Project overview: Enhance visitor connections to Yosemite traditions and art through an annual series of five to six park programs and events, including the Parsons Memorial Lodge Summer Series and the annual Chiura Obata art event.  

How your support helps: Yosemite National Park continues to make strides in expanding programming to meet and celebrate larger and more diverse audiences. This visitor event series, which perfectly combines existing and new visitor experiences, pushes the park forward, actively spotlighting cultures and visitors who may not often see themselves reflected in park happenings. These programs are also an essential component of the busy summer season at Yosemite, creating unique cultural connections and improving visitor connections to the park’s history. 

This year: With your support, the 2025 Cultural Connections series will support five programs:  

  1. Parson’s Memorial Lodge Summer Series: This multi weekend event offers space for the public to experience an incredible lineup of speakers, poets, and musicians at the Parsons Memorial Lodge in the heart of the High Sierra summer. All events are free and open to the public. 
  2. Chiura Obata Art Weekend: A fun art event that celebrates the legacy of Yosemite and California artist Chiura Obata. The weekend features art workshops and demonstrations, ranger talks, community art, and more!  
  3. Knap-In: This two-day event brings together experts in the traditional art of knapping — a traditional technique that includes making arrowheads and other stone tools — in the Indian Village area as a drop-in event.   
  4. Yosemite Art Trail: Formerly known as Yosemite Visions, this summer event hosts a week of participatory pop-up art experiences for visitors to highlight lesser-known Yosemite artists. 
  5. Bilingual Interpretive Events: A series of interpretive programming events to highlight the story of Frank Melendez Wright and other stories in the Yosemite History Center, thus creating new ways to share untold Yosemite history and traditions. 

Project partner: Yosemite National Park 

Sharon Miyako

Project Notes

"A culture-based series across the park, and at different times, appeals to both existing visitor audiences, as well as non-traditional groups like historically excluded audiences, non-outdoor adventure audiences, and audiences that may not immediately connect to the sciences but find their attachment to Yosemite through art and culture."