Enjoy a weekend of indigenous music, art and culture today at the third annual River People Music and Culture Fest hosted by Givens Performing Arts Center (GPAC) at UNC Pembroke.

The festival kicked off Friday with a morning performance. The event is free.

The showcase will include artist works such as pine needle baskets, jewelry, pottery, paintings, photography and live entertainment provided by Dark Water Rising, Lakota John and Friends, Fireset, Last Time Around and many more performers. Meet the artists and purchase their work. Gloria Tara Lowery will be honored during the showcase for her work in the community through arts education and the arts.

The festival continues today with a concert at GPAC at 5 p.m. (may be subject to change). Tickets are $10.

The event features Native Award Music Award-winner Samantha Crain, performances by the Lumbee Elder’s Choir, Sacred Drum and Shane Banker, along with the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to American Indian potter Senora Lynch. Kat Littleturtle will also share Native stories.

Crain was raised in rural Shawnee, Okla., a town whose remote location influenced her quirky, earthy interpretation of folk music. Although inspired by the sounds of her father’s music collection, including Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, an adolescent Crain took even greater solace in the music of her home state, from the rootsy Americana of Woody Guthrie to the sonic experiments of the Flaming Lips.

“The Confiscation,” a mature CD featuring harmonica, tambourine, lap steel guitar and Crain’s unembellished vocals, marked her debut in 2007.

A Warren County, North Carolina resident, Lynch is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe. American Indian traditional arts have been a part of her life since she was a child. Although she started working professionally only 10 years ago, she now has buyers from as far away as China, Australia and Italy and her work has been displayed at the White House, the Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of History. Lynch’s artwork will be on display Friday night during the Art Showcase.

Emcees are Gary Strickland and Morgan Hunt Warriax.

The Elders Choir of the Lumbee Tribe consists of over 60 Tribal elders from all 14 tribal districts. The choir participates in several events throughout the state including the annual N.C. Indian Unity Conference Gospel Singing, the Lumbee Powwow, and singings at various area long-term care facilities. The choir has been awarded three gold medals and one silver medal in the performing arts category in the Senior Olympics.

The River People Music and Culture Fest spotlights American Indian culture from across the nation. Many of theperformers have connections to North Carolina and Robeson County. The event showcases some of the most outstanding talent in the American Indian community.

For information, contact GPAC at (910) 521-6325 or email patricia.fields@uncp.edu.

The project is supported in part by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, through its Grassroots program and the UNCP American Indian Studies Department.