Indigenous Americana: In Words, Song, and Multimedia

TONIGHT! Friday, June 16, 7pm
In person and streaming live via YouTube and Facebook
Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Indigenous artists in poetry, music, and intermedia share colorful, culturally-rooted stories that illuminate the legacy of Indigenous heritage.

This event includes a premiere of D.A. Navoti's multimedia project O'otham Rhapsode, produced with help from the Jack Straw Artist Support Program. The video will be on display at Jack Straw through July 14th.

This one-time event features poet and writer Iz White (Snoqualmie) and multidisciplinary storyteller D.A. Navoti (Hopi, Zuni, Yavapai-Apache, Akimel O'otham).

Jack Straw New Media Gallery

Zack Bent | The Charity Stripe

June 5-July 21, 2023
Call 206-634-0919 or email [email protected]  to schedule a visit Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Friday, June 23, 7pm: Artist Talk
Saturday, July 8, 2pm: Youth and Family Workshop
E-mail [email protected]  to sign up or for more information.

In The Charity Stripe, the audience is invited to honor 3 hapless mascots (brothers) performing rituals of celebration and camaraderie on the basketball court. Dance routines and confetti pours collide with crowd cheers and court sounds in an homage to the spectacle of the sport.

Jack Straw Atrium Gallery
D.A. Navoti | O'otham Rhapsode
June 16-July 14, 2023

Call 206-634-0919 or email [email protected]  to schedule a visit Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

O'otham Rhapsode is a multimedia work by Jack Straw resident artist D.A. Navoti that depicts the lives and homelands of the Akimel O'otham, whose ancestral lands—named the Gila River Indian Community—are located south of Phoenix, Arizona. The word "O'otham" translates to people; the term "rhapsode" comes from Ancient Greece to describe an orator of epic poems. What orates these visual "poems"—a collection of three short videos—is atmospheric and symphonic music composed between 2022-2023.

The words O'otham Rhapsode in purple with lightning streaks on a black background.

Join us on Social Media!

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to get regular doses of writing, art, and music from Jack Straw artists of all ages.

We recently posted this poem by Roxhill Elementary student Ja'rel, written with help from teaching artist Vicky Edmonds.

Deep inside I am like a heart
spreading love all over the world.
I am like the sea
covering you with kindness.
I am like the trees
giving people love and air.

Jack Straw Podcasts

SoundPages, the Jack Straw Writers Program Podcast

The 2022 Jack Straw Writers SoundPages series continues with a conversation between Carrie Beyer and 2022 Writers Program Curator Michael Schmeltzer, and a recording of Carrie's live reading at Jack Straw.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

Jack Straw Artist of the Week

The current installment of our Artist of the Week podcast is an audio excerpt from D.A. Navoti's multimedia work O'otham Rhapsode. Join us at Jack Straw tonight, June 16th, for the premiere of the full work.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery Podcast

Tiffany Danielle Elliott talks with Jack Straw's producer Carlos Nieto about her Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation I promise I won't scream.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

Gratitude to the First People of Seattle

The staff, board, and artists of Jack Straw Cultural Center acknowledge that we are living, creating, working, and playing on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle and the Salish Sea - the Duwamish, Suquamish, and Muckleshoot nations and other Coast Salish peoples, past and present. We honor them and the land itself with deep gratitude.

Support Jack Straw Cultural Center

Jack Straw Cultural Center relies on the support of individual contributors to make our programs possible. Please help us continue to support the work of artists working with sound and all our art and technology education programs. Donate any amount by clicking the button below, or sending a check directly to us at 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.

Support Jack Straw's programs with a one-time or recurring gift.