This First Americans Festival is being produced by the Center in conjunction with the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall. 

From the conception of the museum's new home in Washington, D.C., director Rick West envisioned that the museum would represent the enormous diversity of the living culture of all indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere. The First Americans Festival expects no less
in its celebratory events.

The first day will begin with a Native Nations Procession in which many participants, who may be wearing their traditional regalia, will walk down the National Mall to the east end where the Capitol stands. Prominent Native American figures will present a Grand Opening Ceremony at the new museum's doors, and a Native elder and child will be the first to walk into the museum. Finally, the Six Nations Women's Singers will sing out from the museum's terrace balcony signifying the beginning of the festival.

Performances every day of the festival will feature traditional and contemporary artists. Visitors can hear a traditional flute player from the Northern Plains region as well as the flute music of the Andes in South America. For nighttime entertainment, listeners can enjoy the contemporary sounds of Native American music from such performers as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rita Coolidge, Indigenous, a Native blues band, Keith Secola, Ulali, and Pappy John's Band from Canada, to name a few. Try sampling food from an array of dishes in the Three Sisters food courts, such as Hopi piki bread, mutton stew, and mole and buffalo meat.

The artists at the Indian Market will be selling the most vibrant of their handmade jewelry, weavings, clothing, rugs, sculptures, and paintings from all around the hemisphere. Vendors from as far away as Chile, Hawai'i, and Alaska are coming to sell their wares. Audiences of all ages will enjoy traditional trickster and creation stories, stories about how animals came to be, and stories that teach us about the values of respect and life. Inviting everyone present to celebrate with them, as is customary, traditional dancers at the Dance Circle stage will teach audiences steps to some favorite social dances such as the two-step, where women get to pick their partners and men, by tradition, cannot refuse.

The festival is a collective celebration of indigenous cultures joining together in procession, performance, and stories that will educate the public—Native and non-Native alike—on the diversity of this hemisphere's first Americans. Visitors can not only participate in the programs but also can experience the pride and effect of indigenous people maintaining time-honored
traditions that reflect the values
of their cultures in their food, art, and performances.

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