The Rupert Report

From the Desk of AIANTA's CEO | March 20, 2023

CEO Rupert accepts a $50,000 donation from Chairman Marshall Pierite and members of the Tunica Biloxi Tribal Council

AIANTA Highlights for the Coming Week

AIANTA at Visit California's 2023 Outlook Forum

CEO Sherry L. Rupert represented AIANTA at Visit California's 2023 Outlook Forum, she presented alongside Visit California's President and CEO Caroline Beteta, Chairman Reid Milanovich of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and Secretary Wade Crowfoot California Natural Resources. Visit California has launched a dynamic new content experience, Visit Native California, designed to showcase the state’s Native American communities within a tourism context. The program was first announced in September at the site of the future Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza in downtown Palm Springs. The content hub debuted on March 7, 2023.

“Visit California is honored to create a platform that showcases the rich cultural heritage of the Native Americans who have called this place home for thousands of years,” Visit California President & CEO Caroline Beteta said. “We’re committed to partnering with California’s tribes and creating spaces to uplift and honor their voices, communities, and cultures.”

The articles, photos, videos, podcasts, and social media posts that comprise this series will cover a wide range of Native American experiences available to travelers, from museums and cultural centers to Pow Wows to guided adventure tours. As part of this initiative, Visit California is forging connections with the state’s 109 federally recognized tribes and inviting them to share their stories with travelers looking for unique experiences within the Golden State.  

Chickasaw Cultural Center Hosts 8th Annual

Holba' Pisachi' (“Showing Pictures”)

Native Film Festival

AIANTA President Emerson Vallo, attended the 8th annual Holba' Pisachi' (“Showing Pictures”) Native Film Festival, held at the Chickasaw Cultural Center. AIANTA President Vallo participated in a Q&A session after the showing of "Emergence: Acoma Sky City Cultural Center" by Rachel Preston Prinz.

The Holba' Pisachi' (“Showing Pictures”) Native Film Festival provides a dynamic avenue to share Chickasaw and First American culture through film making. “The film festival is important because it allows us to carry on a form of storytelling, which is important in First American traditions,” Fran Parchcorn, Chickasaw Cultural Center executive officer, said. “We are celebrating and uplifting Native filmmakers who are working to preserve our culture.”

This week is Nevada's 2023 Tribal

Tourism Conference!

Join us this week at Nevada's 2023 Tribal Tourism Conference! 

AIANTA is partnering with the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada’s Indian Territory and the Nevada Indian Commission to host the conference at the historic Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nevada.

The Nevada Tribal Tourism Conference (NTTC) aims to facilitate conversations with the Native communities, federal agencies, nonprofit associations, and elected officials on the economic and cultural importance of a healthy hospitality industry as well as support for Tribes to tell their stories.



Among the activities for the conference, you will have a chance to tour the Museum and Cultural Center at Stewart and explore the grounds of this historic landmark. We will also be hosting a tour of the California Trail as it enters Carson City on the afternoon of March 20th. Local tribal members and historians will be on hand to discuss the impact the trail has had on Native people.

Some of the other things you can do at the conference.

• Hear from local, state, and national tourism experts.
• Connect and network with other tribes from across the state.
• Advance and develop your business, career, and tourism ventures.
• Gain an understanding of what is needed and how to participate in domestic and international markets.

Registration is open!

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Accepting Comments On Discussion Draft Bill To Update Indian Arts And Crafts Act

On March 13, 2023, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released a discussion draft bill, the Amendments to Respect Traditional Indigenous Skill and Talent (ARTIST) Act of 2023. The ARTIST Act would update the Indian Arts and Crafts Act to support creative economies and strengthen enforcement of current law and protections against counterfeit competition for Native artists and their works. This discussion draft reflects direct stakeholder input as well as years of Committee oversight and broad commitment to the protection of Native cultural patrimony and revitalization of Indigenous languages.

Comments will be used to further inform the legislative process and serve as a resource for future discussions on updating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. The deadline for comment submission on the discussion draft is April 14, 2023.

Comments may be submitted to Artist@indian.senate.gov.

AIANTA at International Indigenous

Tourism Conference

AIANTA Chief Executive Officer, Sherry L. Rupert presented at the International Indigenous Tourism Conference on a panel with Shae Bird (CEO, Indigenous Tourism Alberta), David Goldstein (CEO, Travel Alberta), Marsha Walden (President/CEO, Destination BC), and Nadine Spence (Vice-President of Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Heritage Parks Canada). The presentation focused on partnerships investing in Indigenous tourism through initiatives in marketing and development.

The International Indigenous Tourism Conference (IITC) is an annual conference that brings people together in a spirit of learning and inspiration. As the biggest Indigenous tourism conference in the world, IITC contributes greatly toward the advancement of the Indigenous tourism industry. When it comes to reconciliation, there is no road map to how we get there. But through tourism, the journey of reconciliation is an opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to walk together to learn about the culture, invite them in and start to move together in a different way. IITC was hosted in Treaty 1 Territory, the Homeland of the Métis in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from March 8 – March 10, 2023.