The fourth annual Gila River Festival, scheduled for September 18-21, 2008, is an opportunity to celebrate the Gila River as a source of inspiration.The theme for the festival will bring together experts and laypersons, artists and scientists from many disciplines, to converge on the topic of the Gila River as experienced through creative expression. Through rock art, nature writing, field sketching, weaving, song writing, performance and photography, we will bridge the arts and sciences through active discussion and demonstration. The festival format will include intensive workshops co-led by artists and scientists, a keynote speaker, lectures, hikes, and performance over a four-day period.

The Gila River Festival is a community-based event that explores the role of the Gila River in our hearts and minds, and the interconnectedness of all of its communities of life. The festival will foster a body of multidisciplinary work sourced from a common touchstone-the Gila River. While not all who participate will be artists, per se, the purpose of the festival will be to honor and awaken individual creative expression.