ASU spotlights indigenous cultures, artists with Native Now Festival

Note: Native Now festival has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2014, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
 
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Each fall, for 31 years, local entities have been exploring and celebrating indigenous cultures through Native American Recognition Days.

Arizona State University’s Deer Valley Rock Art Center has a long-standing tradition of participating in the festivities by playing host to a free, family friendly event each November.

This year’s offering is Native Now, “a festival of art, performance and cultural learning about what it means to be indigenous in Arizona today.” The event was recently highlighted in the Phoenix New Times.

The Deer Valley Rock Art Center is part of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The center – a museum, desert preserve and an archaeological park – is a sacred site to several native tribes. Its more than 1,500 petroglyphs, created over thousands of years, show that many peoples lived at or passed through the Hedgpeth Hills, physically leaving behind their mark.