37th Annual CMU Pow Wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nj3IoIJ3xU

Central Michigan University hosted its 37th annual "Celebrating Life" Pow Wow on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21, 2026, in McGuirk Arena, bringing together culture, community and tradition. Organized by a student-led committee, the weekend-long event celebrating Native American heritage through music, dance, food and crafts, drawing thousands of attendees each year.

The pow wow serves as a gathering space for Indigenous communities and visitors, an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends while sharing cultural traditions. The sounds of drums fill the arena as dancers in vibrant regalia perform in multiple categories, creating an environment centered on celebration and connection.

Student organizers play a key role in making the event possible. Months of planning, fundraising and coordination go into hosting the pow wow, with committees working throughout the academic year to manage logistics and ensure its success. The event remains one of the largest student-led traditions on campus.

Beyond the performances, the pow wow represents a celebration of life and a way to honor Indigenous history and resilience. Its continued presence at CMU highlights the importance of preserving cultural traditions while creating space for connection and shared experiences.

Experience

This video was kind of a spur of the moment idea, as I was shooting the event for UCOMM and just decided to take videos and use it as b-roll for one of my videos.

The plan was to have it done right after the event took place but it was a pain trying to get an interview with the person I had talked to during the event. We had a day set, she cancelled, I showed up to the office to talk to her and she wasn't in, emailed back and forth again and planned a day and she cancelled again. So therefore I reached out to who she had referred to me and she ended up being sick when I had wanted to shoot the interview. So therefore, 3 weeks later, my third source and it is finally done.

The editing process was quite easy, other than not really having a lot of clips of the attendees of the event, which sucked. Some shots of people getting tickets and checking in or buying things from the vendors would have been nice, but again it was spur of the moment and I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the video.

Other than the delay, I like how the video turned out. I feel like my interviewee could have been a little more informative, which is kind of why I wanted to interview who I wanted to in the first place. But stuff happens.