Sandra Hale Schulman
ICT
The latest: Dancers and drones, A-list Native art in Los Angeles, Indigenous House podcast premieres
POWWOW: Pechanga wows, Seminole up next
The wildly colorful powwow last weekend in Pechanga kicked off the new years season with three days of competition dancing, specials, food, vendors, and a wow of a drone show.
More than 800 dancers descended on the lush valley home of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula, California, at their Pechanga Resort Casino that is also home to a spa and golf course set against mountains.
“Pechanga” comes from a spring (Pecháa’a) near where they settled after displacement, meaning “the place where water drips.” The event was streamed live on Powwows.com to over a million people in 127 countries.
Saturday night an inventive drone show from Creative Skies Drones awed viewers over the golf course with 600 drones that morphed from drummers to dancers to landscapes to a final waterfall as the twinkling drones descended back to earth. Seen at the powwow were actor and singer Pat Vegas; dancer, filmmaker, and cultural leader Kenneth Shirley; and N8IV Beauty’s Ruth Ann Thorn.
With a strong connection to the land and creation stories tied to Temecula (Teméeku) and traditions that involve the oak tree and its acorns, Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro gave a private tour of their Great Oak, known as Wi’áaşal by Pechanga people, the largest naturally grown Indigenous coast live oak in the Western United States. This massive giant’s trunk is more than 20 feet in circumference, and over 100 feet tall. Wi’áaşal’s largest branches reach the ground in multiple places supporting the tree’s weight and creating a sheltering canopy for generations of people and animals. The Great Oak is estimated to be almost 2,000 years old.
A strong Leonard Peltier connection ran through the powwow as Holly Cook-Macarro, a policy advisor with NDN Collective, who helped free Peltier last year, was present. She was at his prison the day his clemency was announced almost a year ago on Jan. 20 and that scene is featured in the film “Free Leonard Peltier” executive produced by Jodi Archambault and Jhane Myers, who both danced in the weekend’s competition. Peltier himself called in from his home in Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota to wish the dancers luck.
Up next is the Seminole Fair & Powwow Jan 29-Feb. 1 in Hollywood, Florida, and the fourth annual Indigenous Arts and Music Festival in Big Cypress, Florida, set for Feb. 5-7 on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. The festival will showcase engaging Indigenous performers from across the US and Canada. Blaine Bailey will co-headline the Friday evening concert. Bailey has carved a distinctive voice in the music world. Growing up in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, he was surrounded by the blues-infused sounds of his Keetoowah elders.
The Seminole Fair is at the massive Hard Rock Guitar Hotel complex and will feature powwow dancers, dozens of vendors, art and fashion exhibits. The Native Reel Cinema Festival will screen a preview of “Becoming Buffalo” from director, writer and star Montana Cypress, Miccosukee, a political thriller about how Buffalo Tiger gained federal recognition for the Miccosukee tribe in the 1950s, playing the US against Fidel Castro in Cuba and became their first chief. There will be music from award winner Keith Secola and a tribute to the late Graham Greene.
ART: New LA gallery spotlights top Native art
Set in the Frank Gehry–designed Edgemar complex in Ocean Park, Santa Monica, a new gallery for Native art is designed for elevated client engagement, scholarship and curated exhibitions. Trotto-Bono Contemporary, owned and curated by James Trotto-Bono, has championed Indigenous artists who redefine the landscape of 20th and 21st century art. He sees contemporary Native American art as a field experiencing a transformative and long-overdue rise across institutions, collectors and the global market.
Trotto-Bono regularly curates edgy, informative exhibits in Santa Fe during Indian Market.
James said: “Our program continues to spotlight this powerful ascent – an area where we are honored to be at the forefront – while presenting a broader range of artists shaping today’s cultural discourse. Our gallery offers a setting where artworks can be experienced with clarity, context and depth.”
James Trotto-Bono at his gallery in Santa Monica with art by Fritz Scholder and Cara Romero. Credit: Sandra Schulman/ICT
The airy high ceiling space has a current show with work not often seen by top indigenous artists.
A new work from master Kent Monkman, Study for the Going Home Star, 2025, depicts young boys who are at work camp yearning to go home by using the stars.
“Many of our Elders and ancestors ran away from harm they experienced at the children’s work camps during the century that this ruthless assimilationist system was strictly enforced by government policy,” Monkman said of the painting. “Some of the children did not survive their journey home, which often involved travelling hundreds of miles by foot in unforgiving weather and rugged terrains. The tender-aged children in Study for The Going Home Star are depicted navigating their escape. The Going Home Star — kîwêtin acâhkos in Cree astronomy, known to some as Polaris, the North Star — stands still in the night sky, acting as a guide for travellers. Using traditional knowledge, the children plot their way home while the shadows of thunderbirds — their protectors — pass over them in the approaching dusk.”
Untitled (Buffalo Skull), circa 1970 by Fritz Scholder is a standout, a circular painting that reclaims and reinvents the visual language of the Native American shield and repositions it as large-scale contemporary art. Set against a stark white background, a large buffalo skull sits in the center as a symbol of protection, sustenance, and spiritual power. A violent splatter of red paint cuts diagonally across the surface, bleeding into the skull itself. Scholder propels this image into the realm of Pop Art declaration and confrontation.
In Big Wolf Dancer, Rick Bartow presents a rare personal self-portrait where he is bound to the wolf in a moment of transformation. While Bartow frequently depicted dogs and coyotes, this is one of the few works where he identifies the animal specifically as wolf—a figure tied to ceremony, endurance, and spiritual lineage.
PODCASTS: Cultural disruptors in cyber space
Indigenous House, the new digital media platform and YouTube channel that celebrates Indigenous voices and creators, has debuted an inaugural video podcast, JADED, a series hosted by Indigenous organizer, impact producer, and storyteller Jade Begay. The series gives a place for cultural disruptors to have raw conversations about topics such as leadership failures, the unglamorous side of success, and maintaining identity.
In the first episode from Jan. 7, Jade speaks with social media personality, political commentator, and comedian, Suzanne Lambert – known as the ‘Regina George of the Left’ discussing political satire, dark humor, and the art of staying grounded while the ‘manosphere’ watches.
Upcoming guests for JADED’s first season include politicians, actors, activists and internet personalities with episodes featuring Dallas Goldtooth, Hope Walz, Kahlil Greene**,** and Deb Haaland.
“For me, JADED is personal,” Begay said. “I wanted to create a space where people shaping culture and creating real change can be honest about what it costs to care deeply, from burnout and self-doubt to moments of reflection, without losing their humor or humanity. Being jaded doesn’t mean you’ve stopped caring. It means you’ve seen enough to ask better questions. We need conversations right now that feel real, grounded, and open, and that’s what JADED aims to offer.”
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have JADED as the premiere podcast of Indigenous House, the first in a lineup of thought provoking and engaging content coming this year,” said Indigenous House Co-FounderCrystal Echo Hawk. “Jade is a needed voice in the podcast world. Not only does she speak to our Indigenous community but her work as an organizer and impact producer provides her with a unique lens that speaks to a broader audience that’s not only relevant for right now – but needed.”
The podcast is produced by Indigenous House, Peshawn Bread, Patrick Smith and Lathien Pictures.
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