Water Is Life Festival

“Water is life. We are the people who live by the water. Pray by these waters. Travel by the waters. Eat and drink from these waters. We are related to those who live in the water. To poison the waters is to show disrespect for creation. To honor and protect the waters is our responsibility as people of the land.”

Winona LaDuke

Note: Children 10 & under admitted free

Honor the Earth and First Avenue are proud to present the second annual “Water Is Life” music, art & cultural festival at Bayfront Park in Duluth, Minnesota on the shores of the mighty Gichi-Gami (Lake Superior). Featuring an unprecedented coalition of musicians, artists, poets & Indigenous leaders, “Water Is Life” stands alone in the festival landscape at the heart of the Native American, women-led environmental & social justice movement nationally where Honor the Earth has led the fight for Indigenous sovereignty and climate justice for over thirty years. With performances by Ani Difranco, Allison Russell, The Indigo Girls, Tia Wood, LOW, Dessa, Joe Rainey Sr, Keith Secola, Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt, Corey Medina, Gaelynn Lea, and emcee Thomas X, this one-day festival is a celebration of water as the fundamental life-giving resource of Mother Earth.

This year’s festival theme centers, elevates, and supports women as the first line of resistance and resilience in the face of an all-out assault in the United States against Mother Earth and the rights of women everywhere. “Water Is Life” is a wildly diverse celebration in art & activism that stands in solidarity against sexism, racism, and corporate greed; honoring the sacred, protecting the vulnerable, and breaking the link between the subjugation of the feminine and the short-sighted destruction of the planet. 100% of proceeds from the festival will go directly to Honor the Earth to assist in fighting new challenges to Indigenous lands & people and climate justice in Minnesota and around the globe.

Festival production will be provided by Minneapolis’s legendary music venue First Avenue, and Minnesota Public Radio / The Current leads a diverse coalition of community sponsors. Local, organic food vendors, regionally-sourced food and beverages, and a sustainability village of vendors will all be onsite. All proceeds from the festival will go to Winona LaDuke’s Honor the Earth organization to assist in urgent climate-justice efforts here in Minnesota & all around Turtle Island (Planet Earth)

Honor the Earth was founded by Indigenous activist Winona LaDuke and Amy Ray & Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls. Our mission is to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities. Honor the Earth develops these resources by using music, the arts, the media, and Indigenous wisdom to ask people to recognize our joint dependency on the Earth and be a voice for those not heard. We are the only Native organization that provides both financial support and organizing support to Native environmental initiatives. This model is based on strategic analysis of what is needed to forge change in Indian country, and it is based deep in our communities, histories, and long-term struggles to protect the earth.