ArtsConnect Land Acknowledgement Statement

We respectfully acknowledge that ArtsConnect is located on the ancestral homelands of the Wahzhazhe (Osage) and Kanza (Kaw) Nations. Under the cloak of manifest destiny, via treaty and subsequent forced relocation by the United States government, Shawnee County is also the land of the Shawnee, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Wyandotte tribes.

We also acknowledge that there are currently four separate Nations in the state of Kansas who have federally recognized authority to self-govern: the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. As current occupiers of this land, we feel and thoughtfully accept the responsibility of stewardship to this land, the structures on it, and most importantly, to all of the people who call/ed this place home. We pledge to care for the land, its people, and its animals in a way that first considers the values of traditional people and the land itself. We commit to intentionally, actively supporting Indigenous people in the preservation of cultural heritages and traditions, which have been systematically reduced over centuries of colonialism in America.

Moving forward, we will talk openly with our audiences, collaborators, and constituents about the realities of the history of our land and its inhabitants. We will challenge them and ourselves to question the histories that we are taught and find more opportunities to learn about and support our land’s native inhabitants. We will strive to include Native voices, historical facts, and traditional as well as contemporary perspectives in our resources and programs to support land rematriation.

We thank Lisa LaRue-Baker, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, for inviting us to begin our Land Acknowledgement program, and for volunteering her time to educate the staff and her fellow board members at ArtsConnect about Native American histories and contemporary perspectives and the importance of land rematriation.