For colleagues who will be in or near southern New England in June.
Please excuse the cross-postings, and feel free to distribute.
Thanks!
Daria Merwin, SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook to Host Major Native American Pow Wow;
June 18-20 Event to Accent Culture, Social Issues
The State University of New York at Stony Brook will be hosting
one of the nation's largest Native American Pow Wows this summer,
one with a unique educational twist.
The three-day event -- June 18 to June 20, 1999 at the
University's Sports Complex -- will include seminars, forums and
lectures focusing on contemporary Native American culture and
social issues in addition to the traditional dance and art
competitions inherent to such gatherings. Several thousand visitors
are expected. The Pow Wow is co-sponsored by Long Island's
Montaukett Indian Nation.
Tribal leaders and dignitaries from across the United States
and Canada will be on hand to inaugurate the Pow Wow, says co-chair
Scott Harris, a member of the Montaukett Indian Nation and a
Human Resources Department benefit specialist at Stony Brook. Mr.
Harris is heading up a 60-member committee working on the event
with his co-chair, deputy to the president George Meyer, assistant
vice-president for presidential initiatives. University President Dr.
Shirley Strum Kenny will be among the officials on hand for the
event. Others include Dr. Ronald McNeil, president of Sitting Bull
College, Fort Yates, North Dakota, the great, great grandson of Chief
Sitting Bull.
Proceeds from the $4 to $7 daily admission fee will go
toward the creation of scholarships at Stony Brook for Native
Americans and other underrepresented groups, notes Dr. Meyer. We
think this will be a unique way for Long Islanders, metropolitan area
residents and visitors to learn more about Native American culture.
The Pow Wow will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, with all
events indoors.
The Pow Wow will feature the traditional dance and drum
competitions, offering the winners a share of the over $55,000 in
prize money set aside for such events. There will be contests
for adult men and women dancers, teens, juniors, a special men
and women's smoke dance contest and drum contests for which the
top prizes will be $3,500. Singer Joanne Shenandoah, an Oneida, from
Indian Territory, Oneida, New York and the Allegheny River Dancers
will be among the Native American entertainers performing during
the three day event which will be emceed by Billy Crouse, a
well-known Seneca Indian from Salamanca, New York, and Marvin
Burnette of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, a member of the Lakota Sioux
Nation.
For more information, check the Pow Wow
website at www.hsclib.sunysb.edu/powwow or call the Pow Wow
Hotline at 516-632-1340. Information is also available from Pow
Wow committee members Lance Gumbs at 516-283-8130, Mr. Harris
at 516-632-6163 or Chief Robert Pharaoh at 516-725-0375. Non
air-conditioned on campus housing will be available for
participants and visitors as will be RV facilities. The host hotel
off-campus is the Holiday Inn Express, 516-471-8000.
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