Page 20 - March 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians Makes Major Contribution Co-Sponsoring “Spirit of the Land” Conference
Can people today learn how to better manage the environment from the traditions of ancient American Indians? at was one of the questions discussed at Spirit of the Land, a two-day conference co-sponsored by the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay
Indians and San Diego State University in mid-February. e free conference, open to the public was held at San Diego State University with well over 600 attendees.
More than 80 keynote speakers and panelists, including two internationally acclaimed writers on the environment; Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder and author Peter Matthiessen, whose fiction and nonfiction books inquire into man’s place in the environment, discussed environmental policy and smart growth to Native American poetry and sacred places. Other speakers included scientists from the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, historians, lawyers, policy-makers, urban planners and Southern California Tribal leaders.
“With the development and strengthening
of tribal economies and tribal governments
comes our responsibility to be involved in the envi- ronmental and ecological issues in the county,” said
Anthony Pico, Chairman of the Viejas Band in San Diego’s East County.
The conference, the first of its kind in the area, included a concert, a theatrical performance, a book fair, a documentary film screening and a poetry reading
Golden Acorn Featured In New Smithsonian Museum
The Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians and Golden Acorn Casino & Travel Center will be one of only a handful of groups profiled in the “Our Lives” exhibit at the new National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. In the fall of 2004, the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Museum of the American Indian (nmai) will open a new 260,000-square-foot museum at the foot of the nation’s capitol in Washington, D.C. The state-of-the-art facility, projected to attract six million visitors a year, will affirm the historical and contemporary cultural achievements of Native peoples of the Western
Hemisphere. The National Museum of the American Indian will open with three long-term inaugural exhibitions depicting the philosophies, histories and identities of Native people of North, Central and
South America.
e “Our Lives” exhibition brings together presentations from eight di erent communities to explore contemporary Native identity. e exhibition is permanent; however the communities will be rotated every three to ve years. Using commissioned artworks, objects, photographs, video and audio, the gallery will provide insight into the beliefs, traditions, events and ideas that Native communities and individuals use to
de ne themselves and their cultures. NMAI curators have partnered with members of the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians and others to develop the co-curated
exhibition components of “Our Lives.” Through these partnerships, “Our Lives” seeks to reflect the diversity of Native groups
in the 21st century. Cynthia Chavez, curator for “Our Lives,” has been working closely with a co-curator committee, composed of tribal members, to bring the story of the Campo Kumeyaay as a contemporary Native community to light. The committee decided to include the Golden Acorn Casino in the exhibit to demonstrate its importance as an economic source for the community. The casino has helped to provide jobs, support social services and offer the financial freedom necessary for tribal members to remain on the reservation. The acorn was once an important resource for the Kumeyaay. Today, the casino is seen as the new acorn that will provide for the Campo people.
Morongo Band of Mission
Indians Donates $250,000 Ifor Banning Skate Park
n mid-February the Morongo Band of Mission Indians donated $250,000 toward construction of a 16,000-square- foot skate park in Banning.“When I grew up here, we had
nothing,” Maurice Lyons, tribal chairman, told the Banning City Council when he presented the check. “ is skate park will be here forever.”
Four years ago a group of skaters asked the city council to build a safe and legal place to practice their sport. At that time, the city set aside $20,000 for construction drawings for the park “It’s All About the Kids,” a group including Mayor
Arthur “Art” Welch and Councilwoman Barbara Hanna, is raising money for the project. e proposed skate park includes a vertical half-pipe, two bowls with a transition connecting them, grinding rails and fun boxes. Construction is estimated to cost $370,000.
Page 20 March 2004
Southern California Tribes in the News