Patty Talahongva

Patty Talahongva is a long-time X-Factor Member. Before joining the Heard Museum as the Chief Programming and Engagement Officer, she had a long career as a journalist, both locally and at the national level working in primarily radio and television news. She’s also mentored many Indigenous students who also want to go into the field of journalism. She attended both Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University where she studied journalism. A film she produced for the PBS program FRONTLINE was nominated for an Emmy Award. Patty is also Hopi and her tribe is in what is now northern Arizona. Being connected to her tribal culture is important to Patty and she returns home often to visit family and participate in cultural ceremonies. In the valley Patty helped found, “Protectors of the Salt River,” a group of volunteers who pick the invasive weed called stinknet. The group recently won an award from Arizona Forward for its dedication to eradicating stinkpot. What started with eight friends coming together to pull this invasive weed has now grown to dozens of people volunteering their time to help take care of our desert and water. Next fall Patty will have her book published about her, and her family’s experience at the Phoenix Indian School. This is a chapter of American history that many Americans don’t know about because it’s not taught in schools. This was a national government funded program to assimilate Native Americans by taking the kids and putting them in boarding schools, keeping them away from their families for years. Patty attended the Phoenix Indian School, like so many of her relatives, and brings that point of view to the story. Years before formally joining the Heard Museum, Patty was one of the advisors to the museum’s groundbreaking exhibit about government run boarding schools. She also narrates the tour, which you can listen to on the Heard app. In her role at the Heard Museum Patty oversees all the public events that take place year-round, including school tours and the very popular World Championship Hoop Dance contest. The mission of the Heard Museum is to connect Indigenous creativity to the world by presenting the voice and vision of the American Indian artists. Several of Patty’s relatives have art in the Heard Museum's collections and it’s a treat for her to share that art with the public.