Honoring this land
This beautiful San Luis Valley is home to so much life — plants and animals, as well as mountains, high desert, and all the waters that sustain us. This land holds us as we come together in community to share in the joy of music, which originates in nature.
ALMA is located on Indigenous land. This awe-inspiring place is regarded with deep reverence by Indigenous People, including the Nuchu (Utes), Abáachi (Jicarilla Apache), Numunu (Comanche), Ka’igwu (Kiowa), InunaIna (Arapahoe), Tsistsistas (Cheyenne), Diné (Navajo Nation), and Pueblo. Please join me in honoring the land on which we live. Close your eyes, take a few slow, deep breaths. The land on which we live is alive. She is breathing. She is sacred. She is Mother Earth. As we gather together, understand, acknowledge, and remember that this is land stolen from Indigenous People, taken through colonization. ALMA believes that music heals and unites, and through this strives to create diverse musical events that nourish cultural expression and connection. Let us come together in celebration.
Why a Land Acknowledgement?
As a community arts organization, ALMA’s mission is centered on joy, connection, and cultural expression through music. Culture is expressed through many things including music, storytelling, and celebration. Culture is deeply rooted in place. At ALMA events, we experience the joy of music in many places in our community, primarily Cole Park, and recognize that we all belong to this beautiful place in which we live. Music, culture, and land have been tended in this place for thousands of years. ALMA wants to intentionally include this human experience and make it visible. Acknowledging the history and current reality of our cherished San Luis Valley is the first step towards cultivating an authentic relationship to the place we gather to enjoy music together. It is remembrance and healing. We welcome all perspectives, and realize that there will be a wide range of responses to our Land Acknowledgement. We are doing something new for ALMA, and we are learning. This is an opportunity for all of us to reflect and allow for diverse perspectives. Thank you for your support of ALMA.
Information & Resources
Mount Blanca
In Diné cosmovision, Sisnaajini (White Shell Mountain) is the sacred mountain of the East. We all love and revere this beautiful mountain. If you are interested in supporting a Diné nonprofit working to heal people and the earth, please visit Utah Dine Bikeyah
Books & Publications
Forgotten Cuchareños of the Lower Valley
~ Virginia Sanchez (local author)
A Tortilla Is Like Life: Food and Culture in the San Luis Valley of Colorado ~Carole M. Counihan
The Problem, Practicality and Power of Land Acknowledgments
Organizations for Support & Discovery
Native Governance Center
Fort Garland Museum
The Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center is situated in the historical nineteenth-century Fort Garland. The town itself is known as “the gateway to the San Luis Valley” as it’s the first town that travelers come to after driving through La Veta Pass on Highway 160.
Colorado Based Indigenous-Led Nonprofits
Spirit of the Sun is founded on the belief that effective and sustainable development work recognizes the intersections of culture, community, economy, and health, and that true success is only possible through collaboration.
A Native Arts and Culture Organization dedicated to inter-tribal arts and cultural revitalization
