Why have a cultural center? - In their own words, from young and old alike
The mission of the Siletz Tribal Arts
and Heritage Society (STAHS) is to sup-
port and promote the practice, conservation
and restoration of the Tribal cultures of the
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.
The current goal of STAHS is to build
our Siletz Tribal Cultural Center with
a museum, archival storage and library
components. It will be located adjacent
to and east of the Siletz Trial Community
Center on Government Hill.
At Culture Camp in July, STAHS
Board Member Margo Hudson asked
attendees: “Why is it important to have
a Cultural Center?” Here are some of the
answers from young and old alike.
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Teach our culture to those who were not
involved and families that had lost their
culture during termination. – Kay (73)
An opportunity to teach the next gen-
eration our ways and a great way for
hands-on activities. It’s important to
me because I love going to these types
of things a lot and a culture center
would make it possible. – Hunter (15)
Display, preserve and teach our lan-
guage, arts, crafts and traditional life
arts; education space, archive space
and display space. – Amy (51)
It would be good to learn traditional
crafts and ways of life, as most of
what I seen is under lock and key.
Education is a beautiful thing to share.
– Everetta (Elder)
I would like a culture center because
our culture is fun. – Maddy (8)
It means new stuff to learn because I
want to learn new stuff. – Tyler (12)
Frank, continued from page 1
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is
the latest in a long line of distinguished
awards that Frank has received in recogni-
tion of his extraordinary contribution to
Indian Country. They include the Com-
mon Cause Award for Human Rights
Efforts, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for
Humanitarianism (past winners of which
include President Jimmy Carter, former
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, and
author Norman Cousins), the American
Indian Distinguished Service Award, the
2006 Wallace Stegner Award, and the
Washington State Environmental Excel-
lence Award.
NCAI also recognized Frank with the
Native American Leadership Award at its
annual leadership awards banquet in 2011
for his lifelong dedication to preserve,
protect and advance Tribal sovereignty,
Native cultures and natural resource
management.
Joining Frank as this year’s recipients
of the Medal of Freedom are baseball
great Yogi Berra (posthumous), public
servant Bonnie Carroll, Congresswoman
Shirley Chisholm (posthumous), music
producer Emilio Estefan, singer Gloria
Estefan, Congressman Lee Hamilton,
space pioneer Katherine G. Johnson,
baseball great Willie Mays, Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, conductor Itzhak Perlman, for-
mer EPA Director William Ruckelshaus,
theater composer Stephen Sondheim, film
director Steven Spielberg, singer Barbra
Streisand, singer James Taylor, and civil
rights leader Minru Yasui (posthumous).
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Siletz News
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It would provide our Native youth
with more opportunities to learn our
language and learn more about our
people and history. – Terrell (15)
To learn more about our culture and
see what our tradition is. – Noah (8)
It would be good for the youth to get
in touch with our culture. – Tre (13)
Provide a safe environment for youth
to get in touch with their culture
hands-on. Having a cultural center
that’s open daily will give youth
more time and opportunity to learn
their Native ways. This is important
because we are the future. We need to
know our ways. We will be the ones to
preserve our culture and pass it on to
our children. – Savanna (17)
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The place where I can learn and teach
my family the ways of the Siletz Tribe.
– Louie (9)
A cultural center would provide every-
one with a place to engage in activities
that can teach everyone how to make
regalia, beadwork, etc. The more edu-
cated in cultural activities our youth
through elderly, the stronger we are as a
Tribe. It’s nice to know, learn and teach
cultural activities to our lineage to keep
these traditions carried on through
many generations to come. – J (36)
Cultural center is a good idea to edu-
cate everyone – Nora
A cultural center to me would mean
somewhere to store and preserve
our history and artifacts. It would
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also mean we would be able to get
everything that is ours from differ-
ent museums. The center would be a
place where young and old could
go to learn about our history. – J (16)
To me a cultural center is like a big
museum but displaying a special
thing, and it’s important to have them
because people can learn more about
other people’s lives. - Rylee (11)
A culture center to me would mean
teaching future generations and today’s
generation about culture and history
and keeping traditions alive, which is
very important to youth. – Felisha (16)
A culture center would be good for the
Tribe to continue to carry on tradition
for our future. – Two (39)
Top shelf baskets – STAHS and the McKay Collection
To conserve our Tribal cultures, the
Siletz Tribal Arts and Heritage Society
(STAHS) works with the Culture Depart-
ment to identify and acquire materials that
belong in the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center.
These materials are then either purchased
or donated.
In Oct. 14, baskets attributed to Ida
Bensell were purchased from the McKay
Collection. They are now stored securely
on the top shelf in our repository.
These baskets will always be acces-
sible for reference in our Siletz Tribal
Cultural Center. Now we will always be
able to learn from Ida.
STAHS is the first nonprofit corporation
chartered by the Siletz Tribe. If you would
like to support its efforts, STAHS welcomes
your tax-deductible financial donation.
You also can donate appropriate mate-
rials to the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center
for a tax deduction and the security of
knowing that the materials will be safely
stored for our future generations.
Send contributions to:
Siletz Tribal Arts & Heritage Society
Attn: Carlotta Lane, Treasurer
P.O. Box 8
Siletz, OR 97380
National, continued from page 1
Conference participants attended
breakout sessions to engage in meaningful
dialogues with federal officials on critical
topics ranging from health care to housing
to climate change.
From these sessions and throughout
the day came announcements of several
new key federal developments and initia-
tives for Indian Country, including:
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The Department of the Interior
released new right-of-way regulations,
which will give Native landowners
greater control over the use and devel-
opment of Tribal lands.
The Department of Justice announced
the first 10 Tribes to participate in the
initial phase of the Tribal Access Pro-
gram for National Crime Information.
The Department of the Interior’s
launch of Native One Stop, a web-
site where Tribal citizens can locate
important federal resources they may
be eligible to receive.
The Depar tment of Education
released its agency consultation
policy and also highlighted the release
of the School Environment Listening
Sessions Final Report.
The Depar tment of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD)
December 2015
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announced changes to the Choice
Neighborhoods Initiative designed
to make Tribes more competitive for
this funding stream for neighborhood
transformation.
The appointment of Karen Diver
(Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa) to serve as special assis-
tant to the president for Native Ameri-
can Affairs, White House Domestic
Policy Council.
President Obama wrapped up the
landmark event with brief opening
remarks.
“When I ran for office, I pledged to
build a true nation-to-nation relationship
with you,” he said to the Tribal leaders
in attendance. “What has started out as
a campaign promise has now become a
tradition.”
He went on to share that “the success
of our Native American communities is
tied up with the success of America as
a whole.”
Obama then joined a roundtable
discussion moderated by Jude Schimmel
(Umatilla), a standout basketball player at
the University of Louisville.
The roundtable covered a number
of topics important to Native youth,
including the need for quality, culturally
appropriate education; suicide prevention;
food sovereignty; and the movement to
eliminate racist sports mascots in schools.
Querying President Obama were
four Native youth: Blossom Johnson
(Navajo), age 23; Tatiana Ticknor (Yup’ik/
Tlingit/Dena’ina), 16; Brayden White
(St. Regis Mohawk), 21; and Philip Douglas
(Seminole), 16.
In closing the conference, Obama said
of Native youth, “I want to be a partner
with you to make sure that every possible
door is opened to them.”
About NCAI
Founded in 1944, the National Con-
gress of American Indians is the oldest,
largest and most representative American
Indian and Alaska Native organization in
the country.
NCAI advocates on behalf of Tribal
governments and communities, promot-
ing strong Tribal-federal government-
to-government policies and a better
understanding among the general public
regarding American Indian and Alaska
Native governments, people and rights.
For more information, visit ncai.org.
