First Americans Museum

[SoonerDave]

No, they don't have the $40 million because of our brilliant legislators.

Our legislators already gave them one pile of money. That's enough. Feel free to write a personal check if its this important to you.

[Rover]

That's the Okie spirit. Let's play petty politics and scrap this thing. It's just culture anyway...what's the harm.

[RadicalModerate]

Oops . . . sorry . . . Please ignore this post. I say, give the Native Americans whatever they want.
Not because it will change history or anything . . . Because it is the right thing to do.

[RadicalModerate]

If there had been a casino next door, this place would probably still be in business.

(of course, it would be in Anadarko . . .)

[hoya]

The Smithsonian has a proposed operating budget of $856 million this year. That is not the amount you would have to spend to build the Smithsonian. That is how much they are going to spend in 2013 to keep the doors open. I doubt they are going to bring nearly a billion dollars in taxes to Washington DC. Yet it is an invaluable addition to the city. To build an equivalent museum in Oklahoma City would cost tens of billions of dollars. It would also be worth it. The academic and cultural prestige that it would carry are literally priceless. It would catapult our city to international prominence in a way the Thunder could only dream of.

Of course there's no way in hell we could afford to build something like that.

The AICC will not be the Smithsonian. Not even close. But the total proposed cost of this project is only enough to keep the Smithsonian open from January until about early March. Museums, especially good ones, can be very expensive. The AICC has a lot of potential. It could serve as an anchor for construction on the south border of the river. Right now the largest cultural icon near that part of the river is Old Paris Flea Market. While development on the north side of the river picks up, we have yet to see anything happen on the south side.

This has the potential to be a large, and very cool educational and cultural project that isn't duplicated anywhere else. People say that OKC should stop copying other cities and start doing unique things, well this is unique. No, it won't pay for itself. But that should not be the standard for success, especially with cultural projects.

[RadicalModerate]

1138 Posts into The Subject, and I have to agree that the one, that is, the opinion shared, directly above, states the case for not leaving another eyesore, around The Metro, unaddressed, in the best--and most persuasive--way so far.

I am not saying that my opinion, nor my mind, on the issue was changed because I've always thought that this project was a good idea.

Perhaps, as a fund-raising effort, in furtherance of our mutual goal, people--ordinary folk with a desire for excellence, in MetroImprovement--could pay to tear down that "Goofy Art Shack Thing", over by the Devon, one sledghammer blow at a time, and maybe the funding gap, for something worthwhile, could be filled? One sledghammer blow/wheelbarrow load at a time?

(translation: AICC good . . . Unfinished Urban Art Statue from Urban Destruction Period bad . . . Do Something To Realize Vision (other than post))
(with proper permitting, of course.)

Perhaps the "battle-cry" could be: ""Remember The Boulevard!" . . .?

[ljbab728]

How about OKC offers the land to the east and the rights to build a mega Indian casino to any tribe that will fund the museum's completion. Then you will have Native American past and present right next to each other for everyone's enjoyment...any takers?

LOL, an Indian casino can't be built anywhere they own land.

[RadicalModerate]

LOL, an Indian casino can't be built anywhere they own land.

Really? We--the non-Native peeps--currently occupying Mid-NAFTAria can't voluntarily make amends for our prior trangressions and cede the property back to its rightful owners? =) If Pody Poe--remember him?--was "part Indian"--couldn't he have declared his garage over there in the slums of Nichols Hills tribal property or something? =)

Please do not construe the preceeding comment as anything involving "politics". thank you.

AICC: Yea alt: neigh.

[Larry OKC]

...Getting a forward pledge of $40 WAS significant. It is our backwards thinking legislators ...

The fact of the matter is, the whole presumption that this was a "forward pledge" to get matching State funds is flawed and twisted by Mr. Wade to be something it isn't. The State is the ONLY one of the 3 funding entities that have come up with their original 1/3 share. ONLY the State has gone above and beyond their 1/3 share. If memory serves each time they went to the State for more bond money, it was going to be the last time. As others have pointed out, when they run out of the $80 million additional, they will be back for more with the same arguments, "we have spent too much to stop now". The $40 million pledge was just catching up to what the State had already kicked in.

[OKCisOK4me]

This was the featured topic of Kelly Ogle's "Your Two Cents" last night on News9. Three out of four posts said "let's continue this thing". Nice to know there are other people out there that want to see this thing through!

[ljbab728]

This may not mean anything when it somes to the prospects for this project, but it can't hurt.

Oklahoma City Thunder executive joins board overseeing efforts to build American Indian museum | News OK

[OKCisOK4me]

Well, I hope Clay can get it done. Needs to be done.

[TheSocialGadfly]

Barry Switzer is now on-board.

More time allowed for Oklahoma City American Indian Cultural Center | NewsOK.com

Of course, there is the unlikely possibility that this is all just an April Fools' Day prank.

[soonerguru]

Love the comment from Fallin's communications director. How are they going to turn down Barry? I would like to see Mary try.

[kevinpate]

You know folks in OK are getting serious about something when the news, and others, start using football terminology. Oh look, there goes Barry trotting onto the field.

[Praedura]

You know folks in OK are getting serious about something when the news, and others, start using football terminology. Oh look, there goes Barry trotting onto the field.

Ok guys, it's fourth and goal in the final two minutes. I need you to give 110%!

[Praedura]

It was mentioned earlier in this thread, but even little ole Sulphur managed to build The Chickasaw Cultural Center.

Here's a blog entry where someone visited the center and posted some nice pics:

PSS Goes to the Chickasaw Cultural Center | Pencil Shavings

[GaryOKC6]

The Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur OK is world class and state of the art. If you are in the area I would encourage a visit. I hope that we can exceed that facility in the Native American Cultural Center. It has become a huge disappointment to see it sitting there unfinished. Not to mention that it is costing the State around 50,000 a month for security and maintenance.

[Bellaboo]

I spent 2 hours at the Chickasaw CC..... was very good and informative.

I own a 'one of a kind' better than most museum quality artifact. If the AICC opens and displays artifacts, I'll put it out on loan to them.

[Pete]

At least a little movement on this project...

They submitted a design application for a sign, landscaping and irrigation.


I wonder where they stand on their overall fundraising goal?

[kevinpate]

I don't have high hopes for a great harvest. Not all that impressed with the current crop of vegetables growing on N. Lincoln.

[ABryant]

Can't forget that the Governor is for finishing it, and the House Speaker is a member of the Chickasaw Nation.

[Rover]

I was in Dallas last week. The opening of the George Bush center/library. They were talking about it being more than $300 million. I then laugh to myself about us Okies who think a world class cultural center/museum should be done half arsed and on the cheap. And we wonder why Dallas gets the good stuff.

[SoonerDave]

I was in Dallas last week. The opening of the George Bush center/library. They were talking about it being more than $300 million. I then laugh to myself about us Okies who think a world class cultural center/museum should be done half arsed and on the cheap. And we wonder why Dallas gets the good stuff.

The notion of comparing a Presidential Library with a kitschy tourist trap wrapped in the notion of an "Indian Cultural Center" is like comparing a Lexus to a Yugo.

[Dubya61]

I was in Dallas last week. The opening of the George Bush center/library. They were talking about it being more than $300 million. I then laugh to myself about us Okies who think a world class cultural center/museum should be done half arsed and on the cheap. And we wonder why Dallas gets the good stuff.

The amount of self-loathing and indigenous Okie-hate on this forum is amazing, disheartening and offputting. Not poking at you, Rover. You just happen to be the latest example. I was actually surprised to see it was you that said that. I certainly don't mean to infer that we're number 1. Just sayin' that I weary of the whining from so many sources on OKC Talk. I also don't want to see the opposite -- unless it's quoting the Head Cheerleader in Charge Cornett.
While I don't know the facts, only stuff I've read on the internet, I don't think any taxes were levied or public monies used to fund the George Bush center / library (or any presidential libraries, for that matter).

The notion of comparing a Presidential Library with a kitschy tourist trap wrapped in the notion of an "Indian Cultural Center" is like comparing a Lexus to a Yugo.

I also can't imagine the AICC as a kitschy tourist trap. I see it as an equal to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. As a matter of fact, in my dichotomous view of the world, it seems very fitting that both are located here in the same metro. I hope it is finished soon. I think it's just about to the point where OKC somehow has to embrace the suck and say, "This is my baby and I will make this gem shine." Otherwise, we've got one odd crop circle landing pad problem at the intersection of two very prominent interstate highways. If that's not a blemish by now, what is? The AICC has so much potential, it's exciting to imagine what it could be -- and sad to see it failing to materialize as of right now.
The AICC, though, is really a museum -- something that needs to function as a tourist trap somewhat in order to succeed, but that's not any museum's main mission. Its main mission is to educate, much like a presidential library's main mission is to educate. I can't conceive a more appropriate comparison that that of two entities whose main mission is to educate about and celebrate the past. While the AICC in its current state is nothing more than a kitschy roadside attraction, when it is completed, no one will include it on their bucket list down around the world's largest ball of twine. It'll be much higher than that (and maybe even above a presidential library).