This year, the TS Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition semi-finals were held in Washington, DC, at the National Museum of the American Indian. Before the program, I was able to tour this beautiful museum which opened in 2004 and is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere.
The building was designed by Blackfoot tribe member Douglas Cardinal and a team of Native architects and consultants. The building is aligned to the cardinal directions and to the center point of the Capitol dome, and is filled with symbols and forms that reflect the Native universe, including representations of nature and astronomy. The grounds honor local Native people by featuring four environments indigenous to the Chesapeake Bay region, including hardwood forest, wetlands, cropland, and meadow areas. The landscape is dotted with more than 40 Grandfather Rocks, reminders of the longevity of Native Americans' relationship to the natural world.
The museum collection is distinguished by more than 800,000 works of aesthetic, cultural, historical, and spiritual significance. These objects span more than 10,000 years of Native heritage in the U.S.
