Director: Kevin Gover (Pawnee/Comanche)
Total Full-Time Employees: 300 (Washington and New York museums and Cultural Resources Center)
Annual Budget (federal and trust) FY 2008: $40 million (Washington and New York museums and Cultural Resources Center)
Approximate Number of Artifacts: 826,200 artifacts  
Visitors (2007): 1.8 million

Background
Established in 1989, through an Act of Congress, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is an institution of living cultures dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The museum includes the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall; the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent museum in lower Manhattan; and the Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Md.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian opened its doors to the public Sept. 21, 2004. The museum, which was 15 years in the making, is the first national museum in the country dedicated exclusively to Native Americans, the first to present all exhibitions from a Native viewpoint and the first constructed on the National Mall since 1987.

The five-story, 250,000-square-foot, curvilinear building was built on the last open space available on the National Mall, located between the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol. The textured golden-colored limestone exterior evokes natural rock formations formed by wind and water through time. Set in a 4.25-acre landscaped site with wetlands and 40 boulders known as “grandfather rocks,” the museum is a sharp contrast to neighboring Washington buildings. Its special features—an entrance facing east toward the rising sun, a prism window and a 120-foot-high atrium called the Potomac—were designed in consultation with many Native Americans during a four-year period.

A welcome wall of video screens at the museum’s entrance greets visitors in 150 Native languages, conveying the significant presence and diversity of Native peoples throughout the Americas. This message is again reinforced in the Lelawi (leh-LAH-wee) Theater, a 120-seat circular theater located on the fourth floor which presents a 13-minute multimedia experience titled “Who We Are” to prepare museum-goers for their visit.

The museum’s signature film, “A Thousand Roads,” has daily screenings in the Rasmuson Theater on the first floor. The 43-minute film, directed by award-winning independent filmmaker Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), is a fictional work that follows the lives of four contemporary Native Americans as they confront the crises that arise in a single day. With epic-sized settings that include the crest of the Andes, the ice floes of Alaska, the mesas of New Mexico and the concrete canyons of Manhattan, “A Thousand Roads” takes viewers on a memorable Native journey. This film is recommended for children ages 12 and older.

Collections and Exhibitions
Approximately 8,000 objects from the museum’s permanent collection are on display in the exhibitions, “Our Universes,” “Our Peoples” and “Our Lives.”

“Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World”—focuses on Native cosmologies and the spiritual relationship between mankind and the natural world. It explores annual ceremonies including the annual Denver March Powwow, the North American Indigenous Games in Canada and the Day of the Dead in Mexico, as seasonal celebrations that unite different Native peoples.

“Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories”—highlights historical events told from a Native point of view. The exhibition presents Native Americans’ struggles to maintain traditions in the face of adversity. It includes a spectacular “wall of gold” that features more than 400 figurines and gold objects dating back before 1491.

“Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities”—examines the identities of Native peoples in the 21st century and how those identities—both individual and communal—are shaped by deliberate choices made in challenging circumstances.

“Window on the Collections: Many Hands, Many Voices”—offers a view into the vast collections of the museum by showcasing 3,500 objects arranged in seven categories. Objects include animal-themed figurines and objects, beadwork, containers, dolls, peace medals, projectile points and qeros (cups for ritual drinking).

“Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian”— illuminates the achievements of one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, the late Fritz Scholder (1937-2005). Featuring 135 paintings, works on paper and sculptures drawn from major public and private collections, including the color saturated canvases for which the artist is famous, the exhibitopens concurrently in Washington and New York City. This exhibition opens Nov. 1.

Throughout the museum, the works of Native artists are on display as “landmark objects” in the public areas, including a 20-foot totem pole by carver Nathan Jackson (Tlingit) and a bronze sculpture by Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo), as well as a carving of a Kwakiutl speaker and Navajo weavings from the museum’s collection.

George Gustav Heye Center
The George Gustav Heye Center opened in 1994 in the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Lower Manhattan. The museum features year-round exhibitions, dance and music performances, children’s workshops, family and school programs, film festivals and video screenings that present the diversity of the Native peoples of the Americas and the strength of their cultures from the earliest times to the present. There were 83,000 visitors to the Heye Center in 2007.

Cultural Resources Center
The Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Md., includes conservation laboratories and space for photography, film, video and collections management; private indoor and outdoor ceremonial spaces for the traditional care and cultural use of the collection by appropriate individuals and tribal groups; an information resource center; a library; and offices and workrooms for curatorial, cultural resources, repatriation, community services and administrative staff.

Public Programs
The National Museum of the American Indian hosts a variety of free cultural arts programs, including Native music and dance performances, theater, films, arts and crafts demonstrations, symposia and more. For a schedule of upcoming programs, visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu and select “Events” or stop by the Welcome Desk.

About the Museum
The museum includes the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe, which offers authentic entrees, snacks, desserts and beverages based on Native culinary traditions of the Americas. The name Mitsitam (mit-seh-TOM), meaning, “let’s eat,” is taken from the native Piscataway and Delaware languages. The Mitsitam Cafe features menus from five geographic regions covering the entire Western Hemisphere: Northern Woodlands, South America, Northwest Coast, Meso America and Great Plains. The Zagat-rated Mitsitam Cafe is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the full menu is available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Two museum stores—the Chesapeake Museum Store and the Roanoke Museum Store—sell Native arts and crafts, souvenirs, books, recordings and other merchandise.

Groups of 10 or more may schedule an entry time for admission through the reservations office via the education office: (202) 633-6644 or (888) 618-0572 or e-mail NMAI-GroupReservations@si.edu.