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Missoula Art Museum replaces land acknowledgement with new ‘declaration of relationships’
Summary
Laura Millen, director of the Missoula Art Museum, announced a new "declaration of relationships" — written with Indigenous advisors — to replace the museum's prior land acknowledgement and asked for community feedback.
Laura Millen, director of the Missoula Art Museum, announced at an evening program that the museum has replaced its previous land acknowledgement with a new “declaration of relationships” written with the museum’s Indigenous advisors.
Millen said the declaration is intended to reflect a different approach to recognizing Indigenous presence and influence. “Ma'am is committed to representing contemporary Indigenous artistic expression faithfully and collaboratively,” Millen said. She added the text “recognizes the ongoing sovereignty of the Salish and Kalispay tribal people who agreed through treaty to live in peace with settlers of this land” and asked the audience for input: “So let us know what you think.”
The statement, Millen said in her introduction, was created with the museum’s Indigenous advisors on its board and intentionally replaces the institution’s prior land-acknowledgement statement. Millen described the new wording as “pretty different” from the earlier acknowledgement and sought public reaction during the program.
The announcement came at a public program in which Millen — who identified herself as the museum’s director of 35 years — also introduced an evening honoring artist Dana Bussard. Millen framed the declaration as part of the museum’s continuing relationship with Indigenous communities and invited feedback from attendees.
The museum did not read the full text of the declaration into the record beyond the passages quoted by Millen, nor did Millen specify an implementation timeline or formal board action on the declaration during the program. Millen’s remarks indicate the declaration was drafted with named but not publicly quoted Indigenous advisors; the museum asked the community for comment at the event.
The museum’s adoption of a new statement that explicitly “recognizes the ongoing sovereignty” of local tribal people marks a change in language and institutional framing from a traditional land-acknowledgement statement, according to Millen’s remarks at the program. Millen encouraged audience feedback before the evening moved on to artist remarks and a question-and-answer session.
