Artists from hundreds of Native nations are tending to their booths in the streets of Santa Fe, selling works they’ve labored for months to prepare. SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market has come a long way in 100 years. Friday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from Indian Market with Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco, and Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), Institute of American Indian Arts president, to get a feel for what’s in store for the next century.
Coming Up

Friday, August 19, 2022 – Live at the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market Day 2
Artists from hundreds of Native nations are tending to their booths in the streets of Santa Fe, selling works they’ve labored for months to prepare. SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market has come a long way in 100 years. Friday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from Indian Market with Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco, and Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), Institute of American Indian Arts president, to get a feel for what’s in store for the next century.

Monday, August 22, 2022 – Merging Native languages with braille
The resurgence of language revitalization helps keep cultural connections and exercise sovereignty. Those connections are diminished somewhat for those who are visually impaired and can’t read the written page. But there are those who are taking on the work of merging Native languages with braille, extending the full power of their culture to more of their citizens. Monday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks to folx taking the lead on this critical effort.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022 – How the Inflation Reduction Act helps Earth
The new legislation just signed into law includes unprecedented investment into measures intended to reduce climate change. It sends millions of dollars to tribal projects, but also keeps in place reliance on polluters. Tuesday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce finds how the Inflation Reduction Act is a boost for the planet.
Past Shows

Thursday, August 18, 2022 – Live at the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market Day 1
It survived the Termination Era, The Depression, a World War, and, most recently, a pandemic. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts marks the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market, a place to buy works directly from artists, to experience the creative vision of Native designers, and watch films by Indigenous filmmakers.
Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from the Market to get a rundown of this year’s schedule and reflect on the evolution of this major achievement of Native creativity and commerce with Cindy Benitez, program manager for the Native Cinema Showcase by the National Museum of the American Indian Tribe; film director Fritz Bitsoie (Diné); Amber Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), Indigenous Fashion Show producer for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and art history professor at the Institute for American Indian Arts; and Stephine Poston (Pueblo of Sandia), board chair for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022 – Turning around threats to salmon
A federal court ruling has implications for Southeast Alaska commercial salmon fishing. The ruling says federal fisheries officials neglected to consider dwindling orca populations when approving Chinook salmon harvests. At the same time, tribes in the Pacific Northwest are putting additional pressure on federal officials to come up with a sustainable plan for endangered salmon in the Snake River system. Wednesday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets updates on trouble spots for salmon with Bob Chamberlin (Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis), chair of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance and previous vice president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs; Michael Orcutt (Hupa), fisheries department director for the Hoopa Valley Tribe; and Olivia Ebertz, KYUK news reporter.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022 – The legacy of Elvis for Native Americans
During his peak, Elvis Presley’s appeal crossed cultural boundaries. His profound popularity continues to resonate with many Native Americans, including a handful who are Elvis tribute artists and a hilarious Elvis reference in the hit series Dark Winds. On the anniversary of his death in 1977, Shawn Spruce checks in with Elvis fans about what the King of Rock and Roll means to them these many years later and speak with Gerry “Ojibwe Elvis” Barrett (Saugeen First Nation), musician, stand-up comedian, veteran radio personality, and Elvis tribute artist; Donovin Sprague (Cheyenne River Sioux), professor of history at Sheridan College, musician, and Elvis aficionado; Michael Loman aka NDN Elvis (Choctaw); and in a pre-recorded conversation due to his Australian time zone, Elvis tribute artist Len Connolly (Wiraadjuri).

Monday, August 15, 2022 – The new book-banning trend
With some success, Native Americans have fought hard to have their voices heard in the narratives about them by predominantly non-Native sources. Those gains are under assault by a new surge of efforts to ban books by Native authors and other works that challenge colonial conventional wisdom. Monday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets a sampling of books that well-meaning parents, administrators, and policy-makers want to keep off of school reading lists and public spaces with Dr. Debbie Reese (Nambe Pueblo), founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature blog; Kevin Maillard (Seminole), author and professor of Law at Syracuse University; Mandi Harris (Cherokee), a children’s librarian and PhD student in Information Science at the University of Washington; and Lynette Dial (Lumbee), a library supervisor for Hoke County Library.