Saturday, November 4 | 11 am – 3 pm
Color Burst Park
6000 Merriweather Dr., Columbia

2 pm: Author Steven Paul Judd
Performers include:
Carly Harvey, Tsalagi and Tuscarora: singer
Brett Walking Eagle, Dakota Sioux: flute player and singer
Angela Gladue, Cree: hoop dancer
Shawn IronMaker, Ft. Belknap: singer
Lance Fisher, Northern Cheyenne: singer
Chris EagleHawk, Lakota/Pueblo: traditional dancer
Four members, Iroquois-St. Regis Mohawk: smoke dancers
Misty Nace & Nathan Solorio, Cree: dancers
Jennifer Night Bird Miller, Cree: jingle dancer

Interview with Steven Paul Judd:

Steven Paul Judd was a student who loved movies when he decided to apply for a fellowship with ABC Disney. His submission, a speculative script for the television show My Name is Earl, secured him the fellowship and the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles to write. This launched his career which now includes not only screen writing, but also fashion, books, painting, and whatever artistic medium inspires him in the moment. His substantive works often include satire with pop culture themes that lift Native American culture.

Judd, who is of Kiowa and Choctaw heritage, talks about his work at the fifth annual Native American Heritage Month Celebration on Saturday, November 4. Judd says these types of events are important, “because when people think about Native Americans and Native American heritage, they obviously think of the past, but we are also doing things today. Like, I’m a writer. It’s a perfect opportunity to broaden people’s awareness about Native Americans in the arts.”

When asked about the inspiration for his bestselling Rez Detectives series, Judd says he did it for his childhood self, who saw little representation of Native culture in books. “I would have loved to have something like this when I was a kid! I loved comic books,” he says. The book was co-authored with his friend Tvli Jacob.

Things have changed considerably since 2011 when he first hit the Hollywood scene, Judd says. “There wasn’t a lot of indigenous representation in the (television) industry. Now you see a lot more. There’s Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, and of course, Dark Wind, which I write on.”

In his spare time, when he’s not creating, Judd pursues his passion for securing Indigenous treaty rights. “It’s a pet project,” he says. “No one is going to right the wrongs of the past for moral reasons…you have to prove things legally.”

“Dig it if you can,” a catch phrase used by Judd, is the title of an award-winning documentary on his life created by filmmaker Kyle Bell. Catch it on Vimeo.