Save the Date: July 11 & 12, 2026!
The Abbe Museum’s Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas will return July 11-12, 2026, hosted on the campus of College of the Atlantic, continuing its tradition as a multi-day summer festival that centers Wabanaki and Native thought leadership through panels, performances, and a Northeastern Native arts market.
This year’s Dawnland festival also marks a new moment of national connection through a collaboration with The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s 2026 Of the People: Smithsonian Festival of Festivals.
“This collaboration places the Abbe Museum’s Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas within a broader national conversation about ongoing cultural practice, while remaining grounded in Wabanaki leadership and place-based knowledge,” stated Betsy Richards, executive director at the Abbe Museum. “Being the only New England-based festival participating reflects the importance of Indigenous-led platforms that support cultural continuity and cross-cultural dialogue in this region.”
Smithsonian Folklife will collaborate with the Abbe on select panel conversations and performance programming, while Dawnland remains fully grounded in Wabanaki voices, perspectives, and shared authority.
LOOK BACK! - 2025 DAWNLAND FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS
THE DAWNLAND FESTIVAL IS ORGANIZED BY THE ABBE MUSEUM
The Abbe’s mission is to illuminate and advance greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands. At the core of our work are decolonizing museum practices, including: collaboration with Tribal communities; privileging Native perspectives, voice, and values; a focus on dialogue; inclusion of the full measure of history; and ensuring truth-telling. This is also reflected in the Museum’s governance structure that includes a Wabanaki-majority Board and a Tribally-appointed Advisory Council, resulting in a tremendous institutional power shift. This commitment allows the museum to amplify the art, cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Wabanaki peoples in ways that serve Tribal communities and activate audiences. Through the Wabanaki Council and community consultation, we work with Wabanaki Tribal Nations to share authority for the interpretation of their living cultures and history, privileging Native voice.
The Abbe was founded in 1928 as a small trailside museum at Sieur de Monts Spring in Lafayette National Park (today Acadia National Park) with a focus on the archaeology of the Wabanaki Nations. The Abbe soon expanded its scope to include Wabanaki material culture and now features a substantial contemporary art collection. In 2001, the Museum expanded to the downtown Bar Harbor location, creating a 17,000-square-foot museum with spacious exhibition galleries, a research lab, and state-of-the-art collections storage. Learn More | Support
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
2025 LEAD FUNDERS
This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.
