Signature Events
Classical Native Jerod Tate
Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30 pm | Reynolds Recital Hall
Please join us for a special evening of music and the popular Dessert for the Spirit reception.
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a 2011 Emmy Award Winner. Mr. Tate is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition, and a review by The Washington Post states that "Tate's connection to nature and the human experience was quite apparent in this piece…rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism." This review was a response to a recent performance of Iholba (The Vision), for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Chorus, which was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jerod will be joined tonight by the MSU Symphony and Chamber Wind Ensemble.
An Evening with Sherman Alexie
Saturday, March 28 at 7:00 pm | Crawford Theater in the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture
Award-winning and prolific author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie was named one of The New Yorker's 20 top writers for the 21st century. The New York Times Book Review described him as "one of the major lyric voices of our time," and Men's Journal called him "the world's first fast-talking, wisecracking, mediagenic American-Indian superstar."
Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a modern Native American. Author of 24 books, Sherman's best known works include The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Smoke Signals, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his family
Screening of Winter in the Blood + Panel with directors Alex and Andrew Smith, Sherman Alexie and Chaske Spencer
Sunday, March 29 at 2:00 pm | Crawford Theater in the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture
Please join us for the screening of Winter in the Blood, from directors Alex and Andrew Smith and starring Chaske Spencer, David Morse and Julia Jones, on Sunday, March 29th in Hagar Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies at 2 p.m. The screening will be followed by a discussion with directors Alex and Andrew Smith, producer Sherman Alexie and lead actor, Chaske Spencer.
Plot summary: Virgil First Raise wakes in a ditch on the hardscrabble plains of Montana, hungover and badly beaten. He sees a shocking vision: his father, ten years dead, lying frozen at his feet. Shaken, Virgil returns home to his ranch on the Reservation, only to find that his wife, Agnes, has left him. Worse, she's taken his beloved rifle.
Virgil sets out to town find her— or perhaps just the gun— beginning a hi-line odyssey of inebriated and improbable intrigues with the mysterious Airplane Man, his beautiful accomplice, Malvina, and two dangerous Men in Suits. Virgil's quest also brings him face-to-face with childhood memories, traumas and visions of his long lost brother Mose.
Virgil, bloodied and broken by his quest, realizes that he must look inward for the strength he needs to survive. In the mountains, he seeks out Yellow Calf— an old blind man, who helps him grasp the truth of his origins. By embracing— and no longer fleeing— his memories, Virgil is finally able to thaw the ice in his veins.
An Evening with Joe Horse Capture
Tuesday, March 31 at 7:00 pm | Hagar Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies
Joe D. Horse Capture, Associate Curator of the Collections Research and Documentation department at the National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian Institution and an alumnus of Montana State University.
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 + Presidential Panel
Wednesday, April 1 at 7:00 pm | Reynolds Recital Hall
Please join us for the screening of LaDonna Harris: Indian 101, from director Julianna Brannum, on Wednesday, April 1st in the Reynolds Recital Hall at 7 p.m. The screening will be followed by a discussion with MSU President Waded Cruzado, LaDonna Harris, Henrietta Mann, and Denise Juneau.
A documentary film about Comanche activist LaDonna Harris, who led an extensive life of Native political and social activism, and is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation of emerging Indigenous leaders.
