Keynote Speaker, Panelist, Facilitator
Elexa is an experienced public speaker and motivator of emotional healing and practical purpose.
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Land-Based Songwriting (1-3 hours, ages 12 & up)
Place is central to our understanding of ourselves as individuals and communities. Participants will find words to convey feelings through a meditation on a place. Notice the textures, moods, and sensations of your spatial memory. Discover how the places that made us inform our creativity and worldview. Circular activity, no instruments needed. Facilitated by acclaimed Potawatomi songwriter, Elexa Dawson.

Indigenous Music Today (30 minutes, lecture-style with A/V, All Ages)
Heritage is not just history. Celebrated Potawatomi musician Elexa Dawson guides audiences down a rabbit hole of contemporary Indigenous musicians from across the sovereign nations of Turtle Island through their expressive music videos.

Indigenous Foods (1 - 3 hours, kitchen, 12 & up)
When you eat lasagna, you know you're eating Italian. When you eat popcorn, do you get a sense of cultural attachment? Adaptable to a variety of seasons and settings, this class, Elexa Dawson explores common North American Indigenous foods and places them in the cultural perspective of the peoples who developed them.
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Southern Potawatomi Perspective (1 hour, lecture-style with A/V, adult)
Presented by celebrated Native American speaker and songwriter Elexa Dawson, this talk explores themes of Native traditional knowledge, and philosophy of kinship with the land. Dawson discusses how Indigenous ways of viewing the land and community can lead us forward. A member of the Citizen Band Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma, Dawson explains the Great Lakes origins, historical migrations, and current culture of the Potawatomi, spotlighting vibrant and living people with sovereign nations and current relevance in modern society.
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Seedsongs (10 minutes, on-site at festival, All Ages)
Our seeds are our past, and our future. The Anishinabe people have had agreements with plants that have sustained us, even as we have cared for them. Participants will receive a seed and a vessel to plant it in, and a song to sing to their seeds as they grow. As we plant these seeds, we’ll learn about our responsibility to our foods to nurture them as they nourish us.