In October, New Bedford will host its first Powwow, coinciding with the building of a traditional canoe led by Wampanoag artist and activist Hartman Deetz. A mishoon, a traditional Wampanoag dugout canoe, is built by a series of scraping and burning that takes place over several days. Learn about the process and its importance with an artist talk at the Star Store on June 26 from 6 to 8:30 PM.

The evening will begin with a screening of the film Women of Wampum, co-directed by Dr. Kelsey Leonard and Alejandro Miranda. The documentary features a group of Indigenous women from Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard as they reclaim and rematriate the ancient art of wampum and women’s roles overlooked by patriarchal dominance and threatened by climate change and colonialism. The film screened in April of 2026 at the New Bedford Film Festival. Dr. Leonard will give a talk about the film and Indigenous women’s roles in the history of and preservation of the tradition of wampum.