Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2007 - 51

Mamie Mahone,
Hualapai.
Twined basket, 1930s.
Fred Harvey Fine Arts Collection,
Heard Museum Collection.

The Heard Museum
Twenty-one distinct federally recognized American Indian tribes currently call
Arizona home. That complexity and abundance of Native culture has helped
give rise to the Heard Museum, a Phoenix landmark nationally recognized for
its devotion to preserving and displaying Native traditions and arts and for its
extensive education programs.
The Heard Museum, which began as a public home for the personal collections
of Phoenix residents Dwight and Maie Heard, has been repeatedly renovated
and expanded to its current 130,000 square feet of galleries, classrooms, and
performance spaces. The Heards, who had left Chicago in 1895 for warmer, drier
climes, became some of the largest landowners in the Salt River Valley. Dwight
became president of the Arizona Cotton Growers' Association, and both Mr.
and Mrs. Heard were heavily involved in civic endeavors that helped shape the
character of the developing city.
The Heards developed a keen interest in American Indian artifacts and art.
Over the years, the Heards built their collection through travel and contacts with
trading posts as well as with Indian arts dealers such as the Fred Harvey Company.
They exhibited their pieces in their home, which was a major gathering place for
friends who included Marshall Field, Charles L. Hutchinson (founder of the Art
Institute of Chicago), Herbert Hoover, Harvey S. Firestone, Theodore Roosevelt,
and others. After Mr. Heard's death in 1929, the collection was ultimately turned
into a public museum with Mrs. Heard serving as museum director, curator,
maintenance staff, lecturer, and guide for more than twenty years.
While the museum's physical space and its collections have evolved over nearly
eighty years, the Heard's mission has remained one of authenticity and education.
Its treasures aren't just artifacts on shelves. The Heard creates engaging displays
that portray the voices and perceptions of the people who made the work. American
Indian consultants play a vital role in the development of every exhibition.
The Heard's close ties with American Indian tribes are what distinguish it from
the more traditional museum role as a professional observer of "the other." In the
last decade, the Heard has worked closely with the Arizona Intertribal Council to
strengthen relationships based on mutual trust and active participation.

THEATRE

DESIGN

Apache people's lifestyle and surroundings.
Chris Eyre, a Native ﬁlmmaker who has
brought some Tony Hillerman novels to the
screen, is unable to ﬁlm sequences on Navajo
land because of a disagreement that he had with
some Navajo authorities, thereby eliminating
that element of authenticity from his work.
Kevin Costner's ﬁlm Dances with Wolves
was viewed by many as having been "responsible" to tribal culture when it was released in
1990 because the ﬁlm employed a language
coach and the Native characters spoke accurate
Lakota. But Weston points out that many aspects
of the tribal life were still misrepresented: the
characters were "glamorized" for entertainment by being shown in elaborate, ceremonialtype clothing and hairstyles rather than everyday
wear, and the plot reinforced the stereotype
about Indians being uncivilized creatures that
needed to be trained.
Unfortunately, even the most well-intentioned modern playwright, screenwriter,
director, actor, or designer may encounter difﬁculties when setting out to accurately represent
a particular American Indian people or culture.
Printed research material is difﬁcult to ﬁnd and
is often steeped in the stereotypical imagery of
the American colonists and early explorers.
Also, direct contact with tribe members
and cultural resources can be difﬁcult due to
political and social barriers. Although many
tribes are open about sharing the details of
their beliefs and culture, other tribes are more
private and would prefer not to engage in such
discussion. Additionally, many young Indian
people are becoming less aware of the intricacies of their own tribal cultures and are therefore unable to help educate others.
Finding facts takes diplomacy
For any artist attempting to represent any aspect
of a Native culture, Weston recommends personal
contact or connections with tribal members, but
she acknowledges that communication channels into and within many tribes can be difﬁcult
to navigate. As she explains, many tribes are
actually "tribal nations" whose members have
been given U.S. citizenship privileges but that
are politically separate from the United States.
The United States recognizes the right of
more than 560 tribal nations to self-government
and supports their tribal sovereignty and selfdetermination. In addition, a number of tribes
are recognized by individual states, but not by
Copyright 2007 United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc.

TECHNOLOGY
WINTER

2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2007