**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

 

**Weaving Spirits Festival of Two-Spirit Performance : Seeding Native Fires**

 

Yelamu (San Francisco, CA) - 2024 - Weaving Spirits Festival is co-presenting a Two-Spirit performance festival as a fall flagship program of the Queer Cultural Center’s National Queer Arts Festival. Weaving Spirits is set to captivate audiences with virtual screenings and live performances, celebrating Indigenous creativity and Two-Spirit identity. 

 

Weaving Spirits is a vibrant celebration of Indigenous culture, embracing the rich tapestry of tradition and contemporary expression. Through the lens of Two-Spirit artists, the festival weaves together the ways of the past into the loom of the present, embracing sexuality and creating visibility for all.

 

Featuring a diverse lineup of local and national Native American artists and transnational Indigenous artists, Weaving Spirits offers a dynamic range of performances, from traditional music to experimental art and drag. The festival, curated by an intergenerational team of Two-Spirit community leaders, honors cultural protocols and pays respect to the Rahmaytush and other Ohlone peoples of the Bay Area.

 

"Two-Spirit" is a pan-tribal term rooted in Indigenous languages. It represents the complex interplay of feminine and masculine energies within individuals. The burgeoning two-spirit community embodies the spirit of inclusivity and acceptance, welcoming all to celebrate and honor Indigenous cultures.

Festival Title: Seeding Native Fires

 

This year’s Weaving Spirits’ 2S Performance Festival theme focuses on land, ecology, and wildfires. 

 

Since time immemorial, fire has allowed humanity to gather around light. Fire teaches us to transform. Its essence reminds us of our capacity to remain warm, luminous, and connected in periods of cultural winter, desecration, and despair. Fire allows us to imagine what needs to be cleansed and turned into ashes.

 

Fire’s capacity to destroy entire landscapes/(eco)systems while simultaneously birthing a new forest prompts us to consider the elements in life that need fire tending. 

California Natives, as well as Indigenous peoples in many other lands across the world, tended to and co-evolved (with) their local Native species that need fire to birth.

 

In the wake of industry-created climate chaos, there are so many ways and places where two-spirits/indigequeers are leading land struggles, protection, and related ceremonies. Our sensuality, sex, and sexuality are woven into all of these traditions and practices. 

 

Fall 2024 will mark the return of live performances, creative and cultural workshops, stage tech workshops, and community circles supported by the enthusiastic embrace of the community. Weaving Spirits Festival is not just an event but a creative/performance frontline of the two-spirit movement, reclaiming space in the circle for vital contemporary #indigequeer voices.

 

“All are welcome,” emphasize the festival organizers, echoing the inclusive spirit at the heart of the Weaving Spirits Festival . The festival invites everyone to experience Native American cultures through the eyes of Two-Spirit artists. It takes the name of Weaving Spirits because weaving ties many Indigenous cultures together—arcing through the processes of gathering and weaving to gifting.

 

The festival is supported by a commission from the Queer Cultural Center, grants from the Ford Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Western Arts Alliance’s Advancing Indigenous Performance Native Launchpad Award; CounterPulse supports the Weaving Spirit Festival as its fiscal sponsor. The festival is building a field of two-spirit performers, fostering understanding, appreciation, and solidarity.

 

Join us in celebrating Indigenous creativity and Two-Spirit identity at the Weaving Spirit Festival of Two-Spirit Performance. 

 

**Event Details:**

- **Date:** October 25 & 26th 2024 

- **Location:** Yelamu (San Francisco, CA)

 

**Connect with Us:**

- **Website:** www.weavingspirits.com 

- **Social Media:** https://www.facebook.com/weavingspiritsfest , https://www.instagram.com/weavingspirits

#WeavingSpirits #TwoSpiritFest