ABOUT THE CENTER

Carlos Puma Photo for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center
What We Do
Dorothy Ramon Learning Center offers cultural activities and programs that engage as wide an audience as possible, often in our beautiful Gathering Hall in downtown Banning (funded through a $500,000 grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians). A sampling of programs includes monthly flute classes, free Native culture and language classes, lectures, our popular monthly 4th Sunday concert series, and native-plant tours and workshops. 

At our annual Native Voices Poetry Festival, people explore our region’s Native cultures and beauty, and create poetry, stories, and art. 
Since we are powered by volunteers, right now, we're open only for our events.
The Center supports research, preservation, and documentation of American Indian cultures, including with scholarly and accurate multimedia Ushkana Press publications. For example, our groundbreaking Voices of the Flute book and CD (by Learning Center President and Co-Founder Ernest Siva) published for the first time traditional music from three Southern California Indian nations. Our library features a collection of publications that will be available for research by appointment. 
Carlos Puma Photo for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center














The Center works in partnerships with tribal communities, schools, museums, and other institutions, serving anyone interested in learning, such as our partnership with the acclaimed Heard Museum of Arizona to host a regional Master Artist Basketry Workshop at our Gathering Hall in Banning. Our Poetry Festival partners included a university, college, and regional literary arts and poetry groups. 
Carlos Puma Photo for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center
While serving the general public, the Center also works with Tribal members to restore and revive Southern California cultures, respecting the past and understanding traditional knowledge and values in the present, to ensure a healthy future. For example, Ernest Siva, our Elder, works tirelessly to revive the Serrano language, including with Serrano linguists and in tribal schools at Morongo and San Manuel. 

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