Learning From Place: Bdote Tour of Significant Native Sites

Join We Are Still Here (WASH-MN) and MCF on a day-long experience of learning and reflection for philanthropy professionals.

Learning from Place: Bdote is an immersive experience that brings participants to four sites of great significance to Dakota and Anishinaabe people in the Twin Cities. This group tour will help participants increase their understanding of place, culture, history and people – all toward building a richer practice of philanthropy and grantmaking in Minnesota.

Indigenous Voices and Places: The full-day tour will include visits to the Bdote Overlook, Indian Mounds Park, Kaposia AKA Wakan Tipi, and the waterfall known as Kakabikah by the Ojibwe or Owamniyomni by the Dakota. Participants will learn from Dakota and Anishinaabe leaders and community members through stories and histories that have often been left out of our state’s history.

Travel and Tour Details

Transportation, lunch, and beverages will be provided during the day. Lunch will be provided at the McKnight Foundation – overlooking the waterfall. Feel free to bring your own snacks or preferred beverages, as well. Please dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes; much of the day will be spent walking. The tour will happen rain or shine so come prepared and bring an umbrella. Participants will be equipped with audio units at check in; devices are compatible with a personal headphone jack, if you’d like to bring your headphones. In advance of the tour, please download the Revelo AR app from Pixel Farm; this virtual reality app will be used during the tour.

For additional details, please reach out to Paul Masiarchin, pmasiarchin@mcf.org.

Waiting List

As of August 24, the tour is full. You may add your name to the waiting list. No later than Friday, September 8, we will notify those on the waiting list about your final status. If you have questions about the waiting list, please contact Jill Chi, jchi@mcf.org. 

Group Rate

Register two people at the regular price and send a third person for free. This is a great opportunity to learn in community with your colleagues or trustees. Contact Jill Chi for details, jchi@mcf.org.

Tour Schedule

8:15 a.m.             Parking and check in at Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC), 987 Ivy Ave. E., St Paul

8:30 a.m.             Tour bus departs MHC

8:30 – 2:30          Tour stops: Indigenous Places

• Visit Indian Mounds Park with Reuben Kitto Stately

• Visit Wakan Tipi / Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary with Marlena Myles

• Lunch at McKnight Foundation

• Visit Mississippi River with Sharon Day

• Visit Bdote: Two Rivers Overlook with Ramona Kitto Stately

3:00 p.m.             Tour ends at Minnesota Humanities Center

 

Content Leads: Tour Voices

 

Ramona Kitto Stately is an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Nation. Her educational background includes a BA in Dakota Art and Culture, and a MAE-Teacher Leadership. She worked in Indian Education for the Osseo Area School District 2005-2020 and has been the Chairperson of the Minnesota Indian Education Association since 2018. Currently she serves as the Project Director of We Are Still Here MN.

 

 

Reuben Kitto Stately is a Native artist, composer and rapper who performs under the name Kitto. He is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation, Ojibwe. He is a graduate of Augsburg University with a BA in American Indian Studies. He serves as a mentor for a Dakota language revitalization non-profit called Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye and taught Dakhota Language for Minneapolis Public Schools. Reuben has been one of the leads on Learning From Place Bdote since 2018 and is passionate about the connections of language and place.

 

 

Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee) artist located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her art brings modernity to Indigenous history, languages and oral traditions while using the land as a teacher. Growing up on her traditional Dakota homelands here in the Twin Cities, she enjoys using her artwork to teach Minnesotans of all backgrounds the Indigenous history of this place we call home. Marlena is the Chair of WASHMN’s Media/Pop Culture Task Force.

 

 

Sharon M. Day is enrolled in the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, and makes her home in Minnesota, where she is a founder and executive director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force. She is a grandmother, great-grandmother, and an artist, musician, and writer. Sharon’s spiritual life is to care for water. In her Anishinaabe ways, women have taken care of the water since time immemorial and believe it is the blood of Mother Earth. In 2003, Sharon joined the late Anishinaabe elder Josephine Mandamin to begin Mother Earth Water Walks to raise awareness about water issues. Today, Sharon continues to carry forward this modern ceremonial tradition with Nibi, or Water Walks. The state of Minnesota and both of the Twin Cities have recognized Sharon’s contributions by declaring November 10 in her honor.