Indigenous Peoples Day:
Chumash Trails Day Santa Barbara
Chumash Trails Day Santa Barbara
The conveners of Su’Nan The SPACE, the Montecito Trails Foundation, and the Tribal Trust Foundation invite you to JOIN US in HONORING the ORIGINAL PEOPLES of SANTA BARBARA with a day of art, storytelling, and ceremony.
For over 13,000 years, the Original Peoples of the Santa Barbara region, now known as the Chumash, have lived on these lands.
In 2018 , TTF was a founding organizer of the first Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in Santa Barbara, bringing together members of different Chumash bands and the wider community in a shared act of honoring.
In 2021, the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) and Tribal Trust collaborated to organize the first Chumash Trails Day. This year, we are again partnering with MTF, and representatives from the various Chumash bands as well as Elena Maria “Mia” Lopez, founder of Su’nan The SPACE for 2026 Trails Day. For this year we are adding in collaborations with Chumash and local Indigenous artists for an immersive experience of art and storytelling in Nature, on our beloved Montecito trails,
Decolonizing our minds and community isn’t a single moment — it’s a practice. This event is an invitation to practice together using the time together in Nature and the language of art, storytelling, and ceremony.
THE EXPERIENCE
The vision we are building toward will vary depending on who joins us in partnership and collaboration, but the prospective flow includes:
- Morning blessing
- Guided walks at Ennisbrook Open Space — small groups guided through the natural landscape
- Along the trail, Chumash artists will honor ancestors and the spirits of the land with story, sharing, and ceremony as guests are instructed to pause, breathe, listen, learn
- Through walking, listening, and arts, Indigenous stories and wisdom ways will be shared with the broad community, both honoring the past and helping us move forward together as a collective citizenry on our one planet Earth, as caretakers for all our relations, and each other
- At the end of the walk, there will be a gathering area where art can be purchased and artist representatives can share more.
- Indigenous collaborators will be paid an honorarium for their participation.
COLLABORATORS & CREATORS (thus far)
ART CISNEROS: Chumash Elder and Fire Keeper
MARIAELENA (MIA) LOPEZ: Chumash Culture Bearer and Cultural Educator
AMBER BASSET PAGALING: Chumash community organizer, poet, and singer
SOLANGE AGUILAR, Mescalero Apache, Yo'eme (Yaqui), and Filipinx (Kalinga and Kapampangan). Solange is a multimedia artist and poet. Their debut poetry collection, Red Like Earth, focuses on love, anger, and Indigenous identity.
PARTNER WITH US
Join us and help make this gathering be one in right relationship with our collaborators, communities, and the relatives and spirits of this community that we are all blessed to call home.
INDIGENOUS ARTISTS
(especially local Chumash)
Share Your Tradition
- Poetry, dance, music, jewelry making, basket weaving, wood carving, ceramics, painting, and more
- Honorarium for partner artists
- Tabling area for sale of art (100% of profits to artist)
- Join the advisory circle to help co-create this event.
ALLY ORGANIZATIONS & COMPANIES
Amplify & Show Up Together
- Table at the community gathering space
- Co-promote the event to your networks and communities
- Consider a sponsorship contribution toward artist honoraria, water stations, food, and event logistics
- Logos and wordmarks will be added to event collateral in respectful consideration of contribution.
OUR COMMITMENT
We are committed to building this together with our community in ways that respect and honor the history of this sacred place and the Chumash as the original peoples of the region, while also acknowledging we are in this, caretaking and growing together on a shared planet.
READY to LEARN MORE or START CO-CREATING? Let’s talk!
We are open to any ideas. If you feel resonance, please do reach out to begin a conversation. We hope to hear from artists, organizations, venues, and anyone interested in supporting and co-creating this idea into something good and healing.
CONTACT
Kimberly Danek Pinkson
kimberlypinkson1@gmail.com | 415.246.7691