Join Us in Online Dragonfly Adventures

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center has missed our community family at our events — but is looking forward to seeing everyone in many new ways.

 

The Coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on the nonprofit Learning Center. The Center had to cancel all events at its downtown Banning venues starting in March. “We miss the faithful supporters of our 4^th Sunday concerts and Dragonfly lectures,” vice president June Siva said. 

“We are also sad that we’ve had to postpone our 17^th Dragonfly Gala until 2021, the major gathering and fund-raiser for the Center. We will miss what we think of as our annual ‘family reunion.’ Next year will be a big celebration when we can gather with you all again and celebrate Native American cultures with good food, singing and dancing, exhibits, and more! At this time we don’t know when our Gathering Hall events and concerts will resume, but watch for that good news!”    

Ernest and June Siva

Meanwhile, join the Center online and in other ways. Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s theme for 2020 is a celebration of resiliency. The Center is working to nurture our community and bring everyone even closer together, embracing its 501(c)3 nonprofit mission since 2003 of saving and sharing Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.  

Center President and Elder Ernest Siva said: “As we wait for things to calm down and confidence returns and fear flies away, let's turn our attention to good and uplifting things around us, and what we can share with one another, the simple things in life. The song says: ‘Powva' aarnk hye'kam tum haiti' a'aye'ci' peepamkw,’ their eyes open to see a bright future.”

Join the Center in online events 

Connect with one another and the wonder of our Southern California Native American cultures. Discover and explore the tools of resiliency, reciprocity, and healing in Native American cultural ways and traditions, and stories and songs. Explore how to connect with the world and deeper understandings of our region’s vitality and uniqueness.

A Few Upcoming Online Dragonfly Adventures (watch for details on how to connect):

Monday, July 20, 6 pm. 

Healing through the Art of Storytelling. 

Online interactive family workshop in partnership with the Luke Madrigal Indigenous Storytelling Foundation, led by Madrigal family members Renda, Sophia, and Isabella Madrigal. Donations welcome.

Monday, August 17, 6 pm. 

A Raptor as a Guide: Connecting with the Wilderness through Hawks, Eagles and Falcons. 

(Co-sponsored by the Rivers and Lands Conservancy) 

Journey online with longtime falconer Rebecca K. O’Connor into the wild, as seen through the perceptive views of the wild birds she calls her partners. Refresh your vision of the natural world around us, and the wonders in your own back yard. Donations welcome.

Monday, September 14, 6 pm. 

Pal Et Qwapi! Water is Life! 

Savor the essence of the world with Sean Milanovich,  Cahuilla Culture Bearer. Donations welcome.

Fun events at the Center

Top 5 things to do at the Dragonfly Gala

Fly with the Dragonflies! 

Join us in celebrating Southern California’s Native American cultures on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, with delicious foods, traditional music, exhibits, and arts at the annual Dragonfly Gala. This year's gala celebrates "Our Native Homelands," especially the Native American relationships with Southern California's unique and beautiful landscapes.

Here are the top 5 things to do at the Gala!

 1. Connect with "Our Native Homelands" through hands-on cultural exhibits. 

Barbara Drake teaches Native uses of native plants for foods, medicines, and more.

This year visit with Barbara Drake, an elder who shares Native uses of plants as foods, medicines, and more; Morongo Cultural Resources Department and Morongo School; Malki Museum; several regional wilderness land conservancies, and more.

2.  Eat a delicious dinner. Yum, traditional pit BBQ beef cooked by the Mathews family, and yes! feast on some favorite foods made by Cahuilla elder Jenny Lyons.

3. Enjoy traditional Native American music. The gala is the place to be for bird singing and dancing.

Dragonfly Gala 2018, Carlos Puma photo

4. Shop! Bid on eclectic and artistic finds at our famous silent auction.

  5. Bring a dragonfly (handmade, art, what have you) and take home a dragonfly in the Community Dragonfly Exchange. 

Dragonfly Gala 2018, Carlos Puma photo

Most importantly, join our community celebrating our Southern California Native American cultures. The Learning Center’s Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures this year goes to educator, storyteller, and ethnobotanist Kat High. 

Kat High at our Native Voices Poetry Festival (Carlos Puma Photo)

Tickets are $50 each; tables are $1,000, $2,000, $3,000.

4-8 p.m. Aug. 10, 2019

Morongo Community Center, Morongo Reservation.

Ballerinas and Native American Flute

Today, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018: Julia Olsen Rodriguez and San Gorgonio Ballet Company present "Fusion, Revisited," classical ballet interpretations of traditional and contemporary Native American music.

Flute music by Ernest Siva.

Our local ballet company also will present other classical and modern dances.

Details: 3 p.m., Sept. 23, 2018, San Manuel Gathering Hall at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning CA 92220. Your $10 helps support the Center's 501(c)3 nonprofit work to save and share Southern California's Native American cultures.

And at the 2018 Dragonfly Gala, the Dragonfly Award goes to ...

We'll be honored and thrilled this Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018, at our Dragonfly Gala to present the 2018 Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures to BILL MADRIGAL Sr. AND HIS FAMILY.
Please reserve your spot now, 951.849.7736, or email eandjsiva@gmail.com, so we can make sure we have enough of Daniel McCarthy's delicious BBQ dinner to serve everyone. The gala will be at Morongo Community Center.

Here is what they wrote about themselves!
"Bill and Monica are of Cahuilla and Luiseño ancestry from local reservation communities. They home-schooled and raised their children William Jr., Menil, Andrew, Kateri, Starla, Nesune, Noel, Avelaka, and Tishmal in their faith and traditions on the Cahuilla Indian reservation.
All their lives they visited with the elders to learn our culture, bird songs, stories, basket making, foods, and languages.
They have formed a traditional Bird-singing/dance group and also teach what they have learned to all our people and those who want to learn in the local area.
They have been teaching on the local reservations and presenting at schools, colleges and Universities for many years.
Their grown children have also been active in cultural teaching and giving presentations on our culture as well.
It is with great honor and love of our brothers and sisters to share the gifts of our elders that come from our Creator with all our native family!
Umon Chemingkim All our relatives!
Nesun Achama!"

RSVP now for the 2018 Dragonfly Gala

Everything in Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s annual Dragonfly Gala is handmade, homemade, and from the heart. The gala each year is like a giant reunion of more than 350 family and friends who celebrate and support Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. This year’s gala underscores the theme, “Family, the Heart, & the Word.”

Ernest Siva, President of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

At the gala from 4 to 8 pm Saturday, Aug. 11 at Morongo Community Center, 13000 Malki Rd., Morongo Reservation:

• Explore many Native American cultural displays and exhibits; visit, share memories and stories.

Chia Cafe Collective with a Native food sampler (Carlos Puma photo)

• Eat a delicious dinner! Daniel McCarthy and his crew again will prepare their famed BBQ turkey and beef, along with some favorite vegetable dishes and salads incorporating Native foods, the original California cuisine. The desserts are simply the best. 

RSVP so we have plenty of food for all! (Carlos Puma photo)

• Dance to Bird Songs and other traditional music. Enjoy flute music.

Carlos Puma Photo

Carlos Puma Photo

• Bid in the silent auction for eclectic and Native American art, jewelry, and other treasures. 

Shop amid many beautiful items in our famed silent auction (Carlos Puma photo)

• Honor Bill Madrigal Sr. (Cahuilla/Luiseño) and family, winner of the Center’s 2018 Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures.

Carlos Puma Photo

Carlos Puma Photo

• Dragonfly exchange: bring a dragonfly (art, handmade, be creative!), and take home someone else’s. Morongo School students have made beautiful beaded bracelets and artwork to share, for example, as all celebrate Native American cultures.

Dragonfly exchange (Carlos Puma Photo)

 Please RSVP so there’s more than plenty to serve you. 


Tickets $50; Tables, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000. 

Reserve your spot: 951.849.4676, or info@dorothyramon.org

All proceeds support the 501(c)3 nonprofit, Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, which since 2003 has saved and shared all Southern California’s American Indian cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.