Thin Air- NAU Literary Magazine Poetry Workshop
Poetry Workshop with Sherwin Bitsui hosted by Thin Air- NAU Literary Magazine
5:30-7:00pm
Registration required. Visit: https://coconinoarts.org/event/thin-air-nau-literary-magazine-poetry-workshop/
Sherwin Bitsui is the author of three collections of poetry, Dissolve, Flood Song, and Shapeshift. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award, an American Book Award, and the PEN Book Award. His poems have appeared in Narrative, Black Renaissance Noir, American Poet, The Iowa Review, LIT, and elsewhere. He is Diné of the Todích’ii’nii (Bitter Water Clan), born for the Tlizílaaní (Many Goats Clan), and has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and the Native Arts & Culture Foundation.
Hike Red Butte
To register, visit: https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=701Po00001DfUwbIAF&mapLinkHref=https://maps.google.com/maps&daddr=Hike%20Red%20Butte@35.81693,-112.100986
Join the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter in hiking Red Butte within Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument. We will be discussing threats to the national monument, uranium mining concerns, viewing Pinyon Plain Uranium mine from afar, and exploring how people can get involved in defending this land!
Please review this description of the hike to be sure it is within your abilities. Red Butte Trail, Arizona - 248 Reviews, Map | AllTrails
Organizers:Mattea Goetz mattea.goetz@sierraclub.org, Sandy Bahr sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org
Rethinking Thanksgiving Annual Webinar: Colonialism is the Problem, Solidarity is the Answer
Rethinking Thanksgiving Annual Webinar
“Colonialism is the Problem, Solidarity is the Answer”
Sunday, November 23
4pm ET / 1pm PT
ASL, Spanish Interpretation & live captions in English
Register here
Our friends and partners are once again hosting “Rethinking Thanksgiving,” an event in which both Indigenous organizers and non-Native comrades speak about our current context and the work in the struggle toward decolonization, resilience and repair, from Palestine to Turtle Island to Aotearoa.
Sacred Land Writing Workshop
What is Sacred land to you? Session 1
December 3 & 10 (Please plan to be at both sessions)
6:00-7:30pm More information and registration at: bit.ly/writingwkshp
Explore your spiritual connection to the more-than-human world through community writing and sharing. Join us for two consecutive sessions of a decolonial writing workshop. We will write silently together, share in small groups with guided compassionate feedback, and reflect together on the process of engaging with the living world through writing. Free event! No writing experience needed! Bring a pen/pencil and a notebook/journal.
Our workshop will include time for meditation, quiet time writing together in response to offered prompts, and sharing in small groups what we've written with guided compassionate feedback. We will then spend a week between the two sessions journaling based on our observations and interactions with the more-than-human world and come together again for sharing and a discussion of our personal and spiritual insights that arise through the writing/journaling process.
Brought to you by Sacred Land Alliance and Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter.
Sacred Land Writing Workshop. Session 2
What is Sacred land to you? Session 2
December 3 & 10 (Please plan to be at both sessions)
6:00-7:30pm More information and registration at: bit.ly/writingwkshp
Explore your spiritual connection to the more-than-human world through community writing and sharing. Join us for two consecutive sessions of a decolonial writing workshop. We will write silently together, share in small groups with guided compassionate feedback, and reflect together on the process of engaging with the living world through writing. Free event! No writing experience needed! Bring a pen/pencil and a notebook/journal.
Our workshop will include time for meditation, quiet time writing together in response to offered prompts, and sharing in small groups what we've written with guided compassionate feedback. We will then spend a week between the two sessions journaling based on our observations and interactions with the more-than-human world and come together again for sharing and a discussion of our personal and spiritual insights that arise through the writing/journaling process.
Stop the Mines! A conversation with Berta Benally
Coconino Center for the Arts (2300 North Fort Valley Road)
Stop the Mines! A conversation with Berta Benally 6pm
Sihasin concert 7:30pm
To learn more, visit: https://coconinoarts.org/exhibitions/shifting-topographies-extracting-the-landscape/
SHIFTING TOPOGRAPHIES: Extracting the Landscape October 18 – December 20
For more information, visit: https://coconinoarts.org/exhibitions/shifting-topographies-extracting-the-landscape/
SHIFTING TOPOGRAPHIES: Extracting the Landscape features projects by Carol Hartman (Red Lodge, MT), Jeff Schmuki (Stateboro, GA), and Klee Benally in memoriam (Diné, Black Mesa, Navajo Nation; Flagstaff, AZ). In a rapidly changing climate, we are witness to and complicit in irreversible scarring of the land. There are eight National Parks and Monuments within a 2-hour drive of Flagstaff that face potential threats to their preservation, due to the proposed federal reopening of protected sacred lands to mining. This timely and relevant exhibition theme—extraction—takes on a markedly different approach depending on the geographical and cultural perspectives of the represented artists. Hartman’s large-scale abstract paintings respond to the many phases of oil drilling and the environmental impact of fracking in the western U.S. Schmuki’s ceramic tableaus combine locally sourced clay and discarded porcelain figurines with glazes containing mine tailings and lithium oxide to portray the broader environmental impacts of mining including air, land, and water contamination along with deforestation and wildlife disruption. The late Klee Benally dedicated his unfortunately brief life to art and activism that expose the impact of uranium mining and waste on regional Indigenous communities. Benally’s work includes video projection mapping, banners, and activist performance that expose the degradation to the regional landscape and disproportionate impact on tribal communities.
Discussion with Tó Nizhóní Ání (Sacred Water Speaks)
Shifting Topographies: Extracting the Landscape, closing reception & discussion with Tó Nizhóní Ání.
To learn more, vist: https://coconinoarts.org/exhibitions/shifting-topographies-extracting-the-landscape/
Tó Nizhóní Ání, which we translate as “Sacred Water Speaks,” is a Diné-led nonprofit organization established in 2001. Our organization originates from the Big Mountain community on Dził Yíjiin (the Black Mesa region). It was formed in the spirit of the Diné elders who fought to protect Black Mesa.
Online Roots of Injustice Seeds of Change
Online Interactive Workshop
Sun Nov 16 / 2:00-4:00pm
To learn more and to register: https://friendspeaceteams.org/trr-workshop-nov-2025/
Learn the real history of our country through the voices of Native people, European colonists, and historians, experience this history as you never have before, understand why this history matters to all Americans today, respect Native Americans’ rights, cultures, and presence
Native American Astronomy Celebration
Celebrate three decades of Lowell Observatory’s Native American Astronomy Outreach Program (NAAOP) with a day of storytelling, performances, and community connection! On November 16, enjoy cultural presentations by longtime NAAOP educators, music and dance performances, and local vendors sharing handmade art, jewelry, and more.
*This event is free to residents of Coconino County, Yavapai County, and Arizona Native Nations; must be on-site to redeem free admission. General admission add-ons still apply.
Decolonizing Our Activism: The 7th Fire – How to be a Good Ally Presented by Sweetwater
2:00 PM 4:00 PM
To learn more and register for this event: https://friendspeaceteams.org/decolonizing-activism-2025/
In this interactive workshop, we will explore how working with Native Americans toward social and environmental justice involves letting go of and dismantling colonial cycles of oppression. In this webinar we will, explore Indigenous resistance that is based on tradition and culture, gain an understanding of how culture and traditions are healing, build community, and provide a positive expression of reclaiming and expressing Indigenous knowledge, learn what it means to be a good ally and respectfully attend Native events and actions., support Indigenous-led work and activism in the community, and recognize Colonial Moments and how to do Colonial Intervention.
In Defense of our National Monument: Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah kukveni – Ancestrial Footprints of the Grand Canyon
Coconino Center for the Arts
2300 North Fort Valley Road
Flagstaff, AZ 86001 United States
Doors open at 5:00pm. Film begins 6:00pm
For more information: https://coconinoarts.org/event/film-screening-live-music-from-tha-yoties/
Film Screening followed by live music by Tha ‘Yoties
To learn more about the film, visit: https://www.monumental-moment.com/.
For years, shy and soft-spoken teenager Maya Tilousi-Lyttle has been protesting uranium mining on the border of Grand Canyon National Park with her mother, Havasupai advocate Carletta Tilousi. On Aug. 8, 2023, she spoke powerfully from a podium moments before President Joe Biden signed the proclamation declaring Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The monument represented a form of long-sought permanent protection for a region that holds irreplaceable significance to the Indigenous peoples who have called it home for millennia. But in January 2025, the Arizona legislature and others filed lawsuits attempting to overturn the monument designation and attacking the Antiquities Act as unlawful. The fight continues, and it is up to Maya’s generation to make their voices heard.
Tha 'Yoties are a Reggae/Rock band from Flagstaff, IrieZona, noted for their lively performances, catchy melodies, and conscious message. Their 'IrieZona Reggae-Rock' sound is influenced by cultures and concerns of the Four Corners region. Through the universal language of music, Tha 'Yoties are howling to raise awareness of the plight of the indigenous people and lands of the Colorado Plateau. Check out Tha ‘Yoties on Bandcamp.
To learn more about Haul No! Visit: https://haulno.com/
Fall Harvest with Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff
Learn more: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPrwgUaEihO/
Join us for the Harvest Festival!
Celebrate the season with cultural dances, presentations, and hands-on demonstrations hosted by The Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff.
Prayer Walk for Oak Flat
What: Accompany the land during a guided walk of silent worship. The walk is three miles long. The terrain is rocky, with an incline at the beginning, a flat stretch in the middle and ending with a mild decline. Wear hiking shoes, sun protection, and appropriate attire for the terrain.
Where: At Oak Flat campground. N Magma Shaft 9 Rd, Miami, AZ. Gather at the large “Protect Oak Flat” sign.
When: Saturday October 25th, 2025 at 11:00AM. The walk will last 2-3 hours.
Who: Anyone who feels called to silent prayer, listening to the land, and protecting Oak Flat.
VOICES UNHEARD: BREAKING THE SILENCE
Learn more: https://elev8voices.info/
Coordinated by a grassroots committee working to address Prevention Education and Awareness to help inform our local residents here in Northern Arizona. This effort is to highlight prevention, an important precursor to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Movement (MMIR). With support from the City of Flagstaff, Coconino County, and Coconino Coalition for Children & Youth, here is some information about our event.
Event Name: VOICES UNHEARD: Breaking the Silence, a community gathering for prevention, strength, and healing
Dates: Wednesday October 22, 2025
Time: 8:30am – 3:30pm (Arizona Time)
Estimated Attendance: 75-120
Type of Event: Prevention Education and Awareness
Monday October 20 & Tuesday October 21 we will be showcasing 2 evening film screenings from 5:30pm – 8:30pm on MMIR theme
Location: Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 N Fort Valley Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Documentary:“She Cried That Day”
Learn more: https://elev8voices.info/
She Cried That Day is a feature documentary chronicling the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Crisis through the lens of one Indigenous woman haunted by her sister’s unsolved murder. We bear witness to the emotional journey thousands of families must suffer through as their loved one’s cases sit on the shelves and we investigate the system that allows it to continue.
“The Shapeshifting Defense”
Learn more: https://elev8voices.info/
A chance to talk with the filmmakers! Now on Hulu: A Navajo woman named Sarah Saganitso is murdered in Flagstaff, AZ; when a local white man confesses, his attorney's defense that a skinwalker did it forces the victim's family to fight centuries of anti-Native racism for justice.
5:30-7:30pm
Coconino Center for the Arts
Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration
The City of Flagstaff will host an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. The event, titled “From Policy to Prosperity: Indigenous Leadership in a Changing Landscape”, will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature Vice-Mayor Doreen Garlid, Dine’, City of Tempe, and other presentations and cultural shares through songs and dances. Lunch will be served to attendees. The event will be held at the Elks Lodge (2101 N San Francisco St.)
Visit the City of Flagstaff’s website for more information.