The second annual Blue Corn Festival will serve as a celebration of varied local cultural traditions, with particular focus placed on blue corn as an integral crop to Indigenous foodways in Arizona and the American Southwest. Programming will strive to be economically and geographically accessible and promote Indigenous literature, foodways, arts, and storytelling. This year’s series of events begins with virtual and in-person programs throughout the month and culminates in the main festival on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at the historic Ellis-Shackelford House in downtown Phoenix.
By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils across the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia in collaboration with local partners. Together, these programs explore 250 years of the nation’s cultural life and imagine its shared future.
The By the People initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage as a complement to the 2026 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
- Beauty All Around Us Zine workshop – Feb. 7, 2026 at 12 PM. Sign up here.
- Seeds of Language, Seeds of Stories: Nitsáhákéés (Thinking Creatively) – Feb 12 at 4 PM. Sign up here.
- Seeds of Language Seeds of Stories: Nahat’á (Framework or Guiding Principles) – Feb 19 at 3 PM. Sign up here.
- Blue Corn Painting Party, Feb. 19, 2026 at 6 PM. Sign up here.
- Beauty All Around Us Zine Reading, March 3, 2026 at 6 PM. Sign up here.
