Presented in collaboration with M.A.I.S.C., Heart & Mind Festival, The Sacred Arts Research Foundation, and Acción por la Unidad Mundial

Join us as we open the 15th Anniversary Celebration of the Golden Drum, an evening devoted to honoring lineage, community, and the living traditions that have guided our path.

For fifteen years, the Golden Drum has stood as a home for sacred learning and cross-cultural unity, a place where elders, artists, and seekers gather to share the ancestral wisdom of Amerikua and the sacred traditions of humanity.

This special evening invites you to experience a ceremonial opening to the celebration, featuring an Artisanal MESA Market, a Council of Elders and Wisdom Keepers, and a Concert of Healing Sounds.

5:00 PM — Doors Open: MESA Market + Nourishing Vegetarian Farm to Table Food
Explore the Traditional and Indigenous Artisanal MESA Market, featuring handmade crafts and goods from visiting elders and artists of the Q’ero, Sappara, Mayan, and Algonquin traditions while enjoying Nourishing Vegetarian Farm to Table Food (available for purchase).

6:00 PM — Opening Ceremony
Commence the 15th Anniversary Celebration with a Ceremonial Opening led by Evan Pritchard and our honored elders, calling in the spirit of unity and gratitude.

7:00 PM — Wisdom Keepers & Elder Council
Join a profound dialogue on Community Building and the Importance of Ritual with
Chief Šúnkawakhán Sápa Phillip Scott, MaryAnn Bear Heels (Ta Oyate Waste Wi), Nilda, Kevin Nathaniel, Tania, and Evan Pritchard. Together, they will share teachings on how ceremony and community sustain one another—and how both are vital to the health of our world.

8:30 PM — Concert
Conclude the evening with an uplifting Concert of Healing Music

This event is free and open to all. Donations are welcome and can be made here.

Please RSVP by completing the form below to reserve your space, as capacity is limited.

Presenters

MaryAnn Bear Heels (Ta Oyate Waste Wi—Her Good Nation Women)

MaryAnn Bearheels (Ta Oyate Waste Wi—Her Good Nation Women)

MaryAnn  a Ceremonial Prayer Woman of the Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud, South Dakota. “Our Lakota way of life starts with our creation stories and oral traditions that have been handed down over 500 years. We are creating awareness about our Indigenous environmental issues through our teachings of the water, buffalo, and bear teachings. Re-vitalizing our spiritual and physical being as Lakota women is vitally important to our future generations. Lakota community genetics is an overall look at how we are able to re-birth our nation utilizing our sovereignty and inherent rights to protect our ceremonies and women. We are the backbone to our nation and the umbilical cord to our earth.”

Chief Šúnkawakhán Sápa Phillip Scott

Of mixed Ancestry and thrice struck by Lightning, Phillip Scott has faithfully walked the Native Path for over forty years, learning from, adopted and sanctioned by Indigenous Medicine/Holy people, tribal Spiritual leaders, Wisdomkeepers and Elders from several Nations and cultures. Annually Sundancing in the Lakota tradition for over three decades and a member of respected Native Medicine families, he is a Ceremonial leader and Traditional healer, entrusted to share Indigenous wisdom, knowledge and Medicine practices with the contemporary world. He is a staunch defender of and advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. An advisor and presenter on various Sacred matters, he is an educator and consultant for academic, spiritual/religious, medical, environmental and penal institutions as well as for corporations. Interviewed monthly for radio, his life, story and writings have been featured in books and journals. He is a contributing author to Stanley Krippner’s The Shamanic Powers of Rolling Thunder and well as Itzhak Beery’s Shamanic Transformations. In addition to directing and teaching the programs at Ancestral Voice - Institute for Indigenous Lifeways in Northern California, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, he maintains a private healing practice, performs Ceremonies. conducts intensives, gives lectures and leads pilgrimages worldwide. He is skilled in wilderness survival, has received a Masters degree from Naropa University and is also a licensed EMT.

Abdoul Doumbia

Abdoul Doumbia was born in Bamako, Mali in 1965 and was raised in the village of Foutaka Zambougou near the ancient Bamana city of Segou. At the age of five Abdoul began to learn the music of his culture. He went on to complete a 16 year apprenticeship with master drummer Moriba Keita in Bamako. Abdoul worked with many professional drum and dance companies in Mali, including nine years as lead drummer for the renowned traditional drum and dance troupe Babemba, and was chosen to represent his region for eight consecutive years in the National Drum Festival of Mali. Abdoul immigrated to the United States in 1991 to accept a position at Brown University. He taught regularly on the east coast, including classes at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, RISDI, the University of Florida, and the University of Connecticut before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1998 where he currently lives and teaches.  In Colorado Abdoul has taught classes at CU, Naropa and The Colorado College. Abdoul is known for his mastery of Malian djembe and dunun and is a respected source of information regarding Mali's rich culture and history.

https://abdouldoumbia.com

Kevin Nathaniel

Kevin Nathaniel was born in Detroit, Michigan — the legendary home of Motown and a true musical mecca. Surrounded by music from an early age, he grew up hearing rhythms and melodies everywhere but initially never imagined himself becoming a musician. The abundance of incredible local talent made it seem out of reach.

It wasn’t until near the end of his college years that Kevin encountered the sounds of African music — an experience that awakened something profound within him. He felt a deep calling to begin playing and crafting instruments himself. His journey began with the mbira, also known as the kalimba, which became both his first instrument and his gateway into the world of music-making.

Through building and playing mbiras, Kevin discovered a lifelong path of musical exploration. His connection to mbira music, particularly from Southern Africa and Zimbabwe, opened the door to a vast array of musical traditions and instruments from around the world.

Learn more about his work and music atkevinnathaniel.com

Evan Pritchard

Evan Pritchard  of Mi’kmaq descent, has been doing field interviews with Native American elders since 1990, and has been the director of Center for Algonquin culture for the last 26 years. A lecturer on native studies at Vassar, Pace, Marist, Columbia, SUNY, John Jay, University of Ontario, UMass, and Ramapough State, he has also presented at Gracie Mansion, AMNH, Smithsonian, and on line. He recently presented a retrospective of his mapping work at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries (Clarkson University). He has written over fifty books on native culture, history, language and spirituality, including Native New Yorkers; Henry Hudson and the Algonquins (Chicago Review Press); Bird Medicine (Inner Traditions/Simon and Schuster); Native American Stories of the Sacred (Turner Books) No Word For Time (Millichap) Red Head Band (Resonance Books) a collection of multi-lingual (English and various Algonquian languages) poetry, and Greetings from Mawenawasic (Foothills Publishing).Poems from Greetings were the basis of a portion of a Native American stage play called Cedars, which premiered at Lamama in New York, an iconic off-Broadway venue, and some appeared in Chris Felver’s film and tabletop anthology book Tending The Fire (University of New Mexico Press, foreword by Simon Ortiz). He is now releasing a two volume reference book Mapping Native New York, in full color.  He has lectured frequently on The Way of the Heron, a body of traditional Algonquin knowledge about conflict resolution and trust building. Evan facilitated workshops in Wabenaki culture at Northwoods Stewardship Center July 4-10, 2017 (Charleston, VT) as part of the Cultural Regeneration Project and has been a frequent guest on Pacifica’s Mocassin Tracks Radio with Deb Reger, He has appeared annually at the Pocumtuck Festival in Greenfield, Ma. for many years, and lectured twice at Greenfield’s Discovery Center. He has published many original maps of  Native American settlements east of the Mississippi and was featured in Ted Timreck’s film Hidden Landscapes as well as Tobe Carey’s  documentary Mountain River. He has appeared on dozens of radio stations including WBAI, and WNYC, and appeared as a featured guest on CNN, ABC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and on Roger Hernandez’  90 minute special “Touring Native New York” on Manhattan Cable. He can be reached at evan.pritchard7@gmail.com;   www.algonquinculture.org OR https://www.facebook.com/search/top?

Kawennontie

Kawennontie is from the Mohawk Nation and of the turtle clan family from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Kawennontie has birthed nine beautiful souls and gifted ten starlight grandchildren whom she adores and is thankful for.

Kawennontie's Haudenosaunee ceremonial ways of life have been her spiritual foundation since birth which continues to provide guiding principles to help navigate her chosen pathways for her journey here. As an Indigenous woman, she has faced many struggles and has persevered through, while holding close to her heart and mind, her ancestral teachings.

Kawennontie has been an educator of Indigenous culture and language to children for over ten years and continues to develop healing and wellness programs for those who wish to rekindle their fire within. She is an inspiration to many and helps to water the seeds for new life.