Team: Sara El-Sayed, Phil Weaver-Stoesz, Danica Rosengren, Arina Melkozernova Project description: The Southwest is a land of a long history of being a food culture, from Hohokam's farming traditions to Hopi dry land farming, to Tohono O’odham’s Saguaro fruit harvests, to various corn dishes. Yet today many students, newcomers,snowbirds and migrants are not aware of this history.Indigenous communities, as well as today’s new migrants,brought and continue to bring their food heritage. Our workshop is an invitation to share this food together, to reconnect to our senses, to reconnect to this land and the people in it.The workshop will occur 3-4 times throughout the day, and will invite participants, (who have previously signed up for the workshop) to engage with local and indigenous food makers and storytellers from around the state. We will be seated at a table and will first prepare parts of a meal together, this might include removing fruits from the stem,chopping, mashing, etc... as we talk about the food, its origins, health benefits, but also explore how people relate to it. The task-oriented nature of the interaction creates a sense of connection between the participants and the food, as well as with each other. We are imagining a concentric circle structure, in which each station of preparation moves the participants further outward,allowing them to see the remnants of the work they have done. We will develop a sound- and smells cape influenced by the food tasks. The workshop will end with a tasting session of the food that is partially prepared together and partially pre-prepared. Each group that enters will be a “generation” who is preparing food both for themselves and for upcoming generations. These groups will be connected through the work they’ve done with the food and the scraps they’ve left behind. The attendees of the workshop will also be given a map and directions of how they could engage beyond the workshop to visit the local guides/indigenous food makers to their own lands, in their own projects. The purpose of this activity is to bring worlds together,food makers that don't always engage with people who may or may not eat their food, through a sensorial and facilitated experience. The space is created in concentric circles, that enhance engagement and being on an equal footing. The experience will have a developed sound and smell-scape to allow for an immersive experience. The reason there are facilitators, mostly from theater world is to ensure that the facilitated process is accessible to diverse groups. There are two facilitators who have worked extensively with youth and adult audiences in interactive and participatory experiences and are thus well versed in these circumstances.