learn INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY BY SAMANTHA TOLEDO EDUCATION ASSISTANT On October 10, 2020, the Heard Museum hosted its first in-person event since March 2020, the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, with programming dedicated to the Indigenous communities and voices of Arizona. The Heard Museum used a hybrid of in-person and virtual media to welcome our guests back with stringent precautions in order to create a safe, clean, comfortable and enjoyable visit. For the safety of our guests who could not join us in person, former Miss Navajo Nation 2017-18 Crystal Littleben, took to Facebook Live and Instagram to lead our virtual audience on a tour of the museum highlights. One stop of the virtual tour took guests through the warm and melodious guitar tunes from Grammy-nominated artist, Aaron White (Navajo/ Northern Ute). Another stop led the online viewers to the opening of the museum’s new installation, Behind the Mask: Indigenous Artists Speak Out. The face masks shown in the installation present a blank canvas for artists seeking to bring attention to the devastating effects that the
COVID-19 virus has had on Indigenous nations and the population at large. In addition to the opening, remarks were made by Heard Museum Trustee, Ginger Sykes Torres (Navajo), whose family has made and donated 400+ masks to the medical community serving the Navajo Nation. The museum virtually premiered a YouTube mask-making video with Nizhóníful Me, Caitlin O’Reilly (Navajo), which can be seen on our Heard Museum YouTube channel. Lastly, Indigenous Peoples’ Day closed with a virtual screening of Gather, a film focused on the growing movement among American Indians to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide. Above: Miss Navajo Nation 2017-18 Crystal Littleben waving to online viewers Left: Nizhóníful Me, Caitlin O'Reilly (Navajo)
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