Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month. Check out the events, businesses, and restaurants where you can celebrate, support and remember the histories of those indigenous to this country.

Current Events & Exhibits

Horse Nation of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ

Now - February 3rd, 2019
Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Horse Nation of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ exhibit explores how horses shape the history, spirituality, and culture of the Dakhóta, Nakhóta, and Lakȟóta (Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota) people, collectively known as the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). This exhibition is part of a larger look at Horse Nation, including exhibitions at All My Relations Gallery (June 7th –October 8th, 2018) and Two Rivers Gallery (July 2nd–October 19th, 2018).

Learn More

​"States of Incarceration" Exhibit

November 20th, 2018 - February 18th, 2019
Minnesota History Center

"A National Dialogue of Local Histories," this traveling exhibit explores the roots of mass incarceration in our communities and opens a dialogue on what should happen next. Over 500 students and others deeply affected by incarceration in 20 cities contributed to the exhibit. University of Minnesota students specifically examined settler colonialism and the high rates of incarceration for Native Americans in Minnesota. 
Learn more about the exhibit itself.
Click below for more about its time at the Minnesota History Museum.

Learn More

Future Exhibit:

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists

June 2nd – August 18th, 2019
Minneapolis Institute of Art

This first large exhibition celebrating the achievements of Native women artists features more than 100 masterworks ranging across time, place, and media. Presented in close cooperation with leading Native women artists and Native art scholars, the exhibition showcases both the historical and the contemporary, the innovative and captivating works deeply tied to ancestors and for generations to come.

Learn More

Food & Drink

Sioux Chef

Founded by Sean Sherman, CEO Chef, Sioux Chef is an indigenous kitchen with a restaurant coming soon! They are a team currently made up of Anishinaabe, Mdewakanton Dakota, Navajo, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Lakota, Wahpeton-Sisseton Dakota. Their commitment to revitalizing Native American Cuisine goes hand-in-hand with re-identifying North American Cuisine and reclaiming an important culinary culture long buried and often inaccessible.

Gatherings Café

Gatherings Café serves fresh, locally grown foods that are Indigenous and prepared in healthy ways. In the heart of the urban Native American community, their goal is to educate the community through ancestral knowledge and promote decolonized diets to improve the health of the Native population that has been severely impacted by colonization and the resulting historical trauma. Menu hours are from 8:00am-3:00pm.

Located at: 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis in the Minneapolis American Indian Center

Pow Wow Grounds

Pow Wow Grounds, located next to All My Relations Gallery, offers specialty coffee drinks, baked goods, smoothies, sandwiches and signature wild rice products. 

Located at: 1414 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis

Native Food Perspectives

Native Food Perspectives utilizes traditional and seasonal flavors and recipes to prepare dishes with fresh ingredients and an emphasis on nutrition.

Retail, Arts & Galleries

Birchbark Books

Good books, Native Arts, jewelry and community events. Owned by author Louise Erdrich, Birchbark Books is operated by a spirited collection of people who believe in the power of good writing, the beauty of handmade art, the strength of Native culture, and the importance of small and intimate bookstores.

Located at: 2115 W 21st St, Minneapolis

Turtle Theater Collective

A new collective of professional Twin Cities-based theater artists, the Turtle Theater Collective is committed to producing high-quality, contemporary work that explores Native experiences and subverts expectations about how and when Native artists can create theater. In addition to producing Indigenous plays, we center Native bodies and voices by situating them within the broader theatrical canon, providing opportunities for Native artists to grow and play.

Two Rivers Gallery

Two Rivers Gallery is an active space for the community to build relationships and to collaborate strengthening Native art and artistic voices within the Twin Cities. Their mission is to expose local emerging Native artists by providing a space to exhibit work, nurture creativity and provide professional development. Open Monday-Thursday, 10:00am-4:00pm.

Located at: 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis in the Minneapolis American Indian Center

Woodland Indian Crafts

Browse a unique selection of handmade gifts by local artists at Woodland Indian Crafts. Find beadwork of all types, jewelry, native music and DVD movies, beading supplies, t-shirts, greeting cards.

Located at: 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis in the Minneapolis American Indian Center

Northland Visions: Native American Art and Fine Gifts

What began as Northland Native American Products has grown from a home-based, mail-order business into a gallery and retail space where one can find treasures of the land, original items made by Native peoples from the Woodland and Plains tribes of the upper Midwest in what is now Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Canada and other northern states stretching from Montana to the east coast. Find dream catchers, earthen candles, books, sculptures, dance sticks, drums and blankets - among a wide array of other products. 

Located at: 861 E Hennepin Ave #130, Minneapolis

All My Relations Gallery

All My Relations Arts honors and strengthens relationships between contemporary American Indian artists and the living influence of preceding generations, between artists and audiences of all ethnic backgrounds, and between art and the vitality of the American Indian Cultural Corridor.

Located at: 1414 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis

Centers, Tours & Resources

Native American Corridor

The only urban American Indian corridor in the country, the Native American Corridor is located along Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, which exists in the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. This is an area that is welcoming the whole region to share in American Indian culture and commerce, as well as the other anchor businesses that are located in the Corridor - many of which are listed above and below.

Minneapolis American Indian Center

Home to the Two Rivers Gallery, Gatherings Café and Woodland Indian Crafts, the Minneapolis American Indian Center is one of the first urban American Indian Centers in the country, providing services otherwise often unavailable for urban American Indians. The Minneapolis American Indian Center was initially formed by community members, and continues its roots today with majority American Indian leadership and staffing.

Located at: 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis

OPOS Indigenous Tours

OPOS Tours and Travel offers a rare and unique insight into Tribal and Native Nations. Hear the ancient stories of the original peoples of this area, the Native Americans, in The Sacred Sites Tour. Go to and from prominent locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region learning the powerful histories of those indigenous to this country

Skip to main content