Project details

Partners: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Budget: $400,000

Status: Planning Phase

The public art project is part of the development of Water Work’s Park, on the Mississippi River and next to Owámniyomni (St. Anthony Falls). Planning began in 2020 and an artist was selected. In 2022, the City paused the project after receiving a complaint. From January to March, 2023, LeMoine LaPointe facilitated 13 hours of community conversations. LaPointe is a Sicangu Lakota elder.

Participants included people with these Dakota tribal affiliations:

• Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
• Flandreau Santee Tribe
• Spirit Lake Nations
• Individuals from the Mdewakanton communities of the Lower and Upper Sioux.

Other Indigenous people involved included people with the following tribal affiliations:

• Ojibwe
• Onondaga
• Oglala
• Haida
• Pawnee

Priorities

The participants developed the following new priorities for the project:

• Be a Good Relative and Reflect Dakota Values through the Project
• Acknowledge the Site’s Story and the History of the Land
• Base the Artist Selection Process on Dakota Values
• Show that the City and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's (MPRB) Support and Value this Project. Share What Staff have Learned from this Process.
• Ground this Work in Native Leadership and Decision-Making
• Establish a New Way of Working and Planning with the Native Community Long-term