Panels and Performances
Please see below for a full list of our panels, performances, and highlights of the festival!
Friday June 9th, 2023 McNichols Civic Center
4pm-7pm - Show floor open to weekend pass holders
4:15pm- 4:45pm -Welcome and Ofrenda Exhibition opening blessing featuring Danza Azteca Grupo Huitzilopochtli
5:30pm-7pm -DJ, Lvl 3 stage Machu Linea
Desert provided by Cultura Chocolate Drinks provided by Co.Co.
Special thanks to Liquid Death Water
*Partnering Event
6pm-10pm - RezMetal Concert at Levitt Pavillion
Saturday June 10th, 2023 McNichols Civic Center
11:30am
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12pm
Travis Mammedaty Lvl 3 Main Stage
Travis Mammedaty is a Kiowa/Seneca-Cayuga artist Join him for a demonstration and a lesson in drum songs and their meanings.
12pm
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12:30pm
United Indigenous Dancers Lvl 3 Main Stage
The United Indigenous Dancers are a cultural awareness dance group founded in 2015. In this performance, they will be showcasing powwow dance styles and sharing the stories behind them.
12:45pm
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1:45pm
Live Art Collaboration Lvl 3 Main Stage
Join special guest Wendy Pini and ayA Con organizer Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand for a rare live art collaboration!
2pm
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2:30pm
The Social System Lvl 3 Main Stage
Niko Martinez, known by his artist name “Social System” is a dual spirit creator based entirely on originality. His lyrics bounce back with a specific lyrical technique that brings out the pride he has in his native people and the inspiration he draws from Hip-Hop.
3pm
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3:30pm
Cipriano Lvl 3 Main Stage
Cipriano is a Latin Low Rock trio based in Denver Colorado. Cipriano uses both indigenous and Latin elements in his music.
4pm
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4:30pm
Ailani Lvl 3 Main Stage
Ailani is an 19 -year old singer-songwriter with multiple releases. Ailani’s music has a heartfelt indie pop-rock feel.
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4:45pm
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5:15pm
Sage Bond Lvl 3 Main Stage
Hailing from the Four Corners region within the Navajo Nation, Sage Bond writes with the influences of personal life, culture, and heavy metal.
Saturday June 10th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Wild Plum room
10:30am
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11:25am
Streaming with 5elect 5creen
With over 1.7k followers on Facebook, 5elect5creen strives to build a safe community where viewers can watch game play throughs, reactions, movie reviews, and sports news. The 5elect5creen channel is brother/sister duo of creatives from Colorado that enjoy media creation. Using Twitch, Youtube, and other social media platforms to creatively share with the world, they are committed to bringing clean quality content while building an interactive community. #chooseurdestiny and follow us on linktr.ee/5elect5creen
11:30am
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12:25pm
Skobots! Indigenous languages & Robots!
Join special guest Danielle Boyer and the first cultural robot... designed entirely by Indigenous leaders. A personalized, wearable, and interactive Indigenous language revitalization robot that senses motion and speaks our languages. The students build the robots themselves. Built to take tech learning out of the classroom, the robots were made to supplement community language learning for free. It has been a success in enabling our youth to bring the robots home to learn with their families and in creating learning tools they resonate with.
1:30pm
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2:25pm
Mapping Interior of Indigenous Horror
Mapping the Interior of Indigenous Horror: An exploration and celebration of Indigenous Horror and its impact on pop culture.
Saturday June 10th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Ruby Red room
10:30am
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11:25am
How to Draw Manga Art Making
Join manga artist Nightmaric Spirit and members of Nan Desu Kan (Colorado's premiere anime convention) to learn about personalized manga style and how to create your own manga characters!
11:30am
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12:25pm
Aspiring Artist Assemble!
Participants of our Novice Artist Program voice their experiences and dreams as artists embarking on journeys to build a career path, side hustles, and new opportunities to creatively explore.
1:30pm
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2:25pm
Healing Power of Music
Join musical doula, Melissa Ivey in a musical panel as she shares the many projects she is working on and how she uses music to heal and connect intergenerationally with community.
2:30pm
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3:25pm
“Hoops of Destiny”
A 3-person team that is working together on an indigenous comic. Based on hoop dancers that are superhero’s in a post-apocalyptic world that has been invaded by aliens. They are time traveling and into different worlds n out and magic and indigenous unity TEAM work. We also have other creators that have come on board to support us. You will meet the creator of “Hoops of Destiny” Antony Falcon the brains behind this. Artist and Pencils by Casey Mike and co-writer and actual hoop dancer ShanDien LaRance.
Saturday June 10th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Sky Blue room
10:30am
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11:25am
Closet Cosplay & Cultural Twists
Special guest, Wendy Pini, and Tomorrow Maker Films founder, Marcos Garibay, host an informative artmaking activity all about cosplay and personalizing characters.
11:30am
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12:25pm
Radical Imagination and Indigenous Futures
Youth will learn about Radical Imagination and Indigenous Futurism as a tool for their personal
self-preservation and to gain radical hope in trying and difficult times that they will face as
Indigenous peoples. This lesson seeks to help youth honor their shared knowledge and stories
for the future by reflecting on the past and present. In this lesson, youth will see examples of
Radical Imagination from Black and Indigenous poets or artists, and will create their own
poem that uses a radical imagination technique.
1:30pm
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2:25pm
Special Makeup Effects Special guest, season 6 winner of Face Off, Rashaad Santiago shares his journey as a makeup effects artist and how it lead to having his own studio, and a career making monster movie effects full-time.
2:30pm
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3:25pm
Augmented Reality and AI Augmented reality artists, special guests, Marlena Myles, and Sabastian Bustos share a discussion about the use of AR and AI in contemporary Indigenous art
3:30pm
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4:25pm
That’s My Jam- Karaoke games Do you like to sing along with Disney songs? Are you the Karaoke king/queen of your hometown? Then this melody-making panel is for you! Break the ice with creative song-based games and win small prizes!
Sunday June 11th, 2023 McNichols Civic Center
11:30am
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12pm
Cross Centered Records Lvl 3 Main Stage
Cross Centered Records consists of 5elect 5creen, Kim Seaborn, Moriah Seaborn, Saint Boy Reggie, and Kemoy Music to "Move The Gospel."
12pm
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12:30pm
Michael Tafoya Lvl 3 Main Stage
EMCEE, Audio Engineer, Chef, & Father; These are only a few titles that help crown this prolific hip-hop lyricist, EK's Interminable quest to build & innovate has allowed him to reach audiences from the greater southwest to the UK.
12:45pm
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1:45pm
Indigenous Knowledge in ElfQuest Lvl 3 Main Stage
Join ElfQuest creator Wendy Pini in a deep conversation about the influences of family, connection and, tribal communities in the beloved fantasy series.
2pm
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2:30pm
Native Comedy Lvl 3 Main Stage
Join Comic Joshua Emerson and friends for a few laughs in our Native Comedy hour.
3pm
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3:30pm
Slam Numba Lvl 3 Main Stage
The mission of Slam Nuba is to promote the creation and performance of poetry, by cultivating literary activities and engaging community through the power of the written and spoken word.
4pm
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4:30pm
Dance Challenge Lvl 3 Main Stage
It's a cosplay party! Show off your cosplay and get your dance on before our big Futurism Fashion show! How many Kpop, and social dances do you know? (cosplay is not required to participate)
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Sunday June 11th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Wild Plum room
10:30am
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11:25am
Make your own comic page! Artmaking Activity
Join independent comic creators in a fun artmaking activity about creating your own comic page! Already have a comic that you've been working on? Tell our artists about it and build a network!
11:30am
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12:25pm
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Rez Style
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: Rez Style is a creative discussion of the trauma, recovery and resilience of Indigenous people from a pop cultural lens made popular by George A. Romero and The Walking Dead. It is an exploration of the way that Indigenous knowledge, science, weaponry and values helped Indigenous communities survive in the aftermath of their own apocalyptic realities and how it has prepared them to survive anything, especially ZOMBIES. It is a fun and unique way to discuss trauma and recovery with youth and young adults.
1:30pm
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3:30pm
Tomorrow Maker Film screening
Join the members of Tomorrow Maker Films in a brief panel about their non-profit student lead production company. Followed by a screening of their movies and films that are coming soon!
Sunday June 11th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Ruby Red room
10:30am
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11:25am
Indigenous Writers & Representation in Literature
The publishing world has been particularly challenging for Indigenous writers who have had stories stolen, mistold, and misrepresented, for centuries. Join this panel featuring poets Crisosto Apache, Franklin Cruz, and other writers, storytellers, and waymakers as they discuss their approaches to creating pathways for Indigenous stories to be heard. Presented by The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary.
11:30am
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12:25pm
Fandom and Mental Health
Come join in a discussion with Equilibrium Counseling Services about the intersection of fandom and mental health.
1:30pm
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2:25pm
Paper Cosplay! Artmaking Activity
Stop in for some fun paper crafts and even make some cosplay-based things to wear!
Sunday June 11th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
Sky Blue room
10:30am
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11:25am
How to make life work with ADHD/ASD.
Many of us deal with ADHD/ASD in our everyday lives. For a lot of us, it’s super disruptive. Join artist
Guy Davis (An ADD’er himself) as he talks about what ADHD/ASD is and shows some techniques on how to compensate for Executive Function failure as well as some tactics to help with navigating the social world.
11:30am
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12:25pm
Decolonization and Speaking Your Truth
Youth will look at the difference between colonization and decolonization, examples of poetry
written in a historical framework on these topics, share in a conversation on how it impacts their
tribal community, and discuss why it's essential that they speak their truth through writing and
art as a form of decolonization. Concludes with a writing lesson with a prompt for youth to reflect
on the importance of speaking their truths.
1:30pm
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2:25pm
Azteca Pop Special guest, Jorge Garza, shares his story of Azteca Pop and what the cultural significance is in the art style.
Sunday June 11th, 2023 Denver Art Museum
