Spring into spring! Sunday Concert

Note that our concert is a bit early this month, but just in time for spring. Your $10 helps our nonprofit save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and arts.

Learn about Yucca!

This Dragonfly Lecture is one not to miss.

About Daniel McCarthy: Daniel McCarthy received his BS and MS in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside.  For the past 40 years, he has worked at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree National Park, the western states and throughout Southern California, compiling photographic inventories of rock art sites.  He has worked with Elders and Traditional Practitioners for more than 35 years throughout Southern California. 

For 17 years he was Tribal Relations Program Manager for the San Bernardino National Forest and recently received the National Lifetime Achievement award by the Office of Tribal Relations. Currently he is Director of the Cultural Resources Management Department, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

Research interests include desert archaeology, aboriginal trail systems of the Sonoran, Mojave, and Colorado deserts; rock art distribution, documentation, interpretation and working with tribal communities in public education of Native culture; and recording string figures.  

He conducts Southern California Native American cultural awareness classes, providing information about native plant uses (particularly agave, acorns, yucca, prickly pear cactus and pinyon), rock art, and material culture. He organized the annual Malki Museum Agave Harvest and Tasting, now more than two decades strong.  He was co-instructor in offering an Applied Archaeology field school for six years (2006-2011) and in 2013 where half the students were Native American from local tribes. He worked with several tribal governments (particularly Serrano, Cahuilla, and Luiseño), traditional practitioners and Native organizations such as the Southern California Indian Basket Weavers Organization, where he is currently vice president. He also is president of Malki Museum Board of Directors. And he is a cherished member of Chia Café, which incorporates Native foods into contemporary cuisine, such as at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s annual Dragonfly Gala.

Daniel has published several reports and articles, including, “Medicinal Plants Used by Native American Tribes in Southern California” with Donna Largo and Marcia Roper. 

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center awarded Daniel McCarthy our 2013 Dragonfly Award for high-soaring achievements in saving and sharing cultures.

February Concert 2016

Dragonfly Lecture on February 22nd

Concert: Traditional and New Music from Southern California Indian Nations

Georgiana Sanchez has a gift for you. She drove a very long way to share her beautiful stories and poems at the January 23 Native Voices Poetry Festival. Today, Sunday, January 24, she is turning around and commuting many miles again. She and her family will sing and tell traditional and new Chumash songs and stories at a benefit concert. Dorothy Ramon Learning Center is so grateful that this Elder is honoring our nonprofit this way. Please come and support, 3 p.m. at 127 N. San Gorgonio Avenue, Banning, and accept her gift of beautiful songs and stories from the Chumash culture. Sean Milanovich will share beautiful songs he wrote in Cahuilla. Ernest Siva, Bill Bell & Don Strandberg also will share traditional songs. Your $10 will help Dorothy Ramon Learning Center save and share Southern California's cultures, languages, history, and arts. 

Photo by Carlos Puma for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

Come to Native Voices Poetry Festival!

Poetry Festival: Native Voices 2016

Inspire. Discover. Explore. Create. The second annual Native Voices Poetry Festival at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center in downtown Banning on Saturday, January 23, will celebrate the human voice in all the arts. 

Explore the richness of Southern California’s Native cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. Discover and be inspired by our region’s beauty, vitality, and uniqueness. Enjoy Native American songs, storytelling, poetry, and more in family-friendly, free performances. 

Create poetry, stories, and art in free workshops for all ages.

 

DETAILS:

When:  9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, January 23.

Where: Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Gathering Hall at 127 N. San Gorgonio Avenue, Banning.

What: Free, family-friendly performances and workshops.

Who: Native American storytellers, singers, and poets from the region and from throughout Southern California, including Georgiana Sanchez, Ted and Dennis Garcia, Ernest Siva and family members, Kim and Mallory Marcus, Raymond Huaute, the Morongo Bird Singers and Dancers, Madrigal Family Bird Singers and Dancers, and other bird singers. 

Dragonfly Wind Flute Ensemble returns for the 2016 Festival, along with musicians Bill Bell and Don Strandberg, who again will perform local historian Bell’s “Ballad of Willie Boy.”

Food: Festival participants can enjoy lunch from Ramona’s food truck and Super Subs restaurant nearby.

Other Poetry Festival highlights are:

• Free workshops throughout the day, many for children, teens, and their families, offering ways to explore their own creativity through writing and art. First-come, first-serve signups will be available at the event.

• A Native Garden area with demos and displays of how native plants provide foods, medicines, tools, and have served Native cultures through time. 

• Shopping, browsing, and enjoying poetry in the Literary Café sponsored by the nonprofit Inlandia Institute, with poetry readings throughout the day.

Browse among books offered by vendors Malki Museum/Ballena Press; Heyday Books and News From Native California magazine; Scarlet Tanager Books; Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s publishing arm, Ushkana Press; UC Riverside Costo Chair; and Inlandia Institute.

• Tours of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s new library, along with information on local history resources in Banning Library. The nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center since 2003 has saved and shared Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Festival sponsors Include California State University, San Bernardino, and CSUSB Palm Desert;

Banning Community Fund; Mt. San Jacinto Community College; College of the Desert;

Inlandia Institute; Banning Schools Indian Education Program; UC Riverside Costo Chair; Poets and Writers; PoetrIE; Morongo Cultural Resources; Morongo School, and Banning Library District, which is kicking off its 100th birthday celebration at the Poetry Festival.

For more information: Call 951.849.7736; email info@dorothyramon.org, or come back here.