Red Roads, the latest exhibition hosted at the Penticton Museum, is a visual journey through 200 years of Syilx history and culture, chronicling how it has transformed through the decades.

But the Penticton Indian Band and the Okanagan People aren’t just looking to the past, but the future as well — that’s the theme of The Road Ahead: A Forum and Celebration of Syilx plans for the future, which takes place in the museum courtyard from 4-6 p.m. today.

Along with customary Okanagan foods and beverages, live performances of traditional and contemporary Syilx music and dance, one of the key features will be a panel discussion, with Penticton Band leaders from both the administration and En’owkin Centre coming together to share the Syilx vision for the future.

“Most of the mainstream society looks at indigenous culture as an artifact, as this thing that’s stuck in time,” said Lauren Terbasket, En’owkin Centre’s education director. “What we’re hoping to show is that it’s not an artifact, that it’s this living landscape, that it adjusts and transforms to meet the needs of the people today. And that includes both societies, native and non-native.”

Terbasket said the centre is looking at the exhibition and forum as an extension of the their educational mandate, showing not only how Syilx culture fabric has transformed over the last two centuries, but how it has much to offer.

Chief Johnathan Kruger, who is also taking part in the panel, said the relationship that has been developed between the band and the city shows that both are leading the way in forging relationships for the future, highlighting protocols and agreements they have developed with the city, School District 67 and one being developed with the regional district.

“Those are examples of what we need to do at the higher levels,” he said. “I think the Penticton Indian Band and the Okanagan Nation are ahead of the game because of past leadership like Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and the leadership of our chief and council today.”

Terbasket said the Syilx have much to offer. Consensus building, diplomacy, conservation and the arts are all an integral part of their culture.

“The culture is so rich for the Okanagan people that there are ways that our culture and our cultural processes can transform overall society,” she said. “I think it’s taking those cultural processes that have been a part of our culture — and still are — and asking how they can help in the overall fabric of the society that we live in as Canada.”