LAST UPDATED: 08/16/23
It’s that time of year again…SANTA FE INDIGENOUS ART MARKET WEEK!

Jump to…
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
A few things to know when visiting Santa Fe…
- Uber and Lyft are both available in Santa Fe but availability is VERY LIMITED.
- Cell service is not always the best around downtown so no it’s not your phone, it’s Santa Fe.
- Elevation – Santa Fe is at 7000 ft elevation. High elevation has a few side effects you should be aware of – thinner air means you may be more tired due to less oxygen; it also means you are more likely to get dehydrated so drink lots of water (the Institute for Altitude Medicine recommends an extra 1 to 1.5 liters/day). Also, thinner air means the sun is intense, so plan accordingly.
- Nightlife – there is none. This town pretty much goes to sleep with the sun. There are a few places to go, but don’t be surprised if they are mostly empty. Check out the event list for the happenings!
- There are multiple art markets this year:
- Wheelwright Museum Artist’s Market, Aug 18-19
- Pathways @ Buffalo Thunder Casino, Aug 18-20
- Sovereign Santa Fe, Aug 18-20
- Free Indian Market, Aug 19-20
- IAIA Recent Graduate Art Market, Aug 19-20
- Santa Fe Indian Market, Aug 19-20
- And a Native Cinema Film showcase (Aug 17-20):
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. This year, the Showcase highlights films of Indigenous perseverance that inspire, uplift, and triumph against adversity—stories that prevail against the judicial system, generational trauma, and cultural appropriation through love and complex relationships, self-worth, and humor.
- Useful Links/info:
- SWAIA Booth Guide (artist directory)
- SWAIA Map
- If you’re going to the Poeh Cultural Center or Buffalo Thunder Resort Casino, note that they are both about a 20 minute drive out of town.
- Farmers’ Market Saturday mornings at the Railyard Park, 7am-1pm. Really good people watching 😉
Museum Exhibits around town to check out:
- Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MoCNA) is free for Natives – current exhibits include The Art of Jean LaMarr (opening Friday, 8/18), Forever Beautiful: Inside My Mind—Pop-Up Show with Jontay Kahm (8/18-8/20), and The Stories We Carry features contemporary jewelry created by more than 100 Indigenous artists across decades.
- New Mexico History Museum: Honoring Tradition and Innovation: 100 Years of Santa Fe’s Indian Market 1922-2022 traces the history of this historic market and explores the impact of Federal Indian policies on the Native American art world. Many of these policies are reflected in the social and economic trends that shaped Indian Market through the years.
- International Folk Art Museum: Ghhúunayúkata / To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka explores the art of the parka, a garment made for survival in the harsh environments where Alaska Native peoples live and thrive.
- Museum of Indians Arts and Culture: Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles showcases more than 30 textiles and related items from the extensive collection at MIAC. Historical and contemporary weavings will be displayed alongside materials, tools, digital prints, photographs, and other immersive media.
Events
I’ve compiled a list of events that I am aware of with links to more info (will add more as info becomes available)
Tuesday, August 15
- 2023 Santa Fe Plaza Concert Series—Robert Mirabal with Levi Platero: The Santa Fe Plaza Concert Series invites Santa Feans and visitors alike to gather and enjoy great live music together at the Santa Fe Plaza, located in the 400-year-old historic heart of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico for FREE! 6-8pm
Wednesday, August 16
- 2023 IAIA Annual Benefit & Auction—Scholarships Shape Futures: IAIA leadership, alum artists, and donors gather at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for an evening of art, entertainment, and fundraising to provide essential scholarship support for IAIA students. The benefit event will feature a silent auction on La Fonda’s La Terraza, a live auction of one-of-a-kind works by contemporary Indigenous artists, and a live paddle call. 5-9:30pm
- Bear Grease: Featuring an all-Indigenous cast, this hilarious twist on the 1978 classic, Grease, reimagines the beloved musical as culturally relevant with Indigenous humor and pride. Bear Grease is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband-and-wife hip-hop duo who go by the name LightningCloud. 7:30pm
Thursday, August 17
- Native Max Native Fashion Show & Celebration @ Form & Concept: Experience the vibrant colors, intricate designs, and unique styles of MEKA Clothing, Sage Mountainflower and Rebekah Jarvey as they showcase their latest collections in a fashion show. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Native fashion and witness the fusion of tradition and modernity. Aside from the fashion show, we’ll also be celebrating the official launch of X Agency by Native Max–an Indigenous talent agency. 4-6pm
- Cara Romero Photography & Bockley Gallery Opening: THROUGH-LINE, an exhibition that brings together Indigenous artists whose selected works tell stories through material or reference to textiles’ encoded technologies alongside Romero’s new photographic works. Featuring artists: Eric-Paul Riege, Frank Big Bear, Maggie Thompson, Matthew Kirk, Tyrrell Tapaha, Nico Williams, Cara Romero. Local Native foods by Cleo’s Blue Corn Kitchen. Located at 333 Montezuma, No. 5. 4-8pm
- Native Guitars Tour Interactive Experience: Step into the multiverse of Native Music, Art & Fashion as we partner with Meow Wolf to bring you the newest interactive experience by Native Guitars Tour. As you transport through Meow Wolf, you will find some of your favorite NGT performers serenading guests on four stages throughout the House of Eternal Return. Search and shop from over a dozen talented native art vendors tucked throughout the space. And finally, brace yourself for an electrifying fusion of sounds from the main stage as they collide with Native Fashion to bring you an explosive experience that celebrates the brilliance and creativity of Indigenous Peoples. Get ready to dance, sing and create unforgettable memories with our Interactive Experience, where you become part of the show! 6pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: Hey Viktor! and special reunion event with some of the original cast of Smoke Signals—Cody Lightning, Simon Baker, Irene Bedard, and Gary Farmer. 7pm
- Bear Grease: Featuring an all-Indigenous cast, this hilarious twist on the 1978 classic, Grease, reimagines the beloved musical as culturally relevant with Indigenous humor and pride. Bear Grease is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband-and-wife hip-hop duo who go by the name LightningCloud. 7:30pm
Friday, August 18
- Wheelwright Museum Case Trading Post Artist’s Market: featuring established and emerging artists. 8am-3pm
- Pathways Native Arts Festival: spend the day talking to artists and shopping for original jewelry, pottery, textiles and other arts by Native artists from across the United States. Come eat at one of the local Native food vendors with fresh flavors and traditional recipes. 9am-5pm
- Sovereign Santa Fe: Sovereign Santa Fe, is a Contemporary Native American Arts exhibition, curated by Tony Abeyta showcasing cutting edge indigenous creativity. Sovereign’s mission is to create a platform to highlight ‘NewSchool’ Native American Arts and its elusive relationship between traditional and contemporary. Established to give vibrant Native American artists an on-trend platform to showcase and share their accomplished works and talents. 11am-8pm
- Radical Imagination Experience: The Art of Creative Resistance & Change NDN Collective presents a free, immersive community event taking place alongside the Southwestern Association of American Indian Art (SWAIA) market that will feature a full day of performances, dialogue, presentations, spoken word, and art workshops by artists and storytellers from NDN Collective’s 2021 Radical Imagination Artist and Storytelling Cohort, as well as NDN Collective swag, photo booths, and food and drinks. 11am-9pm
- Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival Fashion Showcase: featuring Codie Lente Kasero (Pueblo of Laguna), Sage Mountainflower (Ohkay Owingeh), Ashley Aguilar (Santo Domingo Pueblo), Courtney Little Axe (Northern Cheyenne, Absentee Shawnee and Seminole), Joanne Miles- Long (San Carlos Apache and Akimel O’Otham),Penny Singer (Diné). 12pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: We Are Still Here Through the eyes of eight protagonists, We Are Still Here traverses 1,000 years from the past to the present and future to explore stories of kinship, loss, grief, and resilience. Ultimately, it shows the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that Indigenous peoples from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific have continued to face. 1pm
- Meet the Next Wave of Indigenous Curators: Roundtable discussion, cohosted by the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts and First American Art Magazine, about sea changes happening in art curation as more Native American curators join the field. Learn what innovations they bring to curating Indigenous and mainstream art to connect to wider audiences. 2-4pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: Rosie A film about family, love, and misfits, Rosie tells the story of a young, orphaned Indigenous girl named Rosie (Keris Hope Hill [Mohawk]) who is forced to live with her reluctant, street-smart Aunty Fred (Mélanie Bray). Rosie is thrust into the fringes of 1980s Montréal into the care of Fred, who just lost her job, is on the verge of eviction, and who looks and sounds nothing like her niece. Fred, an artist who creates art from discarded objects in other peoples’ trash, introduces Rosie to her two best friends, Flo and Mo, glamorous human beings who refuse to be confined by gender. In the end, Rosie transforms the lives of these colorful characters and finds love, acceptance, and a true home with her new chosen family of glittering outsiders. 3pm
- OXDX x CHIZHII Studio Pop-Up: featuring one-of-a-kind and limited release designs from @chizhii and @oxdxclothing!
411 W Water St, Suite E in downtown Santa Fe. 4-7pm - SWAIA Best of Show Preview: exclusive and highly anticipated occasion that offers attendees a first look at the exquisite art entries that will be showcased at the Santa Fe Indian Market. This event is a unique opportunity to preview the stunning array of art from all classifications, giving attendees a glimpse into the incredible talent that exists within the Native American art community. 4-6pm
- The Art of Jean LaMarr—Opening Reception: features more than 60 artworks including paintings, prints, and sculptures spanning from the 1970s to the present. Jean LaMarr (Susanville Indian Rancheria), an internationally recognized artist, educator, and Native American advocate with ancestral ties to Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and Susanville, California, sparks powerful and important conversations about racist imagery, representations of Native women, legacies of colonization, and environmental justice. 5-7pm
- Form & Concept Opening Receptions for:
Jamison Chās Banks (Seneca-Cayuga) presents STORE: Vol II a continuation of his satirical printmaking practice intended to provoke scrutiny. “In the second iteration of the STORE, we see Banks wrestle with the difficult dichotomy of nostalgia through material interventions that venerate commercial objects while fundamentally altering their functionality, asking what it means to love the things sold to us,”– Jordan Eddy, Gallery Director. 5-7pm
Do You Want To Bead Together? Join us in the gallery shop to experience the transformative essence of Indigenous beadwork, as interpreted by five contemporary Indigenous artists. Featured artists: Tiana Japp, Carmen Selam, Bazille Owen-Reese, Iah Q,, Amanda Whitlow. 5-7pm - Orlando Allison SICHOMOVI (Hill of Yellow Flowers) @ KEEP Contemporary: Orlando Allison is a visual Hopi artist with his work predominantly in the acrylic gouache medium on panel. Raised in Arizona on the reservation his earliest memories are of vivid brilliant dancing tapestry attire the vast variety of Katsinam adorn. Naturally, the crux of Orlando’s paintings encompass an intricate portrait of Hopi design and custom into an accessible modern expression presented on the panel. His endeavor to reveal his craft to obtainble audiences imparting the Southwest’s remarkable story in new imaginative ways. 5-8pm
- IndigenousWays Festival: Three-time Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo headlines our festival with a performance that includes spoken word and music. Grammy-award-winning guitarist and engineer, Larry Mitchell will warm up the crowd with his skillful, mesmerizing guitar playing. Also performing? Queer, Indigenous rocker Black Belt Eagle Scout (Swinomish/Iñupiaq) and American Idol contestant Charly Lowry (Lumbee/Tuscarora). 5-9pm
- Bear Grease: Featuring an all-Indigenous cast, this hilarious twist on the 1978 classic, Grease, reimagines the beloved musical as culturally relevant with Indigenous humor and pride. Bear Grease is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband-and-wife hip-hop duo who go by the name LightningCloud. 6pm & 8pm
- Boogie Gallerie Opening Reception: the latest collection of artworks inspired by the Rule Of Thirds Design Principle, Abstract Graffiti, Trip-Hop Music, Indigenous Streetwear & Navajo Iconography is defined by movemeant. Each of us is propelled by a distinct beat. Were often able to become our best selves going at our own pace allowing things to unfold and happen in due time, when things are meant to move. 6-10pm
- Sky-Eagle Fashion House Retrospective, Runway Fashion Show: Part of a three day celebration of indigenous fashion, renowned designer, USAF Veteran, and Native American from the Osage Nation, Dante Biss-Grayson, will present 100 looks across the spirited landscape at Bishop’s Lodge. Allow the enchantment of Sky-Eagle designs and live artwork on the runway to envelope your mind. 6pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: Fancy Dance Following her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone [Blackfeet/Nimíipuu]), a Native American hustler, kidnaps her niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson [Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation/Anishinaabe]), from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact. The pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of how Indigenous women at the mercy of a failed justice system move through a colonized world. 7pm
- Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers: live music @ Cowgirl, 8-11pm
- ALL SOMEHOW @ Boxcar – DJ Garronteed & Wae Fonkey will be spinning us into the weekend with an epic night of music to accompany our full bar and late night menu! 9pm-1:30am
Saturday, August 19
- IAIA Recent Graduate Art Market @ MoCNA: Join MoCNA for the annual IAIA Student and Recent Graduate Art Market, held August 20–21 alongside the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Indian Market, under the museum’s portal, from 8 am–5 pm (MDT) daily. Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) students and recent graduates will be showing work in this year’s Art Market, and proceeds from booth fees will go to the IAIA Museum Club. 8am-5pm
- SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market: the original market, located downtown, near and on the plaza. Check out the plaza stage for various performances all weekend long. Also get a guide when you arrive to locate your favorite artists and plan your route. 8am-5pm
- Wheelwright Museum Case Trading Post Artist’s Market: featuring established and emerging artists. 9am-3pm
- Pathways Native Arts Festival: spend the day talking to artists and shopping for original jewelry, pottery, textiles and other arts by Native artists from across the United States. Come eat at one of the local Native food vendors with fresh flavors and traditional recipes. 9am-5pm
- Santa Fe’s Free Indian Market Show @ the Federal Park: Featuring Native American Elders, Master Artists and their families. Top-Award Winners, Lifetime Achievement Award Winners and Living Treasures. 9am-6pm
- Sovereign Santa Fe: Sovereign Santa Fe, is a Contemporary Native American Arts exhibition, curated by Tony Abeyta showcasing cutting edge indigenous creativity. Sovereign’s mission is to create a platform to highlight ‘NewSchool’ Native American Arts and its elusive relationship between traditional and contemporary. Established to give vibrant Native American artists an on-trend platform to showcase and share their accomplished works and talents. 11am-8pm
- The Boogie Gallerie experience for people who appreciate cutting edge turntablism fused with abstract visionary live painting. Join us for an amazing evening of further explorations into music, dance, art & fashion. At an upscale location inside the second floor of La Fonda Hotel, where Randy L Barton will be unveiling his New Solo Exhibition. Art Party with guest Dj’s & Performances. All Day
- Bear Grease: Featuring an all-Indigenous cast, this hilarious twist on the 1978 classic, Grease, reimagines the beloved musical as culturally relevant with Indigenous humor and pride. Bear Grease is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband-and-wife hip-hop duo who go by the name LightningCloud. 1pm, 4pm, 8pm
- Ehren Kee Natay—Mural Discussion: Please join us for a discussion with Ehren Kee Natay (Kewa Pueblo and Diné) about his mural, completed in the Allan Houser Art Park at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA). The subject matter Natay has chosen to paint is about the Three Sisters. This representation is a correlation to sustainability of life through corn, beans, and squash, which have always been vital nutritional sustenance to Indigenous peoples, especially here in the Southwest. These three planted together in a shared space protect and nourish each other as they grow. Natay’s visual interpretation is a stunning perspective that will be on view for all to see. 1:30-2:30pm
- Daniel McCoy : Artist Talk @ Hecho Gallery: Please join us for an artists talk with Daniel McCoy about his current show Mvskoke Diaspora.We will be discussing his influences for the show and his artistic process. 2pm
- Jeffrey Gibson Tea Dance and Book Launch: An Indigenous Present: Join previously exhibiting artist Jeffrey Gibson, who will represent the United States in the 6oth Venice Biennale in 2024, at SITE SANTA FE to celebrate the launch of An Indigenous Present with DJ sets by Miss Ginger, Raashan Ahmad, and DJ 13pieces, dancing, book signing, food by Sanchez Tacos, and drinks by Remix Audio Bar and Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery. 2-5pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: Powerlands: Director Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso follows the trail of extractive industries that have exploited the land where she was born. She travels to the La Guajira region in rural Colombia, the Tampakan region of the Philippines, the Tehuantepec Isthmus of Mexico, and the protests at Standing Rock. In each case, she meets Indigenous women leading the struggle against the same corporations that are causing displacement and environmental catastrophe in her own home. Inspired by these women, Ivey-Camille brings home the lessons from these struggles to the Navajo Nation. 3pm
- Vinyl on the Patio Presents BACKYARD BOOGIE @ Tumbleroot: DJ Garronteed + Special Guests spinning on the patio. 5-10pm
- The Future of Native Fashion and Art, Panel Discussion: Part of a three day celebration of indigenous fashion, gather for a panel discussion facilitated by Laura Clark from Yahoo! on the topics of new trends, entrepreneurship, and the future of native fashion, art, entertainment, and small business ownership, including Dante Biss-Grayson, native fashion business owner, and other notable panelists. 5-6pm
- SWAIA Gala, Indigenous Fashion Show, and Live Art Auction Event is a truly extraordinary occasion that celebrates the exceptional talent of indigenous artists and designers from all across the United States. 5:30-9pm
- Isiah Yazzie Comedy Show: HOW HOW Hollywoods Offensive Westerns: Breaking Down Native American Stereotypes. Multimedia – projections w/ clips + photos, he is also on stage Isiah solo and then bringing people up from the audience. Doors at 6:30 pm Show starts at 7 pm
- A Journey Through Indigenous Cuisine: featuring Chef Brave Heart, a proud citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Embark on a culinary adventure that blends the rich heritage of pre-colonization Indigenous flavors with a contemporary twist. Chef Brave Heart will take you on a captivating storytelling experience, exploring the significance of traditional ingredients while showcasing their reinvented presence in modern dishes. Indulge in a feast for the senses, celebrating the cultural diversity and culinary excellence of Indigenous communities. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to savor the past while embracing the future of Indigenous cuisine. 6:30-9:30pm
- Native Guitar Tours 8th Annual Rock & Round Dance at Tumbleroot Brewery. Step into an evening with Native creatives from across Turtle Island as we gather to celebrate Music & Art during the Indian Market in Santa Fe. An all-star lineup & special guests! featuring Derek Miller, Sage Bond, Black Owl Society with Levi Platero, Scotti Clifford, Darren Geffre and more. 7pm-12am
- Innastate & Earth Surface People @ Boxcar: Innastate will be hosting another Indian Market after party with our good friends in Earth Surface People at the new and improved Boxcar! This will be a fun night of great music and will be the first time ever we’ll be hosting our Market after party at the new Boxcar location in downtown Santa Fe right off the plaza! Come out, bring a friend and your dancing shoes. This is going to be a blast! 9pm-1:30am
Sunday, August 20
- IAIA Recent Graduate Art Market @ MoCNA: Join MoCNA for the annual IAIA Student and Recent Graduate Art Market, held August 20–21 alongside the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Indian Market, under the museum’s portal, from 8 am–5 pm (MDT) daily. Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) students and recent graduates will be showing work in this year’s Art Market, and proceeds from booth fees will go to the IAIA Museum Club. 8am-5pm
- SWAIA Native American Clothing Contest: A market favorite, the Native American Clothing Contest presents a wide array of traditional regalia and clothing from North American Indigenous Nations. 9am-1pm
- SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market: the original market, located downtown, near and on the plaza. Check out the plaza stage for various performances all weekend long. Also get a guide when you arrive to locate your favorite artists and plan your route. 8am-5pm
- Pathways Native Arts Festival: spend the day talking to artists and shopping for original jewelry, pottery, textiles and other arts by Native artists from across the United States. Come eat at one of the local Native food vendors with fresh flavors and traditional recipes. 9am-5pm
- Santa Fe’s Free Indian Market Show @ the Federal Park: Featuring Native American Elders, Master Artists and their families. Top-Award Winners, Lifetime Achievement Award Winners and Living Treasures. 9am-6pm
- Sovereign Santa Fe: Sovereign Santa Fe, is a Contemporary Native American Arts exhibition, curated by Tony Abeyta showcasing cutting edge indigenous creativity. Sovereign’s mission is to create a platform to highlight ‘NewSchool’ Native American Arts and its elusive relationship between traditional and contemporary. Established to give vibrant Native American artists an on-trend platform to showcase and share their accomplished works and talents. 11am-8pm
- The Sky-Eagle Resort Collection Launch: SkyFire’s lively brunch becomes even livelier as the Sky-Eagle Collection launches their Resort Collection. This is a living experience as models will walk the property – from SkyFire to the pool – and encourage you to take part in the immersive, never-before-seen show. 12pm
- Bear Grease: Featuring an all-Indigenous cast, this hilarious twist on the 1978 classic, Grease, reimagines the beloved musical as culturally relevant with Indigenous humor and pride. Bear Grease is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband-and-wife hip-hop duo who go by the name LightningCloud. 1pm
- Native Cinema Showcase Santa Fe: Lakota Nation vs. United States: The life-giving land known as the Black Hills is the most sacred place on earth. The birthplace of the Lakota, it has shaped thought, identity, and philosophy for the Očéti Šakówiŋ. Yet with the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, the sacred land has been the site of conflict between the people it has nurtured, and the settler state seeking to exploit and redefine it in its own image. This powerful new documentary is a searing testament to the strength of the Oyate and a visually stunning rejoinder to the distorted image of a people long shaped by Hollywood. Lakota Nation vs. United States is a lyrical and provocative testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation, and genocide—and whose best days are yet to come. 2pm
- SWAIA Indigenous Fashion Show: Celebrating 10 years of Indigenous Fashion! SWAIA’s 2023 Indigenous Fashion Show lineup, featuring seven premier Indigenous designers. 3-4pm
SOLD OUT – if you can find tickets you don’t want to miss this! - Def-i Presents Grand Exit 4 @ Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery featuring Sage Cornelius w/ Live Band, Geneviève Gros-Louis Salamone, Def-i, Alexx Cloud, Rhonda Head, G-Precious, Stuart James, A$h Da Hunter, Renata Yazzie, Special Guests + Surprise Appearances, On The Decks: DJ Noble, Hosted by Comedian: Joshua Fournier, Laser Show: Laser Shaman’s Dream. 6pm-12am
If you see a mistake – please let me know!
ENJOY 🙂
