For 10 years, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde has partnered with Corvallis organizations to produce the Champinefu Series. The focus is to help the people of Corvallis and surrounding areas better understand the land, the waters and the Ampinefu Kalapuya, whose homeland is the Marys River Watershed in what is now Corvallis.
Champinefu means the land (Ch) of the people (Am) of the Marys River (Pinefu). The series starts this year with a LIVE and free performance at the PRAx on October 15. It will conclude with two webinars in November and December.
The organizers say each program is unique, and will provide attendees with a better sense of place and the people who have lived here since time immemorial. Following their December program, they will have produced 30 unique programs in the last 10 years, each one providing a unique lens for understanding Ampinefu life.
The Sacred Commute: Off/On the Rez
October 15, 2026 @ 7:00 PM, Doors Open at 6:30 pm
Live at the PRAx – OSU Campus
Free: First come, first seated with overflow areas where the program can be watched remotely. No registration. Just show up.
Join Joseph Dowd and Jedd Schrock for a night of Indigenous song sharing and storytelling. about life as a Native American off the reservation and on the reservation. Song shared will be interspersed with storytelling and poem sharing that conveys the lived experience of contemporary Native Americans of Western Oregon as well as their ancestors. Joseph Dowd is a descendant of Santiam Kalapuya (Hudson and Dowd families) and is the 2026 Indigenous Place Keeping Fellow through the Grand Ronde Tribe’s Art Program. Jedd Schrock is a renowned linguist of Pacific Northwest Indigenous languages. This event will be a unique opportunity to experience Indigenous expression of dichotomies comparing living on the reservation with life off of the reservation.
Learning by Doing: Kalapuya Stories and Histories
November 4, 2026 @ 7:00 pm
Webinar – To register and receive the link to watch:
With Jedd Schrock, Staff Linguist, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Schrock will present how they are finding, recording, translating and engaging their Tribal community with a large body of information about Kalapuya culture that has not previously been published or generally known to current generations. This will be the first public presentation of this information and one that may alter your perceptions of the people who lived in this area for at least the past 18,000 years. The organizers that if you want to learn more about local Indigenous culture, this webinar is a must see and hear.
Building Community through the Currents that Connect Us: Canoes, Family, & ResponsibilityÂ
December 2, 2026 @ 7:00 pm
Webinar – To register and receive the link to watch:
With Dr. Luhui Whitebear, Assist. Professor and Coordinator of Indigenous Studies at OSU
Dr. Whitebear presents the efforts to bring a carved Indigenous canoe to Corvallis waterways and the emerging Indigenous Canoe Family that is building community here. Learn the steps that have been taken, the partnerships built, and where the Canoe Family is heading as it prepares for the arrival of the Indigenous canoe to be housed at OSU and used on local rivers. This is an opportunity to learn about Indigenous Canoe Family culture that will soon be a part of our lives in Corvallis.
The 10th Annual Champinefu Series partners are the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Cultural Resources Department, Marys Peak Group of the Sierra Club, the Spring Creek Project, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition and the OSU School of Language, Culture and Society.
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