KU First Nations Student Association to host annual powwow, Indigenous Cultures Festival in early April

photo by: Mike Yoder

In this file photo, a dancer competes in an event during the 33rd Annual KU Powwow, hosted by KU’s First Nations Student Association. Last year, the event was held at the Lied Center on Saturday, April 9, 2022.

The University of Kansas First Nations Student Association is set to host its 34th annual powwow and sixth annual Indigenous Cultures Festival at the beginning of April.

The annual powwow celebrates the diversity of Indigenous cultures through dance, song and honoring ancestral traditions. This year, events are set to take place from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 8 at the Lied Center, 1600 Stewart Drive.

The day will start with a tipi raising on the Lied Center’s lawn at 9 a.m. One new element this year will be gourd dancing to welcome and honor elite military combat warriors through song and dance; the practice will take place at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Also throughout the day, folks will be able to attend a number of informational workshops and activities about Indigenous books, finger weaving and art. A full schedule of events is available on KU’s website.

The event is free and open to the public, but event organizers are recommending that guests bring cash to purchase food and other items.

In addition to the event April 8, a number of in-person and virtual events will take place earlier in the week:

• On April 5 at 7 p.m., FNSA will host a film screening of “Beans,” a 2020 film about the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec, at Haskell Indian Nations University’s auditorium.

• On April 6 at 4 p.m., Cornel Pewewardy, the vice chairman of the Comanche Nation and professor of practice in the school of education at Kansas State University, will give a public talk at the Jayhawk Welcome Center, 1502 Iowa St.

• On April 7 at 7:30 p.m., the Lied Center will present “Bone Hill — The Concert” featuring Native American singer Martha Redbone. The concert is inspired by Redbone’s life and stories of the women she descended from, with music from traditional Cherokee songs and lullabies to bluegrass, gospel and jazz. Tickets are available through the Lied Center.

For more information, visit fnsapowwow.ku.edu or contact Laura Kingston at kupowwowfestival@gmail.com.

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