TODAY at NOON

02F Lunchbox: Good Fire

Arcata Playhouse

Every lunchbox comes with homemade soup, salad, bread, and a beverage.

Margo Robbins and Michelle Hernandez will discuss their connection to cultural fire, and how it has cared for the land and sustained culture for millenia.

Margo Robbins is the cofounder and executive Director of the Cultural Fire Management Council and will talk about how her organization facilitates the practice of cultural burning on the Yurok Reservation and Ancestral lands, leading to a healthier ecosystem for all plants and animals, long term fire protection for residents, and providing a platform that will in turn support the traditional hunting and gathering activities of Yurok.

Michelle Hernandez will share a video and talk about the process of a new multi-media play about cultural fire: Wusatoumuduk: We Make it Burn. Based on the vision of Wiyot Tribe member and former Cultural Department Director Marnie Atkins, this play is about the historical role fire has played in California Native land stewardship and the barriers tribal people face bringing “good fire”back to the land within settler-colonial systems of land and resource management.

Margo Robbins comes from the traditional Yurok village of Morek, and is an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Cultural Fire Management Council and co-lead of the Indigenous People’s Burn Network. She graduated from Humboldt State University and resides on the Yurok reservation in far northern California. She previously served as the Indian Education Director for the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School district. She is a Mom and a Grandma.

https://www.culturalfire.org/

Michelle Hernandez is Co-Artistic Director of Wusatoumuduk: We Make it Burn. Michelle Hernandez is a Wiyot and Latina filmmaker. Michelle grew up on the Table Bluff Reservation, where she found her love for filmmaking. She has a Master’s in Film and Electronic Media fromAmerican University in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. at Humboldt State University in both Film and Native American Studies.

Much of her work focuses on the importance of culture, traditions, and identity, as well as dealing with Indigenous subjects. With her work she gives voice to stories that aren’t often told. She is the co-founder of Sugarbush Hill Productions, which she currently runs with her partner, Richie Wenzler. Her latest works include Douk, The Bartow Project and the Baduw’at Documentary https://www.wemakeitburn.com

DATES/TIMES

• Today : noon-1 p.m.

WHERE

• Arcata Playhouse

PRICE

• $10