Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas

College of the Atlantic hosts the Abbe Museum’s annual summer festival focused on Wabanaki and Native thought leadership through panels, performances, and a Northeastern Native arts market.

The Dawnland Festival highlights the arts, stories, homelands, and ways of knowing of Wabanaki people. The festival convenes panel discussions on critical issues facing Native communities in Maine and the Northeast, alongside live performances and an artist market. Rooted in principles of decolonization, collaboration, and dialogue, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas debuted in 2024 with the aims of supporting the Native creative economy and promoting Indigenous thought leadership. This year’s Dawnland festival also marks a new moment of national connection through a collaboration with The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s 2026 Of the People: Smithsonian Festival of Festivals.

“This collaboration places the Abbe Museum’s Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas within a broader national conversation about ongoing cultural practice, while remaining grounded in Wabanaki leadership and place-based knowledge,” says Abbe Museum Executive Director Betsy Richards. “Being the only New England-based festival participating reflects the importance of Indigenous-led platforms that support cultural continuity and cross-cultural dialogue in this region.”