“Longest Walk” Sponsor:

The Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation has always been a strong advocate for the protection on sacred sites. In the summer of 2008, Preston’s grandson, Louis Jefferson, sponsored by the Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation participated in the Longest Walk event, walking from Parker, Arizona, to Washington D.C., advocating for the continued protection of Quechan sacred sites.

Gathering of Maya and Environmental Activists:

In 2005, a leader of a group of Mayan Indians, exiled from their home in Mexico and living in the southwestern U.S., approached Preston J. Arrow-weed following one of his lectures and expressed his sorrow over the lack of appropriate space to perform Mayan rituals. Preston immediately offered the use of his land on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation. Thereafter, the Maya leaders, Ah-Mut Pipa, and the Sierra Club came together one weekend in March 2006 to share stories about grassroots organizing, environmental threats in Latin America, and the unique perspectives that Indian people bring to the struggle. Those present also observed ancient Mayan rituals (no sacrifices!).

Tribal Touring Program at the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation:

In collaboration with the American Indian Film Institute (AIFI) and Hokan Median Productions, the Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation hosted the AIFI’s Tribal Touring Program on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation in October 2004. The two-week program brought together 30 youth under the guidance of three up-and-coming Native filmmakers---Larry Blackhorse Lowe (Ibid, co-producer (2008); 5th World, director, writer (2005); Shush, producer, director, writer, editor (2003)), Jack Kohler (River of Renewal, executive producer (in post-production); California’s Lost Tribes, co-producer (2005)), and Dan Golding---to script, shoot, edit, score, and direct their own films. The young filmmakers then hosted a premier at Yuma’s Main St. Cinemas to a packed house.

Film & Video:

The Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation has developed a strong relationship with a Quechan film-maker, Dan Golding, who owns his own production company, Hokan Media Productions. As this relationship developed, the Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation has come to rely on Dan’s unique film-making style when bringing to life many of its ideas. Over the years, the Ah-Mut Pipa Foundation found that many people can relate to the stories depicted in the films and videos that it produced.

For more information about Hokan Media Productions, visit http://www.hokanmedia.com

In 2004, the Foundation produced the documentary, Evoking the Spirit of Kumut, which documents the Quechan's journey north on the old running trail that hasn't been used in hundreds of years, in protest of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Ward Valley. This also documents the healing process as the Quechan retrace their past, retelling the migration from Avikwame.

Another documentary produced by Ah-Mut Pipa is Songs of the Hokan, an one-hour documentary on the different songs cycles performed by the tribes of the lower Colorado. Songs of the Hokan shows the complexity and diversity of cycles performed by the tribes of the lower Colorado region. Songs of the Hokan is a compilation of video footage taken of different singers and performers at events and at their own homes.

Whirlwind Warrior. Preston Jefferson Arrowweed. Imperial, CA: Imperial Valley College Desert Museum Society, 2001.

Stage/Theater:

Cottonwood Fluff in the Dark – staged at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA. 1999.