2nd Annual Portal to the Past Festival Press Release
Celebrate the art and ingenuity of the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People
Cultural Coalition, Inc. and Pueblo Grande Museum present the 2nd Annual Portal to the Past Festival as a free virtual event on Sunday, October 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. Live streamed on Facebook and YouTube, the event features cultural performances of dance, music, and storytelling celebrating the engineering ingenuity of the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People.
Last year’s inaugural Portal festival unveiled the “Portal to the Past” art installation, a winner of the New Arizona Prize Water Public Art Challenge. The piece, designed by local Arizona artist Zarco Guerrero, is a sculptural gate that incorporates images acknowledging the importance of the complex canal system created by the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People that we still use today. The “Portal” is located along the Grand Canalscape offering access to the grounds of Pueblo Grande Museum and an interpretive trail highlighting the accomplishments of the first inhabitants of the Valley of the Sun.
Schedule a Watch Party with friends and family to enjoy an afternoon of entertainment on Sunday, October 4, 2020 from 2 to 4 p.m.:
STORYTELLING by Zarco Guerrero and Randy Kemp
DANCE by the Gila River Akimel Basket Dancers, Indigenous Enterprise, and Salt River Achem Aa’L Basket Dancers
MUSIC by Randy Kemp, Tony Duncan, QVLN
HISTORY with virtual tours of the Museum and the archaeological site
ART with children’s water art craft activity made with found objects from home
Visit https://www.facebook.com/culturalcoalitionaz for updates on the schedule of performances.
Visit www.culturalcoalition.com or www.pueblogrande.com for more information. This virtual program is made possible by a grant from Arizona Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities.
ABOUT CULTURAL COALITION
Cultural Coalition, Inc. is a local non-profit who has committed to supporting indigenous artists and encouraging youth arts education for over 25 years. We are dedicated to the education, promotion, and development of indigenous artists throughout Arizona. We provide our community with much needed artistic programs that highlight and amplify the cultural diversity of the Valley of the Sun.
ABOUT PUEBLO GRANDE MUSEUM
Pueblo Grande Museum is located on a 1,500 year old archaeological site once inhabited by the Ancestral Sonoran Desert people, archaeologically referred to as the Hohokam culture, located just minutes from downtown Phoenix next to Sky Harbor International Airport. This National Historic Landmark and Phoenix Point of Pride has been a part of the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department since 1929, and is the largest preserved archaeological site within Phoenix. Easily accessible by the Sky Train and the Light Rail, the museum is open 7 days a week October through April, and closed Sundays and Mondays, May through September.
ABOUT ARIZONA HUMANITIES
Mission: Arizona Humanities builds a just and civil society by creating opportunities to explore our shared human experiences through discussion, learning and reflection.
Arizona Humanities is a statewide 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1973, Arizona Humanities has supported public programs that promote understanding of the human experience with cultural, educational, and nonprofit organizations across Arizona.
NEH CARES
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
As part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) received an additional $75 million in supplemental funding to distribute as emergency relief to cultural institutions affected by the coronavirus.
Nearly $30 million of this funding has already been distributed to the state and jurisdictional humanities councils for local re-granting. The remainder will be distributed from NEH in direct grants to institutions and individuals through new NEH CARES funding opportunities.
Follow Cultural Coalition, Inc:
Website www.culturalcoalition.com
Facebook @culturalcoalitionaz
Instagram @culturalcoaz
Twitter @CulturalCoAz
YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9hsWXb8vKUDtBRnr-OoxMg/