Winona LaDuke, one of the world’s most respected Indigenous environmental activists, will present
“The 8th Fire” on Monday, April 6, at 7:00 p.m. at the Prescott High School Performing Arts Center.
LaDuke will address how communities might create the “next economy” by focusing on local agriculture, renewable resources, and regional production systems. And how citizens can contribute to the recovery of the rural economy while also supporting environmental sustainability. This unique community event is free and open to the public, and folks from all across the area are encouraged to attend. Free will offerings will be accepted.
KDWA connected with Jeff Ryan, of the Prescott School District. Ryan offers information about this event and insight about a class he teaches at the high school.
“Yeah, my name is Jeff Ryan. I’ve been teaching social studies at Prescott High School for the past 37 years. One of the things that I think makes Prescott unique is that we have a course taught at the high school entitled First Nations History, and we’ve had that course specifically since 1998, and we’ve been able to do a lot of things when it comes to indigenous history in our school district. And we’re just really, really thrilled about the prospect of having someone like Winona LaDuke come and speak at Prescott High School. So, we’ve, you know, we’ve tried to integrate Native Voices. Spent a lot of time integrating Native Voices into our curriculum at the high school, and this is just kind of a coup de grâce moment here in Prescott to have someone like Winona LaDuke.”
Ryan explains how it was made possible for Winona LaDuke to speak at Prescott High School.
“A local person by the name of Ken Anderson, who has worked with Winona LaDuke professionally the last couple of years, is the one who put her in contact with me and helped set up this event and things like that. You have to have a good network of people who are willing to support you, and Mr. Anderson is one of those people who’s aware of what we’ve done, connected to First Nations education at the high school, and thought this would be something we would be interested in. He’s correct. So, I have to give a huge shout-out to Ken Anderson for helping make this possible. So, April 6, 7pm, Prescott High School Performing Arts Center. Again, the event is free and open to the public. There is a free-will offering suggested, but it’s free and open to the public, so we’re hoping that we’ll get a lot of people.”