I know this is beating a dead horse at this point, but it would really be nice if this would eventually evolve into something that included a casino or several here down the road.

I know this is beating a dead horse at this point, but it would really be nice if this would eventually evolve into something that included a casino or several here down the road.

That would require a change to OK law. Which is probably out of the question for a few years.

That would require a change to OK law. Which is probably out of the question for a few years.

I’m thinking more long term if this development really takes off or perhaps on the flip if there is trouble getting traction a world class Vegas style resort/ casino could be built to help spur development along with the museum.

On a side note, it would be nice for this thing to move forward already. They must have promised around 5 different dates it would start and still nothing.

That would require a change to OK law. Which is probably out of the question for a few years.
Actually it would probably require an act of Congress. Literally.

1. We don't know how this particular TIF will be setup. Likely will be sales tax as well and not sure if the collection area will be just the Chickasaw land.
2. Property taxes rise without new development.
Exactly how much have property taxes raised on that land in the past two decades? Or the past five decades?

Sure, property taxes go up with the market and without development, but they will go up far, FAR more WITH development. That is indisputable. The same with sales tax. How much sales tax has been raised on this property in the past generation or two? Next to zero.

TIF captures new taxes generated by new development and requires that any new taxes generated in the TIF area be spent within the TIF area, as described in the links I posted. Nothing more, nothing less.

It’s fair to disagree with the concept, it’s fair to monitor the process by which it is administered and it’s fair to report if the process is not followed properly. But beyond that, it’s an entirely lawful process according to federal and Oklahoma definitions, it is used extensively all over the United States, by most accounts it is deemed to be effective in generating new development, and the formula for accumulating the dollars is straightforward and well documented. I’m only making sure that readers of the thread understand where the monies are derived.

Yeah I forgot you explained that to me one time. But why can Las Vegas and places in California I know have casinos? Federal law specially allowed that? Or it just has to do with Indian tribes? If that’s the case than that can easily be overcome by an agreement with the city or perhaps the state legalizing gambling entirely but that would probably be met with fierce opposition from the tribes.

Yeah I forgot you explained that to me one time. But why can Las Vegas and places in California I know have casinos? Federal law specially allowed that? Or it just has to do with Indian tribes? If that’s the case than that can easily be overcome by an agreement with the city or perhaps the state legalizing gambling entirely but that would probably be met with fierce opposition from the tribes.
Vegas casinos exist because Nevada allows non-Indian Class III gaming by law. I’m guessing California’s casinos are Indian casinos much like Florida’s, Arizona’s, etc.? If so that would be because the land they are on is federally recognized tribal land that historically was recognized by the U.S. as belonging to the tribe in question. Oklahoma City has no such land anywhere, and is outside of the Chickasaw Nation’s historic tribal area. This is why they do not operate Remington Park as an Indian Casino despite owning it.

The state of Oklahoma will likely never allow full blown non-Indian Class III because the tribes would fight it, and the gaming compact would have to be completely renegotiated. The state would lose. Big time.

Anyway, I know you and others would love to see one there, but I’d ask that you open your mind to other possibilities. The Chickasaws have expertise and investments way, WAY beyond gaming. Every time casino comes up related to this property I feel like there’s a lack of imagination on the part of the poster, yet I know you are easily one of the most imaginative posters here. Throw out casino - not gonna happen here - and tell me what else you think would be good instead. And know that the Chickasaws are probably planning something really, really cool.

Exactly how much have property taxes raised on that land in the past two decades? Or the past five decades?

Sure, property taxes go up with the market and without development, but they will go up far, FAR more WITH development. That is indisputable. The same with sales tax. How much sales tax has been raised on this property in the past generation or two? Next to zero.

TIF captures new taxes generated by new development and requires that any new taxes generated in the TIF area be spent within the TIF area, as described in the links I posted. Nothing more, nothing less.

It’s fair to disagree with the concept, it’s fair to monitor the process by which it is administered and it’s fair to report if the process is not followed properly. But beyond that, it’s an entirely lawful process according to federal and Oklahoma definitions, it is used extensively all over the United States, by most accounts it is deemed to be effective in generating new development, and the formula for accumulating the dollars is straightforward and well documented. I’m only making sure that readers of the thread understand where the monies are derived.

Even if property only increases in value at the annual inflation rate -- and anything near the core has gone up at a much higher rate -- over 25 years (the life of a TIF) property taxes will more than double during that time.

And I won't pick apart your defiition of TIF but suffice it to say it is not only incomplete, it is inaccurate.


Interesting to attempt to defend something before the terms have even been defined.

I know this is beating a dead horse at this point, but it would really be nice if this would eventually evolve into something that included a casino or several here down the road.

We have discussed this repeatedly on this thread, but even if possible, I would not want a casino on this land. This area is designated for learning about Indigenous cultures and histories at the museum. The only thing many people in Oklahoma seem to know about Indigenous Peoples is casinos. I visited the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (a museum dedicated to white perspectives of history) with an Indigenous scholar and docent literally walked up uninvited to us and said, “You know, these Indians are laughing all the way to the bank with these casinos. . . It’s red man’s revenge!" We need a lot more education in the state.

Can Indigenous Peoples have a space where they control the narrative in the core of OKC? In general, Oklahoma History classes and the Oklahoma Historical Society have done a poor job of educating citizens of the state about Indigenous and Oklahoma histories even with more resources than ever before on Indigenous perspectives (see Oklahomans from Angie Debo to Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz). All we tend to get are land run and Boomer celebrations, which is a colonial perspective to Indigenous Peoples.

I have no idea what is best for the land around AICC, but I would far rather see some kind of farmers market type village where Indigenous Peoples and Nations could hold markets to showcase culture and sell food, art, and other items they choose. Maybe that's a bad idea, but another casino doesn't seem like the right fit for what this area is supposed to accomplish.

Even if property only increases in value at the annual inflation rate -- and anything near the core has gone up at a much higher rate -- over 25 years (the life of a TIF) property taxes will more than double during that time.

And I won't pick apart your defiition of TIF but suffice it to say it is not only incomplete, it is inaccurate.


Interesting to attempt to defend something before the terms have even been defined.
I’m only defending the concept of TIF which is constantly under attack here, with very few other posters willing to speak out and defend it.

And my definition of TIF is consistent with the definitions on the pages I linked to. Readers are welcome to click through to those links and also to research the topic for themselves before forming an opinion, and I would encourage them to do so, as I would hope you would also.

As I have stated many times before in this forum, I personally don’t even like the idea of incentives, TIF, etc that much as a concept. I would much prefer development happen organically without them. The problem is that their use is so widespread that I (just as many others) believe we are not competive without them, and in the case of many developments (this is an example) I believe differently than you do that they would likely not happen at all without incentives. I believe they can help target specific areas and needed types of development. This is where I DO believe they are worthwhile.

I also believe that their effectiveness happens OUTSIDE the TIF areas, where the spillover effect raises the tide (and new taxes) that are NOT captured by TIF.

And for the record I take your “interesting that...” comment as an unprovoked ad hominem response. I was trying to provide more information that I feel is very often left out of these conversations (and I linked to credible sources so that people could read for themselves) but I made no comment whatsoever about you or anyone else as an individual, nor did I attack you beliefs or position on the topic, none of that whatsoever.

I find the tendency here is growing (not limited to you at all by the way) to dismiss any posts which defend OKC policies or officials as “interesting...” “...carrying water...” “boosterism” etc. The pregnant insinuations are super troubling and limiting to open dialogue.

I was personally subjected to an attempt at doxxing in another thread a couple of months ago, with zero intervention. What was “interesting” was that the poster - who misguidedly thought I wasn’t public about who I was or what I do - had only registered a few days or weeks prior to HIS ad hominem retorts to my own comments, which again only linked readers to state laws, an accounting firm website which explained public trusts in Oklahoma, etc. and I attacked NOBODY.

For the record I have ZERO insight regarding the likely structure of this TIF. All I know is what I have read and seen in various reporting here and elsewhere regarding the resurrection of the development, plus agendas, minutes, etc. I know a bit about TIF because I worked in downtown development at the time of the first TIF’s passage and went to meetings (many years ago).

I have no agenda here other than to make sure those who are interested can look into the topic more if they choose to (and they should, before accepting your opinion or mine or anyone else’s before posting their own opinions or heaven forbid going to the polls). That is my only agenda, no matter what you might be insinuating. But if you would prefer that I not even do this, I will respectfully withdraw from the forum, as you are the owner and I respect your right to present or supress information or opinions as you wish.

I already bite my tongue regularly here out of such respect. Biting it clean off would not be much of a stretch at this point.

I’m only defending the concept of TIF which is constantly under attack here, with very few other posters willing to speak out and defend it.

TIF is not 'constantly' under attack here, nor was there anything even close to that vein in this thread.

And what exactly info is left out of these conversations? The people promoting these publicly-funded incentives do a fantastic job and get virtually unlimited amounts of time in front of the city council without EVER presenting the other side of this issue.

And I've stopped counting how many times the Oklahoman has completely mis-defined TIF and how they've been given info in advance by the city -- a highly, highly unethical practice -- and they failed to ask key questions about public subsidies or in the case of the Omni has yet to even mention the tens of millions in finance charges the tax payers will bear.


If anything, the discussions here are the only place to even have a conversation about these things and it's completely irresponsible to not question billions (yes, billions) of tax dollars being redirected from areas -- such as education -- that are in virtual emergency mode.

It also should be pointed out that these budget crisises are happening at the same time TIF's have more than doubled in the state, and the trend seems to be accelerating.

TIF is not 'constantly' under attack here, nor was there anything even close to that vein in this thread.

And what exactly info is left out of these conversations? The people promoting these publicly-funded incentives do a fantastic job and get virtually unlimited amounts of time in front of the city council without EVER presenting the other side of this issue.

And I've stopped counting how many times the Oklahoman has completely mis-defined TIF and how they've been given info in advance by the city -- a highly, highly unethical practice -- and they failed to ask key questions about public subsidies or in the case of the Omni has yet to even mention the tens of millions in finance charges the tax payers will bear.


If anything, the discussions here are the only place to even have a conversation about these things and it's completely irresponsible to not question billions (yes, billions) of tax dollars being redirected from areas -- such as education -- that are in virtual emergency mode.

It also should be pointed out that these budget crisises are happening at the same time TIF's have more than doubled in the state, and the trend seems to be accelerating.

I agree that it is important to have these conversations and I also agree that this forum is and has been the only place where they are openly questioned with regularity. None of that is bad in any way, and it is one if the reasons I’ve been a regular here for more than a decade.

But my feeling is that it is becoming less and less of a “conversation,” as the pro argument is rarely if ever presented and increasingly seems not to be even tolerated.

I understand that the pro argument has plenty of other outlets, but if you want actual DISCUSSION I would recommend against allowing posters here to make ad hominem attacks and/or insinuate that anyone who takes a different view is not only wrong but somehow a bad person. If we haven’t learned anything from our national and state political messes we should learn to avoid polarization and ad hominem arguments like the cancer that they are.

As it is I should probably take a time out here at the least. I have a ton going on in my life, little of it good, and it is probably manifesting itself in my lack of patience and the tone of my responses. Pete, I’d rather drink a beer with you than argue with you on the Internet. I have always believed you to be a good person, I’ve become convinced of it over beers, and I defend you as someone who is only earnest and genuinely interested and invested in the future of OKC anytime I get a chance, and will continue to do so.

If you are going to make blanket and incomplete statements and then argue your point on the internet, you are going to get an argument back. That's the way it works.

And thousands and thousands of people who care about OKC read these forums, and therefore open debate is very important, especially since only the PRO side ever gets presented anywhere else.


I've invested hundreds of hours on this subject and feel like I know it as well as anyone; maybe MORE than anyone in the state. So, if you want to debate it, bring it on.

Nope. For now at least, I’m done. Peace out.

A couple recent articles about this.

From today: Indian Cultural Center construction to resume in Oklahoma City (https://newsok.com/article/5613264/board-looks-ahead-to-resumption-of-construction-at-the-american-indian-cultural-center-and-museum)

And from earlier this month: Ideas begin to emerge for Indian Cultural Center development (https://newsok.com/article/5612187/ideas-begin-to-emerge-for-indian-cultural-center-development)

Both discuss some conceptual ideas for the development that have been presented, but do not provide any renderings or anything more than just some concepts.


The first conceptual ideas for development were presented this month.

They include a resort hotel, water park, and marketplace showcasing Native goods.


Residential, office and retail space, riverside performance venues and a resort are among the ideas.

Phase 1 has a potential for $400 million in private investment over 10 to 15 years, Marcum said.

Phase 2 would encompass the land west of the museum, overlooked by I-35. Planners estimate private investment totaling $200 million.

And know that the Chickasaws are probably planning something really, really cool.Lots of great potential for this site, located directly adjacent to "The Crossroads of America," could bring great concepts such as Great Wolf Lodge, Medieval Times, or perhaps an indoor sky resort, surrounded by mixed-use developments. An observation tower or a tall structure with an observation viewpoint would be great; hopefully it's architecturally unique and not a ripoff of other similar structures. St. Louis has the Arch and Seattle the Space Needle-- perhaps a design giving a hint of an oil rig, but it'd have to be done really well.

The latest report from The Oklahoman is that work is to resume in January and concepts for surrounding development/infrastructure are being thought of. Funding will also be key to this project.

Couple key points:

They includee a resort hotel, water park, and marketplace showcasing Native goods.


The city council will hold a public hearing Nov. 6 on a proposal to authorize an estimated $128 million in public financing to assist in development.

https://newsok.com/article/5613264/board-looks-ahead-to-resumption-of-construction-at-the-american-indian-cultural-center-and-museum

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm100718b.jpg

From the awesome OK Gazette.


Center staged (https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/center-staged/Content?oid=5406462)
A long-delayed museum will resume construction this year.
BY MIGUEL RIOS

The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is accepting bids through Jan. 7 to complete the facility, 659 American Indian Blvd., near the Boathouse District.

“There is one portion of the structure that has not been enclosed yet. That was bid on recently and we’re about to award that contract after the first of the year and that’s about $9 million,” said Tom Wilson, president of Architectural Design Group (ADG), a local design and management firm that serves as the agency representative of the cultural center.

The total construction budget is $37 million, Wilson said. The interiors of the building have not been constructed and some of the exteriors remain unfinished, so ADG is looking for companies that can fully complete the facility.

“We are looking for all trades — mechanical, electrical, lighting, sheetrock, finishing, flooring materials–literally everything that you can see in a building,” Wilson said.

The goal is to open the cultural center by Spring 2021.

Located at the crossroads of America, where four interstate highways intersect, the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is expected to be a world-class facility with hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

“The heart of this and the main attraction for people coming to visit is that they’ll get to experience living, breathing native culture,” museum director Jim Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to have a very robust program schedule here at the cultural center where we’ll have members from the different tribes sharing their heritage with visitors through dance, through song, through performances, through art demonstrations, through storytelling.”

Long road
Development began in 1994 following creation of the Native American Cultural & Educational Authority (NACEA), a state agency charged with planning and design for the facility. Construction for the project originally began in 2006 but was suspended in 2012 when state funding ran out, leaving the facility unfinished. In 2015, Oklahoma City was given the responsibility to complete the project. The Chickasaw Nation partnered with the city to help.

When Pepper Henry was named director of the museum in 2017, he was tasked with building the organization to manage the facility. To that end, he also serves as CEO of the American Indian Cultural Center Foundation, the fundraising arm of the project that will be the operator once it is complete.

“Much of the staff from the NACEA has transitioned into the foundation, so some of the employees that were at the state agency are now employees of the foundation. That’s how we built our staff,” Pepper Henry said. “They’re continuing the work that they were doing before, but they’re now doing it for the foundation.”

The building was designed nearly 20 years ago, so Pepper Henry and his team looked at the design and made changes to modernize the facility and make it more efficient.

“We took a little time to kind of refresh the interior and rearrange some things to make the user experience much better and to help us on the operational side,” he said.

Lighting systems were upgraded to LED lights, phone booths were removed and replaced with water bottle filler stations, and all major exhibits were moved to one area.

“In the museum world, when you have collections on display, they have to be environmentally controlled consistently, meaning keeping the temperature around 72 degrees and the relative humidity at 50 percent,” Pepper Henry said. “That’s hard to do when you have a 173,000-square-foot facility and you have things spread out all over the place.”

By concentrating all exhibits into the south wing, operators can control the environment in that area consistently and have more fluctuation in the rest of the building, which saves money.

The kitchen was also expanded to accommodate catering, which will help generate revenue.

“We have such a beautiful facility that we know people are going to want to rent for events and activities and weddings and so we want to be able to cater those events,” Pepper Henry said. “Now that we’ll have a large kitchen, we can also have a full-service restaurant featuring unique, one-of-a kind native menu items based on traditional foods.”

The goal is to source directly from the tribes as much as possible to produce a traditional menu with food that is indigenous to the region.

“It’s kind of like a farm-to-table. I call it a ‘res-to-table’ concept,” Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to have one of the most unique menus of any restaurant in Oklahoma, and it’s going to be really good food and good for you.”

Another way to generate revenue is through a gift shop, which will focus on the sale of one-of-a-kind handmade items by American Indian artists. This will also serve as another way to showcase the Oklahoma tribes’ culture and art.

“I think it’s going to be a really important revenue generator not only for the museum, but also to help sustain and perpetuate and promote the artwork and items of our Native artists here in Oklahoma,” Pepper Henry said. “Through the gift shop, you’re going to see the great artistry of many of our talented artists.”

New visions
Exhibits will be bid on later this year because the building must be complete and pass certain inspections in order to get loans from other museums, Wilson said. However, the design is for the galleries to have two levels.

The main exhibit will be the Okla Humma Gallery, which aims to tell the collective history of the 39 tribes through the perspective of native peoples.

“We can’t tell the in-depth story of every tribe,” Pepper Henry said. “What we can do is talk about the common circumstances that brought all the tribes to Oklahoma, and what happened to the tribes once they arrived, and how the tribes persevered through difficult times to reclaim self-determination and tribal sovereignty, and how the tribes are in a cultural and economic renaissance right now.”

The Mezzanine Level gallery will be for changing and touring exhibitions. The first exhibition will be a 10-year loan from the Smithsonian Institution, which will essentially serve as a time capsule of 100-year-old native items.

“What’s really great about these objects is we’re going to be able to reunite the items with descendants of the people who made them,” Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to tell the story of these items, through the item’s perspectives. A lot of the tribes believe these objects are imbued with the living spirit, so we’re going to talk about the journey of these objects from the time they were traded.”

The cultural center also houses four performance and film venues that can host a variety of community activities and live performance events, an interactive discovery center, and an 85-acre cultural park along the Oklahoma River with self-guided walking trails and areas for Native sports and concerts.

Pepper Henry said he’s proud of the holistic approach they have to showcasing the richness and diversity of the tribes. In more than 30 years as a museum director, he said that a project has never meant as much as the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum means to him.

“This will be the most important project I’ll work on in my professional career because I’m a member of one of the tribes here in Oklahoma. I’m an enrolled member of the Kaw Nation; I’m also Muscogee Creek. Every one of us that works here is an enrolled member of a tribe in Oklahoma and this means so much to us because we’re telling our story,” he said. “I’ll never have an experience like this anywhere else where this means so much personally.”

Construction on the cultural center is set to resume sometime around March.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm010319c.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm010319a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm010319b.jpg

I never thought I'd say this, but that's kind of a small parking lot for the amount of people I'd anticipate going to this thing....

I never thought I'd say this, but that's kind of a small parking lot for the amount of people I'd anticipate going to this thing....

I just added an image that shows the general site layout, which includes a new lot to the south of the visitor's center.

Ah okay, thanks

Here is a closer look:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm010319d.jpg


Looking closer at the big-picture plan (will not be part of this next round of construction), you can see a landing for boats and a piered boardwalk along both sides of the river.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm100718a.jpg

I'm a fan of the boat landing

These are the projects and developments that will define our city into the 2020s.

I'm a big fan of those proposed river changes, not that they're in the current scope of work.

I recently took a tour of the old Sportsman's Lodge which is now a Chickasaw community and senior center.

Holy cow, they did an incredible job there. I'll post photos soon.

The Chickasaws do things right and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the museum and the surrounding development.

I never thought I'd say this, but that's kind of a small parking lot for the amount of people I'd anticipate going to this thing....

Wait a minute, I thought parking lots were banned on this forum? Every time a building has parking space, everybody goes hay wire.

Parking lots are for suckers lol!

Wait a minute, I thought parking lots were banned on this forum? Every time a building has parking space, everybody goes hay wire.

Everybody will get there by river boat.......

Wait a minute, I thought parking lots were banned on this forum? Every time a building has parking space, everybody goes hay wire.

parking lots have their place. the densest parts of the core is not one of them.

It's ridiculous to refer to people on this site as a collective ("this forum", "everybody here").

This site has thousands of posters and around 100,000 readers.


I know this is usually done in a snarky, contemptuous way, but I periodically feel compelled to point out the absurdity of that particular rhetorical device.

After being dormant since 2012, construction has restared at this facility.

Took these photos a couple of weeks ago.

For details, read the story from the amazing Oklahoma Gazette.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm031719a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm031719b.jpg


Center staged (https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/center-staged/Content?oid=5406462)
Construction will resume on The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum this spring.
BY MIGUEL RIOS
January 2, 2019

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccmhallofpeople.jpg

A long-delayed museum will resume construction this year.

The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum (AICCM) is accepting bids through Jan. 7 to complete the facility, 659 American Indian Blvd., near the Boathouse District.

“There is one portion of the structure that has not been enclosed yet. That was bid on recently, and we’re about to award that contract after the first of the year, and that’s about $9 million,” said Tom Wilson, president of Architectural Design Group (ADG), a local design and management firm that serves as the agency representative of the cultural center.

The total construction budget is $37 million, Wilson said. The interiors of the building have not been constructed, and some of the exteriors remain unfinished, so ADG is looking for companies that can fully complete the facility.

“We are looking for all trades — mechanical, electrical, lighting, sheetrock, finishing, flooring materials — literally everything that you can see in a building,” Wilson said.

The goal is to open the cultural center by spring 2021.

Located at the crossroads of America, where four interstate highways intersect, The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is expected to be a world-class facility with hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

“The heart of this and the main attraction for people coming to visit is that they’ll get to experience living, breathing Native culture,” museum director Jim Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to have a very robust program schedule here at the cultural center where we’ll have members from the different tribes sharing their heritage with visitors through dance, through song, through performances, through art demonstrations, through storytelling.”

Long road
Development began in 1994, following creation of the Native American Cultural & Educational Authority (NACEA), a state agency charged with planning and design for the facility. Construction on the project originally began in 2006 but was suspended in 2012 when state funding ran out, leaving the facility unfinished. In 2015, Oklahoma City was given the responsibility to complete the project. The Chickasaw Nation partnered with the city to help.

When Pepper Henry was named director of the museum in 2017, he was tasked with building the organization to manage the facility. To that end, he also serves as CEO of American Indian Cultural Center Foundation, the fundraising arm of the project that will be the operator once it is complete.

“Much of the staff from the NACEA has transitioned into the foundation, so some of the employees that were at the state agency are now employees of the foundation. That’s how we built our staff,” Pepper Henry said. “They’re continuing the work that they were doing before, but they’re now doing it for the foundation.”

The building was designed nearly 20 years ago, so Pepper Henry and his team looked at the design and made changes to modernize and make the facility more efficient.

“We took a little time to kind of refresh the interior and rearrange some things to make the user experience much better and to help us on the operational side,” he said.

Lighting systems were upgraded to LED lights, phone booths were removed and replaced with water bottle filler stations and all major exhibits were moved to one area.

“In the museum world, when you have collections on display, they have to be environmentally controlled consistently, meaning keeping the temperature around 72 degrees and the relative humidity at 50 percent,” Pepper Henry said. “That’s hard to do when you have a 173,000-square-foot facility and you have things spread out all over the place.”

By concentrating all exhibits into the south wing, operators can control the environment in that area consistently and have more fluctuation in the rest of the building, which saves money.

The kitchen was also expanded to accommodate catering, which will help generate revenue.

“We have such a beautiful facility that we know people are going to want to rent for events and activities and weddings, and so we want to be able to cater those events,” Pepper Henry said. “Now that we’ll have a large kitchen, we can also have a full-service restaurant featuring unique, one-of-a kind Native menu items based on traditional foods.”

The goal is to source directly from the tribes as much as possible to produce a traditional menu with food that is indigenous to the region.

“It’s kind of like a farm-to-table. I call it a ‘rez-to-table’ concept,” Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to have one of the most unique menus of any restaurant in Oklahoma, and it’s going to be really good food and good for you.”

Another way to generate revenue is through a gift shop, which will focus on the sale of one-of-a-kind handmade items by Native American artists. This will also serve as another way to showcase the Oklahoma tribes’ culture and art.

“I think it’s going to be a really important revenue generator not only for the museum, but also to help sustain and perpetuate and promote the artwork and items of our Native artists here in Oklahoma,” Pepper Henry said. “Through the gift shop, you’re going to see the great artistry of many of our talented artists.”

New visions
Exhibits will be bid on later this year because the building must be complete and pass certain inspections in order to get loans from other museums, Wilson said. However, the design is for the galleries to have two levels.

The main exhibit will be the Okla Humma Gallery, which aims to tell the collective history of the 39 tribes through the perspective of Native peoples.

“We can’t tell the in-depth story of every tribe,” Pepper Henry said. “What we can do is talk about the common circumstances that brought all the tribes to Oklahoma and what happened to the tribes once they arrived and how the tribes persevered through difficult times to reclaim self-determination and tribal sovereignty and how the tribes are in a cultural and economic renaissance right now.”

The Mezzanine Level gallery will be for changing and touring exhibitions. The first exhibition will be a 10-year loan from Smithsonian Institution, which will essentially serve as a time capsule of 100-year-old Native items.

“What’s really great about these objects is we’re going to be able to reunite the items with descendants of the people who made them,” Pepper Henry said. “We’re going to tell the story of these items through the item’s perspectives. A lot of the tribes believe these objects are imbued with the living spirit, so we’re going to talk about the journey of these objects from the time they were traded.”

AICCM also houses four performance and film venues that can host a variety of community activities and live performance events, an interactive discovery center and an 85-acre cultural park along the Oklahoma River with self-guided walking trails and areas for Native sports and concerts.

Pepper Henry said he’s proud of the holistic approach to showcasing the richness and diversity of the tribes. In more than 30 years as a museum director, he said that a project has never meant as much as AICCM means to him.

“This will be the most important project I’ll work on in my professional career because I’m a member of one of the tribes here in Oklahoma. I’m an enrolled member of the Kaw Nation; I’m also Muscogee Creek. Every one of us that works here is an enrolled member of a tribe in Oklahoma, and this means so much to us because we’re telling our story,” he said. “I’ll never have an experience like this anywhere else where this means so much personally.”

Construction on AICCM is set to resume sometime around March.

Any idea of when we will hear about the plans for the surrounding area from the Chickasaws?

Any idea of when we will hear about the plans for the surrounding area from the Chickasaws?

I know they have been talking to possible hotel operators and others, but I don't think anything is imminent.

I know they have been talking to possible hotel operators and others, but I don't think anything is imminent.

I know the Chickasaws are a very economically sound tribe, so I have faith they will put something very good there.

They have plenty of time, as this will not be complete until 2021.

And of course, it may take some time after that. But it's true, the Chickasaws do things right.

This seems like a very good outcome that was formerly a boondoggle.

How many square feet will this be? I know it may be hard to grasp the scale of it in the pics but the museum space looks quite small.

173,000 SF.

Read the Gazette article I posted above for details.

To put things in perspective, this facility will be significantly larger that the National Cowboy Hall.

The building itself will be quite large (the galleries will be on 2 levels) and the grounds are 85 acres compared to 11.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm040119.jpg

Is the red box the Cowboy Hall property superimposed on the American Indian satellite view?

I'm amazed that the American Indian building is 173,000SF. Gotta be an issue of scale, because every time I see it I think it must me 20,000SF at most.

Is the red box the Cowboy Hall property superimposed on the American Indian satellite view?

Yes.

Construction is now fully underway.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619c.jpg

Construction is now fully underway.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619a.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/aiccm042619c.jpg

The city has budgeted $1M to create a river landing in front of this facility.

Timing wouldn't be until 2023; this is for the existing river cruise boats.

That would make for an easy connection to Bricktown wouldn’t it?

That would make for an easy connection to Bricktown wouldn’t it?

Not really easy. It would just provide a stop for the river boat cruises. If they setup a dedicated ferry from AICC to boathouse district then it could make it easier.

Is there not a river taxi or river boat cruise stop that is relatively close to the canal taxi?

Is there not a river taxi or river boat cruise stop that is relatively close to the canal taxi?

Yes, easy walking distance from the far south end of the canal near the Land Run Monument.

Cool, so it would be a fun mostly water ride from Bricktown to the AICC once it's all built out.

Not really easy. It would just provide a stop for the river boat cruises. If they setup a dedicated ferry from AICC to boathouse district then it could make it easier.

That was my thinking, if we had a ferry it could make an easier connection.

Didn’t we used to have a more “commuter boat” setup at some point or am I getting confused?

That was my thinking, if we had a ferry it could make an easier connection.

Didn’t we used to have a more “commuter boat” setup at some point or am I getting confused?

No, it's always been the River Cruise setup but it would be easy to run other types of boats and routes.

Is there not a river taxi or river boat cruise stop that is relatively close to the canal taxi?

Yes, it seems just like it would be one extra stop for a river boat cruise that already takes awhile to travel up and down the river especially upstream where it has to pass through a lock. A dedicated boat between these two areas would be nice.

It this finally moving forward? I've been in town for last week and I haven't seen any movement.

It this finally moving forward? I've been in town for last week and I haven't seen any movement.

Yes, they have been working on the inside for a while.

This has apparently been renamed to the First Americans Museum.

https://twitter.com/benfelder_okc/status/1205216642701185024
https://twitter.com/benfelder_okc/status/1205217952099979265

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELnLVmEWsAgHFeY?format=jpg&name=medium

I am no expert on Indigenous topics, but I have had the privilege of learning a lot from Indigenous scholars in recent years and this naming seems highly problematic. First, it's largely ahistorical. Labeling Indigenous Nations that precede the United States by centuries erases tribal history and identity and consumes them within the settler identity of those who forcibly removed them from their lands and sought to commit genocide against their peoples through forced removal, tribal re-education boarding schools, and breaking political treaties that deny political sovereignty and land. This basically reinforces the settler colonialism of which Indigenous nations and peoples have been targeted for centuries. I know a lot of people won't know the difference, but a large number of Indigenous Peoples and Nations will frame their understandings of this museum through a label that they see as harmful. This museum is starting with a mark against it. Seems both insulting and just bad marketing. Again, I am interested to see other perspectives, but I don't understand this decision.

This has apparently been renamed to the First Americans Museum.

https://twitter.com/benfelder_okc/status/1205216642701185024
https://twitter.com/benfelder_okc/status/1205217952099979265

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELnLVmEWsAgHFeY?format=jpg&name=medium

I love it.

Much better name for sure.

The previous one was way too long and somewhat associated with failure.

I am no expert on Indigenous topics, but I have had the privilege of learning a lot from Indigenous scholars in recent years and this naming seems highly problematic. First, it's largely ahistorical. Labeling Indigenous Nations that precede the United States by centuries erases tribal history and identity and consumes them within the settler identity of those who forcibly removed them from their lands and sought to commit genocide against their peoples through forced removal, tribal re-education boarding schools, and breaking political treaties that deny political sovereignty and land. This basically reinforces the settler colonialism of which Indigenous nations and peoples have been targeted for centuries. I know a lot of people won't know the difference, but a large number of Indigenous Peoples and Nations will frame their understandings of this museum through a label that they see as harmful. This museum is starting with a mark against it. Seems both insulting and just bad marketing. Again, I am interested to see other perspectives, but I don't understand this decision.

I don't want to derail this thread, but what exactly are we supposed to do today? Tear down our cities and move back to Europe? Why should I be held accountable for something that happened generations ago, mostly by far richer and more powerful families than mine. I understand the need to properly educate people in today's society about the atrocities of the past and I believe in all peoples sharing their culture and family histories, no matter where they came from. But I just don't know why we have to argue over sovereignty in today's world. Which peoples were forced out of Oklahoma when the U.S. forced these tribes from the east coast? If these nations can be sovereign, then why can't other peoples of differing cultures and races become sovereign as well?

This is not to say we should eradicate the history or culture of these nations. I just don't see returning Oklahoma lands to tribes who were forced here from their true lands in the east.

As for the name change, I hate that it now says FAM...