Where might you get the most holiday gift-finding-bang-for-your-time, buck? For the 2023 holidays, consider shopping holiday markets and toy shows. Holiday markets are great places to discover locally made gifts that support Washington artisans and businesses. Consider collecting gifts at a market that gives back — several holiday markets in the Seattle area support local organizations and communities. Here are a few ideas for where to look for the perfect item for your child, partner or others.

Holidays 2023: Shop holiday markets in November

The Washington State Toy Show

If you’re a planner and like to shop early, this event is for you. Find that special gift that your little one had been asking for all year long. November 4 and 5, 12 and younger FREE.

Nutcracker Gift Show

Donate a perishable food item for Helping Hands and gain entrance into this wonderful market. From handmade stuffed animals to honey, baked good and pies we’re sure you’ll find a special treat for all on your list. November 9-12 at the Depot Art Center in Anacortes.

Latvia Christmas Bazaar
Beautiful pieces of jewelry, home goods, embroidered pillows and other Latvian treats await. November 11-12 at the Latvian Community Center in Seattle. FREE entrance.

Holiday Bookfest

Meet Pacific Northwest authors and get signed copies of their books for yourself or holiday gifts at Holiday Bookfest, 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Phinney Center. Many Children’s authors will be in attendance.

Underground Holiday Market
Visit this Shoreline market for a plethora of foods, crafts, textiles and more. November 18 at Shoreline City Hall. Don’t miss the cornucopia centerpiece workshop at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.. Admission is FREE.

Urban Craft Uprising
A craft and food show on November 18 at Magnuson Park.

Nordic Museum’s Julefest: A Nordic Christmas Celebration
Wander through the museum-turned-market as you explore Nordic dance, treats and music. Shop for one-of-a-kind gifts for loved ones. Celebrating its 45th year, the Nordic Museum hosts more than 30 local retailers and artists while exposing visitors to Nordic holidays and traditions. November 18-19, $5-10, 12 and under FREE. The ticket includes admission to the museum.

Geekcraft Expo

Support your local nerds with over 100 vendors selling unique gifts. November 24-26 at Hangar 30, Magnuson Park. Entry fees vary. See website for more details.

Duwamish Native Art Market
Head to the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center for the annual Native Art Market. On display and for purchase will be a variety of Native American art, jewelry, crafts, textiles and other authentic gifts to add to your giving list. Free entry, but go early because parking is limited. November 24-26.

Seattle Christmas Market

See live entertainment, light installations, and more while you shop this European Christmas Market at the Seattle Center. November 24-December 24. Tickets are $15+.

Making Local Market
A market that focuses on inclusivity, find an array of gifts for loved ones and yourself. November 25 at Victory Hall in SODO.

 Issaquah pop-up Artisan MarketFind artwork ranging from wood pieces to paintings, jewelry, pet portraits and distinctive specialty gift items; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 25-26 and December 9-10 Issaquah Depot Museum.

Candy Cane Wonderland

Hosting over 100 vendors, this holiday market is located at the Everett Mall. November 25 and 26, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

Magic in the Market
Make memories at Pike Place Market, with over 9 acres of shopping and holiday cheer. Don’t miss the tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. November 26 from 11:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. FREE.

Victorian Country Christmas Festival

With hundreds of exhibitors spanning over three buildings at the Washington State Fair Events Center, you’ll be feasting on treats, watching holiday performances and shopping for that perfect gift all in one go. November 30, December 1, 2, &3; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Children 11 and under FREE. Youth: $10 and Adults: $12.

Holidays 2023: Shop holiday markets in December

UrbandCraft Uprising Winter Show

Head over to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall for an evening of connection- with local vendors and artists. Over 50 businesses will be present, displaying art, jewelry, clothing and more. December 1-3. See the website for more details about the preview night.

URBAN CRAFT UPRISING

5 pm – 9 pm Fri Dec. 1, 10 am – 6 pm Sat Dec. 2, & 10 am – 5 pm Sun Dec. 3 | Seattle Center Exhibition Hall (Queen Anne) | $12 entry fee on Fri, free Sat & Sun | website

This is hands down the best of the Seattle Christmas markets. It’s where I do a ton of damage for holiday shopping (and okay, maybe some items for myself, too!). You can expect 150+ vendors together for a day of shopping, demos, and more. And this year they’re hosting a Friday preview market for a fee if you’d prefer to shop sans the crowds.

Giving Marketplace
Find unique gifts from dozens of vendors with the proceeds supporting immigrants and refugees, women and girls, global health, education, the environment, and much more. Enjoy family-friendly holiday activities and performances, then discover ways to take action on issues you care about. December 1 and 2 at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.

Edmonds Holiday Market

Edmonds Holiday Market features produce, preserves, edibles, baked goods and sweets, specialty gift items, holiday greenery and more. December 2, 9 and 16 10 a.m.-3 p.m.. FREE entrance.

Bothell Holiday Market
Head to Festival Street for holiday music, food trucks, market and more. December 2, 2 p.m.-6:30 p.m. FREE admission.

42nd Annual Winter Festival and Crafts Fair
The Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Association is at it again, organizing this year’s holiday market. More than 140 artists will be in attendance, sharing their unique gifts for purchase. December 2 and 3. Entry fee is $6.

PNW Artisans Fair
Find that one-of-a-kind gift at this market located at the Monroe Fairgrounds. December 9 and 10. FREE Admission

United Indians Native Art Market
Selling authentic Native American arts and crafts that include prints, jewelry, textiles, toys, baskets and more. December 15-17 at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Discovery Park. Admission is FREE.

Holiday Shop, Issaquah Historic Shell Station

More at Seattle’s Child:

Looking for holiday events and winter festivals? Check out events around the Seattle area

Holiday lights are beautiful! Find out where to go to see some spectacular displays

For the Reporter

A drum begins to beat faintly in the Kent classroom, quieting the chatty Lake Youngs Elementary School students in their seats.

Collectively, everyone’s attention focuses on Sondra Segundo, who begins to sing softly in her Native Haida language. The room, students and staff alike, are now captivated as Segundo ends the song with a final beat of her drum.

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Lake Youngs Elementary hosted 27 Native students on a recent November day from Lake Youngs, Scenic Hill and East Hill elementary schools, treating them to a field trip meant to expose them to their culture through music and storytelling.

Richard Summers, the Kent School District’s Native American Student & Family Liaison, described the impact of Kent students building relationships and learning more about their cultures through these events.

“It’s immeasurable,” Summers said. “For the most part, Native history and culture have been non-existent in public schools for decades, besides a page or two on the Trail of Tears, Chief Sitting Bull, Geronimo, or Chief Joseph. Cultural erasure gets mentioned a lot, but I would argue it has hit Native Americans hardest. So, when we can offer in-person, three-dimensional cultural offerings for our Native students, I think these events will stick with them for a long time and positively affect their identity development as Native people.”

The field trip’s special guest was Segundo, a multi-faceted Seattle artist and Haida Language Warrior. She was invited to present her new book, “Kúndlaan,” to the students. She also incorporated songs throughout the book’s presentation, adding a dimension that made the story come alive.

Segundo is a cultural educator, published author, and illustrator of three Haida children’s books.

“I have had Sondra present to our students and families two other times at our Native Program culture night events,” Summers said. “Her family and my family come from the same Alaska Native village, Hydaburg, Alaska, so I’ve known her family for some time.”

After the book presentation, the students bonded with each other while eating pizza and participating in an art project.

Kent School District hosts many Native cultural events throughout the school year and summer.

“Many Native students might not get too involved with their Native cultures at home or in the community as part of being ‘urbanized,’ so the influence of cultural offerings in their school lives has a giant impact,” Summers said.

Lake Youngs Elementary School is at 19660 142nd Ave. SE.

Kent School District acknowledges its district rests upon the ancestral lands of the descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who came to be known as the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, who historically lived throughout the area between the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound.

exhibition of Contemporary Native Art from the Pacific Northwest. According to PAM:

‘Selections in this gallery reveal the diversity and vitality of art from this region which draw from sources from the deep past to the present, utilizing materials ranging from natural fibers to acrylic paint.”

According to the museum:

“These two Sxwo’le Anchors emerge from his exploration of the shape of stone reef net (sxwo’le) anchors (tcilen) once used by the Lummi and other Coast Salish tribes for salmon fishing.”

More American Indian art

Indians 101: The art of Terran Last Gun (museum exhibition)

Indians 101: The Sioux Sun Dance (museum exhibition)

Indians 101: The art of Oscar Howe, 1945-1956 (museum exhibition)

Indians 101: Sunflower by Walla Walla artist James Lavadour (museum tour)

Indians 101: Glass art by Marcus Amerman with Preston Singletary (museum tour)

Indians 101: Contemporary Indian animal art (museum tour)

Indians 101: Reborn Rez Wrecks (museum tour)

Indians 101: Exploring Glass Art by Native Artists (Art Diary)

Minnesota’s most intensely debated art contest in memory is down to six designs for the next state flag and just a handful for the official seal, a tiny fraction of the more than 2,500 in total submissions.

For Brandon Hundt, that two of his submissions — one for the flag and another for the seal — remain in contention is an achievement in itself.

“This whole last 24 hours have just been surreal,” said Hundt, a Twin Cities based product designer and writer. Hundt spoke to MPR News on Wednesday after the State Emblems and Redesign Commission selected his concepts to move to final consideration.

Sarah Agaton Howes, an Ojibwe artist and small business owner, also had a design make the cut.

“I was just so excited and just thrilled to be able to even be a part of this process,” she said on Minnesota Now. “But to be able to have a flag that represents all of Minnesota is really exciting.”

Todd Pitman of St. Paul, another flag designer, created F944, which he calls “Mirror of the Sky.” The flag was a family effort: he designed it with input from his parents. 

“I just truly love my home state, and I really feel like it deserves a flag as unique and dynamic as the people who make it such a wonderful place to live,” he said.  

Designer says abstract loon was unintentional

The half-dozen finalists chosen from among the stack of serious and comical entries haven’t escaped criticism online, and the commission making the selection could refine the designs before a final vote. 

The commission hasn’t released the names of all of the designers with entries in the mix, saying it wants to contact them first. But some have been vocal about their work, even posting about their concepts while the panel deliberated on Tuesday.

Each designer said they reviewed and stuck closely to the parameters laid out by the citizen panel formed by the Legislature to pick a new flag and state seal.

The current flag and seal have similar features that depict a white farmer tilling the land as an Indigenous man rides off on a horse.

For Agaton Howes, the fact the state is replacing the emblems is important in its own right.

“The flag that we currently have is really harmful and really based on Native nations disappearing,” she said. “And so I’m really excited to just represent who we are as Minnesotans, and also, as a Native person.” 

Agaton Howes entered F1435, a flag with a prominent yellow star and green nods to nature on a blue background; the sides have yellow stripes to represent tribal nations and white ones for each of Minnesota’s 87 counties.

Hundt’s flag entry, F29, has a deep blue background with two stars overlaid, one reminiscent of a snowflake.

Hundt has been fine-tuning his flag design since 2015 when he first posted online about his distaste for a Minnesota flag he said was hardly very symbolic or distinctive and had way too much on it.

“Flags should be simple because they’re up on a flagpole, often very high,” Hundt said. “And I think that’s the thing that often gets overlooked. We need to think about how these flags are going to look on a flagpole.”

Pitman is a graphic designer, but this is outside his usual realm of web design. He committed to the task at hand, becoming a member of the North American Vexillological Association and studying up on flag design.  

He said his flag design started with a squiggle shape inspired by the aurora, mirrored on the top and bottom half. Along the way, he and his father noticed that the shape looked a little like another commonly-submitted flag feature: a loon.  

“To quote Bob Ross, let’s call it a happy accident,” he said.  

Revision process could result in changes to design

Each have girded themselves for public criticism, much of which popped up quickly online as the stack of entries was whittled to six. Hundt said he won’t have a problem if the State Emblems Redesign Commission members play around with the features or colors before picking the ultimate flag.

Hundt also has a finalist in the state seal category.

“I’m really glad there’s a revision period with the commission. That is something that is missing from a lot of other flag processes that I’ve seen when I’ve looked into them,” he said. “Because I think it’s very important to actually test how the flag would work, how the seal would work before you throw it out there fully in use.”

Agaton Howes sees it similarly.

“That’s a really important part of working in community is being willing to have that back and forth. And I do that all the time. And all my design work, whether that’s designing a wool blanket or designing an art installation, that’s just a big part of the process,” she said. “And I’m here for it. I’m ready for it.”

‘Flags are really powerful’

The final selections will be made by the end of the year. The Legislature can vote to block them but if that doesn’t happen the emblems will take hold on May 11 — Statehood Day.

If their design is chosen in whole or in part, the artists will get some public recognition. But there won’t be prize money or any other direct compensation. 

Pitman said he is excited to see a new state flag. 

“I know that the decision is in good hands, no matter the outcome,” he said.

Agaton Howes said her reward will be a sense of pride. 

“I think that flags are really powerful. And I think that their way to claim it space, and I really want to have an image that I can my kids can feel proud of, that our communities can feel proud of,” she said. “And I’m absolutely willing to do that.”

Pitman said all six are “very strong contenders.”

“I’m obviously very biased, but I think that no matter what … all Minnesotans will be able to be proud to look up at the flagpole on May 11th and say, ‘That’s my flag, that’s my state.’”    

Do you know who designed the other flag finalists? Let us know by emailing tell@mpr.org.

This recast cultural geography suffuses form and content, from SANAA’s Japanese-inflected reading of Sydney’s landscape as a set of stepping platforms, to the curatorial decisions shaping the opening commissions. Major inaugural works include Korean artist Kimsooja’s participatory Archive of Mind; Maori artist Lisa Reihana’s videowork Groundloop; Taiwanese-American artist Lee Mingwei’s spatial insertion Spirit House; and Argentinian-Peruvian artist Adrián Villar Rojas’s astonishing monumental installation The End of Imagination, installed in the Stygian depths of the Tank.

The Sydney Opera House remains the acme of the architectural icon. Sydney Modern is its inverse: an anti-icon, loose and plural, with landscape as its guiding principle. Critics, fear not: here the art is the heart.

Sydney Modern, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo: © Iwan Baan

Nov 22, 2023 10:38 PM IST

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BN Goswamy shifted the focus from art patrons to master painters by reconstructing their lives through a combination of brilliant detective work and intuition

I was devastated to hear of the death of my beloved friend and mentor, BN Goswamy. He was unquestionably India’s greatest art historian, as well as one of the wisest, most elegant and generous men I have ever met. He was a warm friend, a rigorous scholar, a fabulous writer and an entrancing speaker who every year hypnotised the audience of the Jaipur Literature Festival from Boulder to the Maldives, from the British Library to Rajasthan. He changed our understanding of Indian art history forever.

PREMIUM

Before Goswamy, most historians of Indian art tended to look at their subjects from the point of view of the patron. The great master bronzes of southern India are known after their Pallava and Chola patrons; the most accomplished court miniatures, such as the Padshahnama of Shah Jahan, tend to be seen through the prism of the Mughals who commissioned them. The patronage of individual rulers is the subject of detailed academic studies and exhibitions. But until Goswamy, few scholars had ever attempted to look at the production of Indian art from the point of view of the artists.

There is a reason for this. Very little evidence survives to illuminate the lives of Indian artists. All we have to go on is a series of minute inscriptions, often hidden in the details of paintings, sometimes in a deliberately humble position: The Mughal master Abu’l Hasan — who won the title Nadir al-Zaman, “Wonder of the Times” from Jahangir — deliberately chose to sign his name on the spade used to clear up the dung of his patron’s elephant.

Goswamy worked for nearly five decades to look down the other end of the art historical telescope. Like an Indian avatar of Bernard Berenson excavating in the Tuscan Ducal archives to unearth the bills of exchange between the artists and patrons which would enable him to provide attributions to a host of anonymous canvases, Goswamy has succeeded in reconstructing whole dynasties of previously obscure artists, given them names, and restored their identities and honour.

This is no easy task. Many painters came from the humble carpenter’s caste, who in ancient India ranked alongside lowly musicians and dancing girls. There survives in the Jehangir Album, now in Berlin, a heartbreaking self-portrait of the Mughal master painter, Keshav Das, coming in old age to beg for assistance from his former patron. The old artist shows himself ragged, hollow-chested, bowed and emaciated. In his hands, he holds a petition to the emperor who had once numbered him as among the greatest talents of his court. But even before the old man can present himself, a lathi-wielding attendant advances on him, stick raised, driving him back. In a similar mood, a moving letter found by Goswamy was written by the 18th century painter Shiba asking his patron Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra for permission to return home, “for your humble servant here has fallen on bad days. Your servant has been living on debt, but now no one will give him a loan. He is helpless and goes without food.”

In 1968, Goswamy wrote a ground-breaking article, “Pahari Painting: The Family as the Basis of Style”. Employing a combination of brilliant detective work and intuition, Goswamy managed to marry together the evidence from inscriptions on the back of miniatures with 18th century pilgrim records kept in Haridwar. In this way, he reconstructed the entire family network of arguably the greatest of all Indian painter families — that of Pandit Seu and his great sons, Nainsukh and Manaku, as well as their many artist grandchildren.

He then showed how many members of the family shared a common style, and that their mobility between different patrons effectively made nonsense of the existing system of categorising miniatures by courts and patrons. What was important, Goswamy showed, was not where a particular painting was produced, or who paid the bills, but instead which artist, or family of artists, was holding the brush. Court styles could vary hugely, depending on who was at work; but different families shared common techniques and stylistic idiosyncrasies.

After that Goswamy worked at reconstructing the lives first of the painters of the Punjab hills, and then of those working elsewhere in India. The culmination of his work was the Masters of Indian Painting show 10 years ago, which travelled from Zurich to New York and amounted to a dramatic re-evaluation of the human and biographical reality behind Indian painting. Then followed The Spirit of Indian Painting, a book that was in many ways the summation of Goswamy’s whole career, as he attempted to get inside the heads of those artists to understand what made them paint the way they did, how they came to choose their iconography and what were the daily circumstances of their lives.

What Goswamy achieved was no easy task. As he noted, we are dealing with “a world of silence in which one has to strain very hard to pick up whispers from the past… a layered world that does not reveal all its treasures immediately…. One has to fall back on one’s own resources [to deploy] the patience to piece things together, the willingness to construct a narrative, the imagination to flesh it out…. One needs to make an effort to receive from these paintings all the riches that reside within.”

But if we strain hard, he said, it is still possible to “feel the breath of those times — even if lightly — upon our skin,” and so gain access to the highest state of pure aesthetic pleasure — to experience what Indian aesthetic theory describes as romaharsha, meaning literally, “the hair on my body has become happy”.

Goswamy has now put down his pen forever. But those who read his work will still be able to follow him into the workshops of his painters as they collect their materials — brushes made from a single hair from a calf’s ear or a squirrel’s tail — or as they grind their pigments from Afghan lapis, a particular saffron derived from the flower of the palash tree or the gao-goli yellow, concocted from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves. Goswamy had no equal, but his legacy will live on to guide, instruct and teach those of us who attempt to stumble along in his footsteps.

William Dalrymple is a historian, art historian and curator. The views expressed are personal

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Attendance is up 70% from pre-pandemic years – and this time more locals than tourists are coming for the exhibitions and events.

Alona Norton-Westbrook and her team recognize their double duty at HoMA, the Honolulu Museum of Art: build upon the museum’s legacy while adapting to a rapidly changing world.

“As a nearly 100-year-old nonprofit, we have a special obligation, commitment and connection to the community that we have to constantly nurture and strengthen and grow in a continual way,” says Norton-Westbrook, who became HoMA’s director in January 2020 – two months before the Covid pandemic began.

“Coming out of the pandemic, there’s so much in our society that is being reorganized, renegotiated and reconsidered. So, the business model has to be somewhat flexible. You must have a structure, goals and direction, but you also must be responsive to the fact that this is a time of massive societal change.”

These days, the museum is open until 9 on Friday and Saturday evenings so more working people can visit. And HoMA brought back the Honolulu Surf Film Festival as a fully in-person event this year at its Doris Duke Theatre.

Attendance is up 70% from pre-pandemic numbers and museum engagement has increased four-fold compared with the 2021-22 fiscal year. That engagement includes more people participating in its Art School classes, in-museum activities, tours, workshops, online programs, Family Sunday storytelling and other programs.

Before the pandemic, more tourists than residents visited the museum. Now the ratio has switched, HoMA says.

Among the things that haven’t changed are HoMA’s showcasing exhibitions from local artists and reflecting the diversity of the Islands. Recently, the museum helped launch the careers of Native Hawaiian artist Noah Harders and Korean American artist Lauren Hana Chai, Norton-Westbrook says.

“I think we’re on a good trajectory but there’s always more that we can do, such as getting the word out about the museum and all the different things to see as well as intentionally building local relationships with individuals and organizations.”

She says audience feedback helps the museum understand how to explain and present the nuances and stories of its art in a way that connects to people’s personal experiences.

“The arts contribute to a holistic, fulfilling life. As humans we need time for reflection and appreciation of other cultures and viewpoints. We need time to experience beauty to heal and process things, and I think the museum plays a critical role in providing that space for people,” she says.

HoMA has been doing that since it opened to the public in 1927. Its main funding comes from admission fees, philanthropic donations and the museum’s endowment. Its biggest expense is its staff of 150 employees, whose knowledge and experience the museum depends upon, Norton-Westbrook says.

“Museums are both a business and a mission-driven organization. You can’t let one outweigh the other. There is also the balance of honoring the history but envisioning a further future. In that way this nonprofit is more complex than a for-profit company.”

Norton-Westbrook draws on her own experience and expertise to help lead HoMA. Before coming to Hawai‘i, she was director of curatorial affairs and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a doctorate in museology from the University of Manchester.

One way people can support the museum is to spread the word, she says.

“It makes a huge difference to us when people bring their friends, tell their friends how much they love the museum, and become a member,” she says. “That really helps the entire operation and is meaningful to us in terms of keeping our nonprofit going and being here for another 100 years.”

The nonprofit global arts organization Sundance Institute and the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado announced today that the Stanley Hotel will host the Institute’s signature Directors Lab in 2024 with support from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). For over four decades, Sundance Institute labs have brought together promising new independent storytellers with accomplished artists to develop new work and build a long-lasting, vibrant community. 

The Directors Lab nurtures diverse, original voices through an immersive filmmaking experience over two to three weeks every summer. Connected to nature, the lab creates a safe, inclusive space for first-time feature directors to rehearse, shoot, and edit scenes that will build their skills working with actors, exploring text, and finding the visual language and aesthetic for their films.

For over 40 years, the Directors Lab has taken place in the founding location of the Sundance Resort in Utah. Next year, the lab will relocate to Colorado while construction in outdoor areas and primary shooting locations takes place to enhance the Sundance property. 

“We are grateful for the opportunity to bring the Directors Lab to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. In identifying a host for our Directors Lab, it was essential to find a space that was surrounded by nature for artists to create, had multiple environments for shooting, and could be an environment where artists could leave behind the distractions of everyday life and immerse themselves in their projects. We are deeply grateful to both the Stanley Hotel and the state of Colorado for welcoming the Directors Lab to Colorado,” said Michelle Satter, founding senior director of artist programs at Sundance Institute. 

“We are pleased to welcome the Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab to Colorado in 2024. The Stanley Hotel and Estes Park will provide inspiring backdrops for this prestigious workshop and showcase the many resources our state offers the film industry, including the unparalleled natural beauty of filming locations,” said Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman.

“The Stanley is very pleased to continue its long tradition of supporting the arts and honored to have Sundance and all of their creative partners here,” said John Cullen, owner of the iconic hotel since 1996. “I look forward to hosting and seeing what happens when hundreds of such talented people come together to the Colorado mountains to share their skills and experiences in such a collaborative environment.”

Sundance Institute Labs for emerging artists take place throughout the year at locations across the country. In addition to the Directors Lab at the Stanley Hotel, the following labs will take place in 2024: the January Screenwriters Lab and Episodic Lab at the Sundance Resort in Utah, the Native Lab in New Mexico, the Ignite Lab at MASS MoCA in Massachusetts, and the Producers Lab at UCross Foundation in Wyoming.   

The Directors Lab is an essential component of the year-round Feature Film Program (FFP), which also includes the January Screenwriters Lab, March Screenwriters Intensive, June Screenwriters Lab, Producers Lab, and year-long fellowships, granting, and a continuum of customized support. The labs have supported many of the leading and award-winning artists who have defined the independent film ecosystem, including A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand and One), Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me), Sterlin Harjo (Four Sheets to the Wind), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball), The Daniels (Swiss Army Man), Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight), and Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) among many others.

The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; The Asian American Foundation (TAAF); United Airlines; Hartbeat; The Walt Disney Company; Maja Kristin; Kimberly Steward—K Period Media; NBCUniversal; Golden Globe Foundation; Ray and Dagmar Dolby Fund; National Endowment for the Arts; NHK/NHK Enterprises, Inc.; Levantine Films; Max Rifkind-Barron; Directors Guild of America; T-Street Productions; Rosalie Swedlin and Robert Cort; Deborah Reinisch and Michael Theodore Fund; Octavia Spencer; Scott and Jennifer Frank.

Friday is Native American Heritage Day, so celebrate by making plans to attend the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Art Market, which returns to the museums in Washington, D.C., and New York next weekend, on December 2nd and 3rd. This annual event invites lovers of art and craftsmanship to meet Indigenous artists and learn about traditional Native arts and contemporary Native creativity. At each location, more than 30 artists will offer authentic, hand-crafted works of art, including jewelry, fashion, photography, and pottery. Serious collectors and casual shoppers will find one-of-a-kind pieces at a wide range of prices.

During the market, guests will enjoy music by singer/songwriter Jesse Alan Horn (Potawatomi Nation) and DJ JonRay in New York; and multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer Quetzal Guerrero, known as QVLN, along with DJ Sunny Z, at the museum on the National Mall.

Museum members will have early access to the market during a preview party at both locations, on December 1st, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Textile and Attire-related artists include:

Washington, D.C.
Porfirio Gutierrez (Zapotec)
Susan Hudson (Navajo)
Weaving for the Future Cooperative (Maya-Mam)
Glendebah Smith (Navajo)

New York
Bobby Brower (Inupiaq/Native Village of Barrow)
Charlene Laughing (Navajo)
Penny Singer (Diné)

There will also be a wide range of jewelry designers, as well as artisans in basketry, pottery, beadwork, and much more.

Major funding for this program is provided by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

Image above, work of Porfirio Gutierrez by Joe Coca