Special Celebration Saturday, Mar. 13, 1–2:30 pm
Celebrate—Song, Dance & Story! Each year, ECHO (Education Through Cultural and Historical Organizations) brings the ECHO Performing Arts Festival to communities across America. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is pleased to be chosen as one of numerous venues across the country to host the ECHO 2010 Performing Arts Festival. Native and immigrant cultural performing artists from the ECHO partner regions of Alaska, Hawai’i, Mississippi, and Massachusetts come together to entertain and educate through a performance piece that shares their cultural traditions in an engaging and lively presentation, suitable for all ages. This year’s performance, Celebrate—Song, Dance & Story! takes us on a journey down life’s paths, from childhood to love and marriage and beyond. Using traditional and innovative stories, songs, and dances, we learn of challenges and triumphs, while also exploring the values of these communities—what is important to them—whether it is about respect for ancestral ways or the dangers of jealousy and vanity. ECHO Performing Arts Festival is in its 10th year of providing compelling educational programs with a Native American, Hawaiian Native, and Alaska Native base. Please join us in the Museum auditorium for the performance followed by a question & answer period. For families of all ages. Free with Museum admission, free to Museum members.
ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) is an enrichment initiative serving children, teachers, and adult learners. ECHO programs are produced jointly and individually through a collaboration of six regional organizations: Alaska Native Heritage Center; North Slope Borough ECHO Project; Bishop Museum; New Bedford ECHO Project; Peabody Essex Museum; and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Working with schools and communitybased organizations, ECHO programs amplify educational benefits, foster appreciation of culture and history and assist communities in maximizing the social benefits of new technologies. ECHO performers identified in image: (from left to right) Buck Willis, Lokomaika`i Lipscom, Annawon Weeden, Allison Warden, Stephen Blanchett, and José Vinagre.
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