The Hopi Tribe Economic Development Corporation (HTEDC) Arts and Education Association was founded in June 2017 by the HTEDC Board of Directors in Flagstaff, Arizona, to enable the Annual Hopi Arts and Cultural Festival to sustain its efforts through larger donations and grant funds. A three-member Board of Directors was established. Nonprofit 501(c)(3) status was attained in November 2017. In April 2018, the Festival Committee was formed, to enact polices that will guide the event.

In 2010, when the United States fell into recession, HTEDC started the Hopi Market to help a handful of Hopi artists with a temporary source of income, so they could provide for their families. After the first year of the market, HTEDC realized this market was not only providing income to Hopi artists, but boosting the City of Flagstaff’s tourist economy by attracting visitors. HTEDC continued the market at the request of Hopi artists, providing a venue for them to sell their art as well as gain exposure of their work. In its first two years, the festival brought Hopi youth, Hopi elders, a Hopi cultural specialist, anthropologist, and archaeologist together to learn from one another about Hopi culture, tradition, history, and most importantly, roles and responsibilities associated with Hopi youth via Northern Arizona University’s Footprints of our Ancestors Program. In 2012, it provided educational supplies using festival-generated funds to Hopi Elementary, Keams Canyon Elementary, First Mesa Elementary, Second Mesa Elementary, Hotevilla Bacavi Elementary, Moencopi Elementary School, and Alpine Leadership Academy at Mount Elden Middle School in Flagstaff.

As years went by, numerous comments from businesses and community members about the event’s educational value inspired HTEDC to bring in demonstrators (such as potters and doll makers, to show how festival art work is created) to the market. In 2013, an expansive HTEDC vision turned the market into a festival welcoming all kinds of artists, from an array of tribes within Arizona and New Mexico. The festival’s name changed to the Hopi All Native Arts and Cultural Festival and grew into the festival it is today. The City of Flagstaff Council unanimously approved a request for street closure of Aspen Avenue between San Francisco and Leroux Streets.

When the festival started, the HTEDC Board donated funding (that remaining after expenses) to Flagstaff community members, as well as to our Hopi people. The initial focus of the HTEDC Board was to help youth and elders to help in providing a better way of life, through education of who we are as a people – promoting health, safety and teachings of self-respect that focus on what they deal with daily on the Hopi Reservation. Examples of this were providing supplies for children brought into Child Protective Services on Hopi/Flagstaff (2013) and supporting Hopi domestic violence prevention efforts via Northland Help Center and Hope Cottage Flagstaff (2014).

In 2015, a new HTEDC Board deemed the festival should only be open solely to Hopi artists, bringing about another name change, the Hopi Arts and Cultural Festival. Synonymous with this change, funds raised were strictly allocated to supporting educational efforts on Hopi. Since then, festival donations have supported the Hopi Substance Abuse Program (2015); Hopi education through Hopitutuqaiki (2016), wherein Hopi teachings were provided by elders via a traditional summer program; and supported Hopi Natwani for Youth Program (2017), through which dedicated individuals preserve Hopi farming traditions by strengthening the local Hopi food system and developing innovative sustainable strategies to promote wellness.

The mission of the HTEDC Arts and Education Association is to help support youth education on the Hopi Reservation through a variety of events.  Additionally, we strive to help educate the public to Hopi culture and encourage the preservation of Hopi artistic skills and Hopi culture among the Hopi people.