The Root Experience Festival 2026
The Root Experience is a three-day, all ages festival. Highlighting international and regional BIPOC filmmakers, visual artists, fashion designers, culture bearers, musicians, and healers, they invite Spokane and PNW creatives to speak their truth and do what they love. By bridging communities beyond artificial borders, the festival creates direct pathways into professional creative industries while uplifting narratives of family, resilience, and connection.
The Root Experience, nonprofit: Spokane-based & BIPOC-led non-profit organization, The Root Experience amplifies BIPOC & underrepresented voices by showcasing diverse lived experiences. Through art, gathering, and mentorship, they champion racial and social justice, healing, and empowering the next generation.
Their call to action: acknowledge that We Rise Together.
Schedule & Highlights
Thursday, November 12
1PM - 10PM | Spokane Live
Kick off with an afternoon panel discussion, leading into an evening opening ceremony featuring traditional hand drum and song, tribal history, dance exhibitions, films, performances, and a free community meal.
Friday, November 13
10AM - 11PM | Spokane Live
Morning youth workshop followed by afternoon community panels, and an evening showcasing regional and international stories through short film blocks, a feature documentary film, filmmaker Q&As, and performances.
Saturday, November 14
10AM - 11PM | CLTRE Gallery & Spokane Live
Morning Boba Buddies Pop up event in partnership with Asians for Collective Liberation ACL, Afternoon Opening Gallery Reception at CLTRE Gallery, followed by a grand finale at STRC featuring a sacred Blanket/Gifting Ceremony, an interactive Fashion Show, and performances.
Spokane Tribal Featured Artists
CHARLENE TETERS
Charlene Teters (Spokane) is an internationally recognized artist, educator, and activist whose work explores negative Native identity representation, and social justice. Her paintings and installations have been exhibited across the United States and internationally including shows at SITE Santa Fe, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgium, The Anchorage Museum and The American Museum of Natural History in New York city. She is widely known for her courageous advocacy challenging harmful Native mascots and imagery, helping spark a national movement for respectful representation of Native people.
Teters’ art and academic contributions have been acknowledged by art and advocacy organizations including, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Women’s Caucus for Art, Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, she holds an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut and an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
The Charlene Teters Papers, an archival collection documenting the life and career of Spokane artist, educator, and activist has recently been released, and is featured in The Institute of American Indian Arts.
Battlegrounds Native Arts Market
Battlegrounds Native Arts Market is a brick-and-mortar storefront and community creative hub located at 12924 W. Sunset Highway, Suite 1, Airway Heights, WA.
Operated by the Indigenous-led nonprofit Elk Soup – founded by Spokane Tribal citizen, Jeff Ferguson and his wife, Margo Hill-Ferguson, the market officially opened in May 2026. The site in self holds historic weight, sitting on the modern geography of the 1858 Battle of Spokane Plains; the market intentionally reclaims the name to transform a historic space of conflict into a sanctuary for cultural preservation and connection.
What to Expect: Arts & Crafts: the retail storefront showcases the authentic works of dozens of Pacific Northwest Indigenous artists and artisans. You can find photography, acrylic paintings wood carvings, dream catchers, beaded apparel, and handmade jewelry.
Community & Culture: Beyond retail, the hub is a gathering place that hosts community programs including Native Men’s group circles, First Friday art gatherings, traditional craftsmanship/sewing classes, and wellness workshops.
SHAWN BRIGMAN, PhD
Shawn Brigman, PhD is a Spokane Tribal Member and a descendant of the snfáyckst (Sinixt), qlispé (Kalispel), and Tkemlúps te Secwépemo
(Shuswap), all three of which are historically documented as employing bark sturgeon-nose canoes. Since 2012, he has sculpted several ancestral bark sturgeon-nose canoes, two historical canvas sturgeon-nose canoes, and thirty contemporary SALISHAN STURGEON NOSE CANOES—a novel design he established in 2013.
As the owner and founder of Spokane-based SALISHAN STURGEON NOSE CANOES, his goals are to increase awareness and opportunities for Plateau canoe artists to teach, preserve, present, and protect the integrity of ancestral bark sturgeon-nose canoes. He aims to safeguard these and his contemporary line of canoes from cultural appropriation and extraction. By maintaining and demonstrating the integrity of bark sturgeon-nose canoe heritage since time immemorial, only then does he manifest into contemporary art mediums.
FREDDY THRONE
Freddy Throne, is a USAF Veteran and enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe.
Self taught illustrator and graphic designer. In 2016 moving back to Spokane he was employed by The Spokane Tribe Language and culture department to illustrate traditional stories and used a fresh vision and style. Inspired by artists like Salvador Dali, Keith Haring, Polk, Andy Warhol, Jim Lee and various artists. In 2019 and beyond, the medium has evolved from just digital to include acrylic paints and spray paints creating many art pieces, installations, and murals.
You can see more of my work on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
and many other social media platforms.
Get Involved
All events are free to the public and all ages. The Root Experience is actively seeking community partners, sponsors, media coverage, and volunteers to uplift our participants. All donations are tax-deductible through our 501(c)(3) non-profit.
To learn more, visit therootexperience.org or contact therootexperience@gmail.com.