Indigenous Connections Summit

Indigenous Connections Summit: Beyond the Land Acknowledgement

Presented by Golden History Museum & Park

DOWNLOAD 2025 Conference Program [PDF]

DOWNLOAD 2022 Golden Ethnography [PDF]

March 19–20, 2025 — Golden, Colorado

Attend the inaugural Indigenous Connections Summit in Golden, Colorado, March 19–20, 2025, hosted by Golden History Museum & Park and 1st Tribal Consulting LLC. The summit will bring together Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs) and Tribal representatives from some of the 51 federally recognized Tribes with historic ties to Colorado with museum, cultural and municipal/county leaders for two days of learning and exchange.

The goals of the Summit are to increase cultural professionals’ Indigenous cultural awareness and competency, forge relationships between Tribal representatives and museum/agency leaders, and build a regional network of cultural agencies that wish to elevate Indigenous voice and representation in their institutions and communities. Sessions and workshop content will include topics such as NAGPRA law and compliance, working with Native American advisory boards, co-creation of exhibits, Indigenous community engagement strategies, re-Indigenizing public spaces, and learning from and avoiding mistakes when working with Native communities. Dr. Tink Tinker (Wazhazhe, Osage Nation), Professor Emeritus, Iliff School of Theology, is the Summit’s distinguished keynote speaker. The second day of the conference will be a forum to learn about THPO offices and duties, issues from the field, and a networking session for museum leaders and Tribal representatives. Registration also includes two lunches and a reception at the Golden History Museum.

Schedule (subject to change)

Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Golden Community Center, 1470 10th Street, Golden, Colorado, 80401

8–8:45 am: Check-in and Continental Breakfast

8:45–9:15 am: Welcome and Invocation

9:15 am –12:15 pm: THPO Panel Conversation (with a break at 10:30), THPO travel generously underwritten by Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Studio Tectonic, and Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency City and County of Denver

12:15–12:30 pm: Break and Lunch Transition

12:30–1:30 pm: Lunch

1:30–2:30 pm: Keynote Speaker, Dr. Tink Tinker (Wazhazhe, Osage Nation), Professor Emeritus, Iliff School of Theology, Sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation

2:30–2:45 pm: Coffee Break/Transition, Sponsored by Native VISA

2:45–3:45 pm: Roundtable Discussions

3:45–4 pm: Wrap Up

4:30–7 pm: “This is Native Art” Exhibit Reception at Golden History Museum, Sponsored by Colorado Creative Industries

5:30 pm: Guest Curator Talk: Danielle SeeWalker (Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta)

Thursday, March 20, 2025
Golden Community Center, 1470 10th Street, Golden, Colorado, 80401

8–8:45 am: Check-in & Continental Breakfast, Sponsored by ERO Resources

8:45–9:15 am: Welcome and Invocation

9:15–10:30 am: Concurrent Sessions

1. Cross-Cultural Curation: Working with Native Advisors on Exhibits and Programming
2. Maintaining Relationships from a Boulder County and Broomfield County Perspective

10:30–10:45 am: Break

10:45 am–12 pm: Panel Conversation: Learning From Mistakes

12–1:30 pm: Working lunch: Developing a Native American Engagement Plan

1:30–2 pm: Conclusion and Closing Ceremony

Location

Summit activities will be held in Golden at two separate locations, within two blocks of each other.

Registration, Sessions, Workshops, Keynote, & Meals

Golden Community Center
1470 10th Street
Golden, Colorado 80401

Wednesday, March 20 Evening Reception

Golden History Museum
923 10th Street
Golden, Colorado 80401

Registration and Cancellation

Registration for the Indigenous Connections Summit is $260. Fees include attendance to all sessions and speakers, two continental breakfasts, two lunches, and Wednesday evening reception at Golden History Museum.

At the conclusion of the Summit, all participants will be provided discounted admission to the world-renowned Denver March Powwow that begins Thursday night and continues through the weekend at the Denver Coliseum.

Join the waitlist on webtrac

To cancel a registration or to ask any questions, please contact conference@goldenhistory.org. Registrations cancelled up to two weeks prior to the conference will be refunded at 50%. No refunds are issued for cancellations received less than two weeks before the start of the conference.

This is a rain-or-shine event. Golden History Museum & Park follows the City of Golden’s policies with regard to weather. The City of Golden is a full-service organization operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It is the intent of the City to maintain all services during inclement weather conditions and emergency events, unless otherwise approved by the City Manager or authorized designee. Should the City of Golden close the Golden Community Center during the conference, Golden History Museum & Park will issue a refund commensurate with the duration of the closure.

Accommodations

The Indigenous Connections Summit partner hotel is Hampton Inn Denver-West/Golden located at 17150 W. Colfax Avenue, Golden, Colorado, 80401. Make a reservation here or call the Hampton Inn Denver-West/Golden at 303.278.6600.

Golden Ethnographic Study, 2022

Native American history and connections to the Clear Creek Valley and table lands of the central Colorado Front Range extend back for more than 12,000 years. Contemporary Native American communities continue to view this place as an aboriginal homeland and a living landscape. However, today’s historical narrative of the region largely excludes Indigenous people and their values. To address this disparity, the City of Golden formed a partnership between its division of Planning and Museums, with the additional support of the Historic Preservation Board, to engage Native American tribes and ethnographic researchers to help tell the story of indigenous people in this region. The study involved cultural advisors from six American Indian tribes and a review and synthesis of relevant ethnographic literature. Together, the oral historical and documentary records provide a robust narrative about Native American connections to Colorado’s Front Range, and create a foundation for future collaborative research with tribal communities.

DOWNLOAD a complete digital copy for free. (Scroll to the bottom of the download page and click “Additional Media” link.)

About Golden, Colorado

Nestled along Clear Creek in a valley between the volcanic Table Mesas and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Golden, Colorado is situated within the ancestral territory of multiple tribes. The Clear Creek Valley provides an access corridor between the interior Rocky Mountains and the Plains. As an ecological transition zone, over 180 plant species found within the Golden region have documented Indigenous uses and names, and these serve as a foundation for Native American continued use and connections to the area. In the oral histories of the Núuchiu (Ute), the area now called the City of Golden is located within the origin places of the Moghwachi, Tabeguache, and Uncompahgre bands and has been significant since time immemorial. The oral histories and documentary record of the Tsétsėhéstȧhese or Tsistsistas (Cheyenne) and Hinono’ei (Arapaho) reveal a history that began in the eighteenth century or earlier and encompassed the Front Range of Colorado. Painful tribal histories, including the forced removal of the Utes from a large portion of their ancestral lands, and the removal of the Cheyenne and Arapaho from Colorado following the Massacre at Sand Creek, are historically linked to the development of the City of Golden and are therefore essential components of Native American interpretation of the area. (Excerpt from Indigenous Connections: Native American Ethnographic Study of Golden, Colorado and the Clear Creek Valley,” 2021).

City of Golden Land Acknowledgment

We begin by acknowledging the First Peoples, the Hinono’ei (Arapaho), Tsistsistas or Tsétsėhéstȧhese (Cheyenne) and Núuchiu (Ute), as the stewards and relatives of this ancestral territory that was seized from them in what is now known as Golden, Colorado. With respect to their elders, past and present, we recognize the original caretakers of this land, air, and water.

We make this statement to show respect, honor the truth, and encourage more substantive, sustained action to correct the false narratives and hostile practices that seek to erase Indigenous peoples’ histories, cultures, and daily presence in a colonized world.

We commit to highlighting true stories of the people who were and are already here and to address harm, work to build trusting relationships, and engage in restorative collaboration with Native communities.

We recognize as we move forward in the spirit of diversity, equity, and inclusion, that we must hold ourselves and each other accountable so that we can move forward with a spirit of belonging, reconciliation, and justice. We recognize that all members of the community of Golden, Colorado are needed in this work.

ADA Statement

Please contact Kathleen Eaton at (303) 277-8713 or send an email to conference@goldenhistory.org at least one month prior to the event to request disability accommodations. In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations.

Indigenous Connections Summit