes place 5-8 p.m. Sept. 15 in the community room at Sweetwater. Titled “In Life…,” the free exhibition showcases co-curators Deavron Dailey and Janet Watkins, and fellow Pittsburgh artists Alecia Dawn Young, Douglas J. Webster, Ernest Bey, Janet Watkins, Marce Nixon, Norman Brown and Gist, the Aliquippa artist whose work was highlighted recently at Pittsburgh International Airport.

The Friday evening event also will include a special recognition in remembrance of Mavuno founding member Douglas who died this past July at the age of 92. Several pieces of her artwork will be on display, along with a remembrance speech courtesy of the Women of Visions Collective.

The evening also will include a lineup of live poetry readings organized by Sweetwater board member Bonita L. Penn. Poets include Veronica Corpuz, Gwendolyn A. Mitchell, Doralee Brooks and Bonita L. Penn.   

On Sept. 16, Mavuno moves to Riverfront Park in Sewickley, and will include a beer garden with a separate $20 ticketed entry to attendees 21 years of age and up ($25 at the door.)

Festivalgoers can purchase items from a diverse group of Black/Indigenous/People of Color artisans featuring a wide range of culinary delights, unique gifts and handmade crafts from Auberle, Cobblerworld, 2CPremium Coffee, ChefNABox, Bobbie Bonita Art, Babysitting Logistics LLC, Affordable Elegance International, Darnella Darling Delights, PGH Dumplingz, Nan’s Touch, and more.

Entertainers include Day Bracey, coordinator-curator of Mavuno, and live music from popular Pittsburgh rock band NASH.V.ILL. and dance music DJ Icy Pisces. 

Mavuno takes place each September, launched as a program displaying Black art and culture from western Pennsylvania.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

Last Tuesday, Qacung Stephen Blanchett, NeilgaKoogéi Revels, Taylor Vivic and five staff members were seated around the conference room table at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council offices working on last-minute details for the second Áak’w Rock Festival.

But the meeting, which touched on everything from staging elements to travel plans for the musicians coming to town, wasn’t an unusual occurrence.

Aak’w Rock festival organizers meet on Tuesday at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council office. Pictured are NeilgaKoogéi Revels, in red, then Reggie Schapp to her right, followed by Rob Stephenson, Taylor Vidic, Zac Pease, Qacung Blanchett, Kathleen Harper and Phil Huebschen. (Meredith Jordan/Juneau Empire)

The group, centered by Blanchett and in various configurations, has been preparing for the Sept. 21-23 festival for at least 18 months. The festival runs every other year, opposite Sealaska Heritage Institute’s biennial Celebration event.

The much-anticipated Áak’w Rock festival this year has expanded mightily from the virtual inaugural festival in November 2021. There were 14 artists that year, 11 of whom came to Juneau to record.

This year’s Áak’w Rock will feature 24 bands comprised of 70 individual performers on three stages: Centennial Hall Convention Center, Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center building, said Revels, project director for Áak’w Rock.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for Juneau, which will see big-name acts in incredibly intimate settings,” said Revels. “Áak’w Rock is bringing a full music festival experience, including an artists’ market, food trucks, beer gardens and community space to interact with the artists.”

Headliners include Snotty Nose Rez Kids, The Hallucination and Ya Tseen.

Ya Tseen, an Indigenous rock band headed by Nicholas Galanin, a Tlingit and Unangax̂ born in Sitka, is among the featured artists at this year’s Áak’w Rock Festival that starts Thursday, Sept. 21. (Photo courtesy of Ya Tseen).

The tribes and JAHC are equal partners in the event, said Blanchett, who works as creative director of Áak’w Rock and education director for JAHC. This year’s budget is about $500,000, with about $100,000 of it used to pay the artists.

“Payment is important because so often Indigenous artists are underpaid for the music performances,” said Revels.

The festival is a team effort, Blanchett said.

“The idea was born from a meeting between myself and President Richard Peterson in late 2019,” he said, referring to Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson. “We discussed the possibility of the Tlingit and Haida and JAHC partnering on something significant within the arts and culture field, and we landed on creating a festival.”

The community took to the concept immediately, he said, with various people serving on the committee for the first event and volunteering in other ways. The group “included artists, culture-bearers, and community leaders from several sectors of the southeast community,” said Blanchett.

Qacung Blanchett is less forthcoming about the role he has played in the creation of the Áak’w Rock Festival.

“He is a great organizer and great at bringing people together,” said Revels. whose full-time job is special project manager for the chief operating officer of Tlingit and Haida. “Qucong has made the dream happen with the full support of President Peterson.”

The idea for an Indigenous music festival goes back a lot farther than 2019, said Philip Blanchett, his brother.

“This is Qacung’s dream, his work,” he said. The two partnered together in Pamyua, a band first formed in 1995, which is also playing at the festival.

Pamyua blends Inuit drum/dance melodies with R&B vocal styling and arrangements presented through music and dance. It was also a platform to share Indigenous knowledge and history.

By the late 1990s Pamyua was established and touring, but when the brothers were home they worked in cultural education at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, Philip Blanchett said.

“It was a great place to dream of things to have in the community, to uplift our community, to showcase our community, like what we do with Pamyua, but do it in festival format.”

But efforts to get a festival started in Anchorage didn’t get very far.

“Anchorage is a tricky town. Sometimes it’s really difficult to get different parts of the community talking with other parts of the community,” said Phillip Blanchett. “I don’t know what it is, but it didn’t work.”

It was after Qacung moved to Juneau that everything shifted with the idea, Philip Blanchett said. “He really appreciated the community. There was a go-to attitude when it came to cultural inclusion.”

But his brother also had knowledge of both elements needed for Áak’w Rock to come together. “He was in touch with the local Indigenous culture and community, and he was working with the arts and culture community.”

Watching Áak’w Rock come together has been gratifying, Philip Blanchett said. He took “a lot of residual pride” in seeing the virtual production in 2021. “It built upon the essence of Pamyua, but had spread farther with other artists and in engaging the much wider community.”

This year has been “exciting,” he said. “We all know this needs to happen, but it wasn’t until I saw the lineup with my own eyes — I know a lot of these musicians — that it really hit me.”

The momentum is huge but it isn’t because the time has come, it’s because it’s overdue, Phillip Blanchett said. The festival promotes Indigenous music and artists, but it also provides something of real value and depth to the community.

“The greater community gets to benefit from all of this beautiful effort, all these expressions of ceremonial art and music and prayer,” he said. “This is what it means to honor the past, right now in the moment — where you can see what it means to the future.”

Know & Go

What: Áak’w Rock Music Festival

Where: Centennial Hall Convention Center, Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, and Juneau Arts and Humanities Council

When: Sept. 21-23

Cost: Day passes are $75; three-day/weekend passes are $150. Two weekend passes are available for $250.

Tickets: https://aakwrockfest.com/tickets

Youth Jam: Sept. 20, 6-9 p.m., Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. This event is sponsored by Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and free to the public.

• Contact Meredith Jordan at meredith.jordan@juneauempire.com or (907) 615-3190.

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TheatreSquared, a regional professional theater at Fayetteville, welcomes three renowned American playwrights as Artists in Residence, including one from southeast Arkansas.

Artists are Dermott native Candrice Jones, along with Satya Chavéz, and Jonathan Norton.

TheatreSquared announced a commissioning project featuring the three distinguished playwrights. As part of this project, each playwright will embark on a creative journey to craft a brand-new, original play that will explore a diverse array of themes, perspectives, and experiences, according to a news release.

CANDRICE JONES

Jones is well known to Northwest Arkansas audiences, who watched her critically acclaimed play FLEX bloom at the Arkansas New Play Festival in 2021 and, later, receive a full production during the 2021/2022 season.

This summer, FLEX was performed on the Lincoln Center stage in New York City, where it was called a “slam-dunk New York debut” and named a “Critic’s Pick” by The New York Times, according to the release.

“Jones’ background as a poet, educator and playwright combine to create sharp, beautiful, and realistic worlds and characters in plays that sear both mind and spirit,” according to the release.

The southeast Arkansas native has been honored to have been a fellow at Callaloo for poetry at Brown University and in London. She has also been a VONA Playwriting Fellow and a CalArts MFA Critical Studies recipient, according to https://pwcenter.org/profile/candrice-jones.

“Candrice is an Arkansan playwright and is going to continue to cultivate stories about Arkansas people,” said Dexter J. Singleton, TheatreSquared Director of New Play Development. “A person who has those roots, is homegrown, and continues to explore Arkansas stories is wonderful.”

SATYA CHAVéZ

Chavéz is an Indigenous Mexican-American, queer, Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist who is known for their musical compositions and narratives that delve into complex cultural intersections.

Chavez’s award-winning work has garnered critical acclaim for its exploration of identity, immigration, and social justice. The San Francisco Chronicle called them “a quintuple threat performer,” while the Chicago Reader noted their work is “stunningly beautiful, both visually and aurally,” according to the release.

Last season, they were the recipients of Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Original Music in a Play for their play Refuge.

JONATHAN NORTON

Norton is a Texas-born playwright.

“Northwest Arkansas audiences will remember him from the 2023 Arkansas New Play Festival, where his hilariously poignant script I AM DELIVERED’T was workshopped. That show is already scheduled to receive a co-production at both Dallas Theater Center and the Actors Theatre of Louisville early next year,” according to the release.

Norton’s plays frequently shed light on the lives of marginalized communities, highlighting their struggles and triumphs.

“Jonathan brings that Southern charm and insight to his work at all times,” said Singleton. “I think a big part of this commission is having the opportunity to introduce our patrons to writers who are writing about the South, and the activity, culture, and social issues that people explore as Southern Americans.”

THE PROJECT

The theater’s artistic director is Robert Ford.

“Theaters like T2, which center new work, are always looking for the next Death of a Salesman, or the next brilliant comedy, or soaring musical, that captures some essential aspect of now,” Ford said. “Because, deep down, we know that’s the very best thing we can offer to our world. Commissioning allows us to get in on the ground floor of that ‘offer to our world.’ Absolutely no one can predict the impact of a particular play or playwright — but what an amazing privilege it is to send the invitation, take the risk, and spark the telling of a story that no one has told before, that no one has seen.”

Shannon Jones is executive director of TheatreSquared.

“Collaborating with these three artists is incredibly exciting and is the start of what we hope will be a long-lasting relationship,” said Shannon Jones. “We’re thrilled to contribute to the continued growth of the American theater and share the voices of these playwrights with our community and beyond.”

    Candrice Jones from Dermott is among three playwrights recently announced for a new project at TheatreSquared, a Fayetteville theater. (Special to The Commercial/TheatreSquared)
  

“Just vote — but not against your own interests” by Susan Hoffer
(Photo provided — Schweinfurth Art Center)

AUBURN — When Long Island native Susan Hoffer started college, she intended to pursue a degree in chemistry with a goal of conducting cancer research. Like many college students, her plans changed.

“I was more interested in the fine arts classes I took and kept taking in college and realized my passion was in the arts,” she said.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching and studio art, moved to Syracuse, and began teaching. When her children went to college, she returned to earn her MFA in fine arts and has been painting seriously ever since.

But Hoffer never left her interest in chemistry behind. She spent a month this summer as an artist in residence at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation in Chenango County, working with artists and chemists at the Golden Artist Colors manufacturing facility located next door.

“During my time there I experimented with various substrates, grounds, and Williamsburg paint,” she said. “It was a period of tremendous growth and learning!”

Hoffer, who lives in Lake Placid, is featured in a solo exhibit titled “Rural Voice Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?” on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15.

Her paintings of North Country residents draw attention for her process as well as their descriptive titles and explanations.

An example: A painting of her father sitting on a couch, his hands signaling that he’s making a point during an intense conversation. The title: “Just vote — but not against your own interests.”

“This image was made a week before he died,” Hoffer said. “He told me that people in poor rural areas continually vote against their own interests, and that he hoped they ‘smartened up.’”

The paintings tackle serious topics through the eyes of Adirondack Park residents. The subject of “Reproductive decisions are complicated. #blackdoctorsspeaking” worries that restrictive laws states passed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade will mean the death of some pregnant women because doctors must wait for approval to conduct live-saving surgery.

In “Connecting to the Protest,” the subject of that painting is writing a letter to U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik trying to convince her to “stand up to the 45th president.” A piece “‘I never felt unsafe until there was a target on my back’ #chinavirus” explains that the subject’s parents worry about her safety amid racist backlash over the coronavirus.

“I think a goal of the exhibition would be to challenge the narratives that are often believed about rural residents in my region,” Hoffer said. “I use the words and ideas of my sitters as they speak on weighty topics.”

In addition to painting, Hoffer teaches studio classes and art history at North Country Community College.

“We are a poor mountain college and often my students haven’t had access to the privileges wealthier and less rural communities offer,” she said. “It means a lot to me to contribute something good to the community where I live.”

And just like her students, Hoffer is still learning — from her students and from the chemists at the Golden paint factory. She applied for the residency because she wanted to research how different grounds affect her paintings.

“I was using the same oil paint with the same result and, even though I knew I could craft a good painting, I just wanted to learn new things,” she said in a video interview conducted during the residency. “I did a lot of experimenting on the surfaces with gesso and color, and that was really interesting to me. Just by changing up my ground, it created a whole new painting experience for me.”

Hoffer said she loved collaborating with the artists and chemists. “I learned why freezing my oil paint to both stiffen and slow the drying process works,” she said in an interview with the Schweinfurth. “I learned why refining the pigments differently is important and results in differing vibrancy, opacity, and translucence. Of course these different properties of oil paint are interesting to the painter.”

During the week of July 25-28, 2023, a group of 84 Native youth participated in IndigeSTEAM; a weeklong summer engagement program where 9-12th grade students accelerate their academic preparation for college, explore Indigenous-led, culturally relevant and immersive programming in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), along with exploring careers in health sciences and medicine.

The University of Utah American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) in partnership with the U’s Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and Honors College hosted IndigeSTEAM, part of larger institutional efforts to build sustainable pathway programs for Native/Indigenous students to study at the university. The program helps advance the health, well-being, and academic success of tribal communities across the state. These efforts ensure tribal sovereignty through collaboration with tribal nations and further the institution’s commitment to the University of Utah land acknowledgment.

“The goal of the program is to ensure college readiness, provide an on-campus experience to motivate students to complete high school, and strengthen cultural identity and belonging by emphasizing cultural knowledge and traditional ways of learning,” said AIRC Director Samantha Eldridge.

IndigeSTEAM is funded by the 1U4U grant and in partnership with American Indian Services summer enrichment preparatory program. AIS PREP is a free educational preparatory program for Native American youth who live on or near reservations. Students experience three summers of rigorous science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) instruction, which has been proven to raise test scores by 30% and help students become ready to pursue advanced high school courses. Students traveled to the university and stayed at Kahlert Village to celebrate the completion of the AIS PREP program. This summer, the program was expanded under IndigeSTEAM to include students along the Wasatch Front. 

“AIS PREP is happy to partner with the American Indian Resource Center to bring STEAM education opportunities to our students. This is our third year bringing students to the U, and the highlight of our summer. We look forward to continuing this partnership for many years to come,” said AIS PREP Director Kevin Sekaquaptewa.

“We envision IndigeSTEAM will attract more Native/Indigenous students into medicine to improve healthcare for all,” said Donna Eldridge, director of Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She leads OHEDI’s tribal outreach and engagement initiatives to address the under-representation of Native/Indigenous students in STEM disciplines and increase the number of AI/ANs in health careers and medicine.

“I would like to acknowledge that the program allows indigenous high school students to explore degrees/careers at the University of Utah and connect to indigenous college students in STEAM,” said Dylan Bia of the Native American Research Internship (NARI) and Medical Admissions Preparatory Program (MAPP). “IndigeSTEAM embodies native ideologies of a strong community focus and holistic perspective to support every student’s journey in higher education.”

A hands-on suturing workshop helped students learn about basic suturing techniques from second-year medical students, Jenna Murray and Caroline Nelson, co-founders of the university’s first formal chapter of the Association of Native American Medical Students.

“Programs like IndigeSTEAM are invaluable as they not only show students how fun science and medicine can be, but they also connect them with Native role models who have pursued higher education,” said Jenna Murray. “The goal of our workshop was to show students that they can grow up to be physicians just like us, and that there is support for them along the way.” 

“Providing avenues for young indigenous students to see representation in historically underrepresented fields, though thoughtfully constructed and culturally conscious programs such as IndigeSTEAM, is an incredible way to encourage students to believe in themselves,” added Caroline Nelson.

Students visited the Department of Anesthesiology Center for Patient Simulation with hands-on practice on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), intubation, and ultrasounds with Dr. Ken Johnson.

“We are grateful to the IndigeSTEAM program organizers for their initiative to bring students to learn about some of the many educational opportunities the University of Utah has to offer,” he said.

The experience for many was the first step to seeing themselves on a college campus. Students also visited the Crocker Science Center Laboratory, Honors College, Rice-Eccles Stadium and participated in workshops facilitated by Turtle Island Art Collective and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The event instilled a sense of belonging for many as they began to imagine post-secondary possibilities. 

“It is always refreshing to see young Indigenous youth on campus, it is a good reminder of how important our work as the AIRC is in fostering community and a sense of belonging for the next generation of young Indigenous scholars,” said AIRC program manager Tashina Barber.

SALAMANCA — For the first time in 45 years, the Salamanca “Warrior” logo is going to look a little different.

The traditional school logo of a Seneca male, originally designed by Carson Waterman and introduced in 1978, has received an update from the Seneca artist. The Board of Education adopted the updated design as the district’s official logo Tuesday.

The Seneca Nation granted the Salamanca City Central School District permission to continue using the logo and Warrior nickname in May after the New York State Board of Regents announced in 2022 that public schools with Indigenous nicknames, logos or mascots must change them. The only exception was if a federally recognized tribe residing in New York gave a district permission.

“We went through a rather rigorous process for several months gathering community feedback,” said Dr. Mark Beehler, district superintendent. During one a public feedback session, Waterman presented an updated version of the logo for the school if the district were granted permission to continue using it, Beehler said.

“We then collaborated and worked with the Seneca Nation, and through their efforts they endorsed that, and we continue to use the logo that we have, what we refer to as our Warrior logo, and continue to be the Warriors,” he said.

The updated logo is very similar to the logo the district has used since the 1970s, Beehler said, but there are also several notable changes in the design. He said the district’s Native American Curriculum Team has developed some informational material around the logo to go with it.

“Information that can be used and will be shared not only with community members but everywhere our logo goes so we have a better understanding of the logo itself,” Beehler added.

As with the original logo, the Senecas, or the Onöndowa’ga:’ people, are the “Keepers of the Western Door,” which is why the male in the logo faces west. The man in the logo also continues to wear his hair in a long braid. It is common in indigenous communities to see both men and women wear long hair in resistance to the boarding school experience of the 19th and 20th centuries when children were forced to have short haircuts.

Among the changes are to the gasto:wä’, or feathered headdress, worn only by Hodinöhsö:ni’ (Iroquois) men to identify their nation. The logo’s headdress shows one feather sticking up to indicate the Onöndowa’ga:’.

Additionally, the skin tone for the man in the logo was at Waterman’s discretion, noting that it’s an inaccurate stereotype to assume all indigenous people have the same skin tone and look alike. Waterman’s signature is also incorporated into the logo itself.

“Historically, Native American art has had the artist’s name taken away, and we wanted to do our best to try to undo that,” Beehler said. “Since this is (Waterman’s) design, we want to make sure that he was associated with it.”

Before Waterman’s original design in the mid-1970s, the district used a caricatured “American Indian” logo featuring the profile of a stereotyped indigenous person. The headdress style depicted most closely resembled that of Plains tribes in the central United States, whose homelands are more than 1,000 miles east of New York.

Most of the Salamanca school district lies within the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation. At least 30% of Salamanca students identify as Native American, with one recent poll at 38%. Additionally, many athletics teams in Salamanca have a large number of Seneca students on their rosters, with some teams, such as boys and girls lacrosse, consisting mostly of Seneca players.

The Regents board voted unanimously on the decision without discussion. The proposal was announced by the state Education Department in November 2022, and education officials began urging school boards to begin the process to change mascot images and names ever since.

The “Warriors” name has been used by Salamanca High School since at least the 1930s, with the name used several times in a 1937 yearbook. The district’s logo and identity was reaffirmed in 2001 when a similar statement made by the state Education Department required districts to decide whether to change when an initial ban on utilizing Native American name and imagery was implemented.