Atlanta's First Voices Festival is turning five, and the 2026 edition keeps its tradition of a free, family-friendly weekend centered on Indigenous cultures. The festival is organized by 7 Stages Theatre and presented by Zintkala Zi PowWow, and it lands in Little 5 Points, which sits on ancestral Muscogee (Creek) territory. The Muscogee were displaced from this land by federal and state governments in the 1820s and 1830s.
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The weekend opens on Thursday, November 20, with Art of Activism at 7 Stages Theatre, 1105 Euclid Ave NE, starting at 7pm. William Harjo, a Muscogee (Creek) Elder and flute carver, shares his stories, music, and flute-carving techniques, joined on the main stage by Mitch Walking Elk (Southern Cheyenne & Arapaho) for conversation and music. A pre-reception in the lobby is put on by Apache chef Tina Reyes of Rez Juice, with authentic Fry Bread and RezBerry Juice made from Indigenous berries of the Southeast. The evening also takes in a meal and conversations about the Doctrine of Discovery and the role of Christianity in colonization.
The center of the festival is the free, two-day PowWow on Saturday and Sunday, November 21-22, at 1136 Austin Ave NE, running from 10am to 5pm both days. The schedule opens at 10:30 with flute and storytelling from William Harjo, followed by Danza Azteca Acitlalmichitli at 11:20, the Grand Entry at noon, and exhibition and intertribal dancing at 12:30. The afternoon brings back Danza Azteca Acitlalmichitli at 2pm, another round of Harjo's flute and storytelling at 2:30, and more dancing at 3pm, before a closing and raffle drawing at 4:45. Buffalo Yellowbird (Oglala Lakota) emcees, with Jeremy Jones (EBCI) as arena director, Nikki Crisp (EBCI) as head lady, Jeremy Printup (Tuscarora) as head man, and Paul Wilson (Blackfeet) as head veteran. Southside, with members from various Southeast tribes, is the host Southern drum, and Danza Azteca Acitlalmichitli performs as guests. More than 50 dancers take part, and vendors showcase Native artistry, from Navajo silversmithing to flute making.
The festival closes on Friday, November 27, with a 7pm screening of The Doctrine at the Plaza Theatre, with tickets available soon. Directed by Gwendolen Cates with an original score by Pura Fé, the film follows Indigenous teens from Minneapolis and St. Paul traveling to Rome to urge Vatican officials to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, and it features Indigenous activists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Guatemala, New Caledonia, and Puerto Rico. The Doctrine of Discovery refers to 15th-century papal decrees that authorized conquest and colonization, were codified into racism and slavery, became international law, and were incorporated into U.S. law in 1823 via Johnson v. M'Intosh. In March 2023, two Vatican dicasteries issued a joint declaration formally repudiating the political Doctrine of Discovery.
7 Stages Theatre, founded in 1979, is a nonprofit professional theater focused on social justice that resides on unceded ancestral Muscogee (Creek) land and donates a portion of its land-use fee to Indigenous partners every year. Turtle Island Trading, at 419 Moreland Ave NE, is an Indigenous-owned business co-owned by Carmen Halagahu and Yellowbird (Oglala Lakota) that opened as Coyote Trading in 1988 and rebranded in 2021. The Plaza Theatre is Atlanta's oldest independent cinema, opened in 1939 and currently undergoing a $4 million restoration.
Published Date
23 October 2026
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