Arizona

In Arizona, incorporating Native American-inspired activities into meetings agendas has proved to be a winning situation for all concerned.

For groups, it means a chance to get in touch with the region’s rich cultural heritage and come away with something deeper than the usual resort experience.

“When you put a Native American spin on a meeting, it puts the sense of place into the meeting right off,” says Tina Newman, director of sales and marketing for Enchantment Resort, a luxury property in Sedona with an extensive Native American cultural program. “It makes people feel connected with our heritage. They know they’re not at the beach anymore.”

Native American people are benefiting from involvement with meetings as well, according to Ginger Sunbird-Martin, cultural concierge for the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, a 500-room property near Phoenix that is owned by the Pima and Maricopa tribes of the Gila River Indian Community. Sunbird-Martin works closely with the surrounding Gila River Indian community to provide unique cultural programs for groups meeting at the resort.

“Groups are really making a difference to the Native American culture here because they are creating a market for traditional arts and entertainment,” she says. “I can go into the community and show there is a paying audience for what they create and for the sharing of their culture. In this way, it helps keep the traditions alive.”

Newman adds that Enchantment’s cultural program has enabled the resort to form a liaison with local tribal communities that has created not only learning experiences for guests, but employment opportunities for Native Americans.

“Our program director, R.J. Joseph, has a Native American background, and he has helped bring in employees that we otherwise would not have found,” she says. “We were wondering why we weren’t getting any job applications from the reservations and then Joseph was told that it was because no one from the resort had made the first move. We assumed that they would come to us, but there was a cultural difference that we didn’t understand.”

Understanding cultural differences is an important part of arranging the right Native American program for a meeting, according to Sunbird-Martin.

“We say no to planners more than we say yes,” she says. “Everything we do has to be authentic to the Pima and Maricopa culture. For instance, we don’t offer Hopi hoop dances. We don’t offer ceremonial blessings because our community keeps their ceremonies private.”

Anywhere groups meet in Arizona, ways to experience Native American culture and traditions, estimated to date back at least 12,000 years in the Southwest, are close at hand. The state is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, ranging from the large Navajo and Hopi reservations in the northeast to the To O’odham Nation southwest of Tucson.

Central Arizona, including Greater Phoenix, is home to several major tribes, including the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Near the Grand Canyon in the northwest corner of the state are lands belonging to the Hualapai, Havasupai and Kaibab-Paiute tribes.

While tourism opportunities vary greatly among the reservations and tribal communities, most are active in the visitor industry to some degree. The involvement ranges from casinos, golf courses, resorts, museums, and other attractions to cultural programs.


Universal Appeal
Including aspects of Native American culture in a meeting program is standard practice in Arizona, one that has grown in popularity over the past few years. Most destination management companies and resort hotels have contacts with local Native American communities and can arrange everything from an after-dinner Hopi hoop dance to volunteer projects at local schools.

“The Native American element can be as light or as heavy as you wish,” says Enchantment’s Newman. “It can be tailored to many budgets.”

She adds that most groups visiting the resort want at least some Native American tie-in.

“People are very interested in Native American culture, especially international groups, as there is the fascination with cowboys and Indians,” she says. “Of the three big themes in Sedona—art, New Age and Native American—it’s Native American that has the most universal appeal.”

Jackie Dodds, president of Destination Arizona Conference Planners, a Tempe-based DMC, has a similar observation.

“When people come to Arizona, they expect some events or activities that have a Native American theme,” she says. “I’d say about 70 percent of the meetings we do include it.”

To get meetings off to a dramatic start, Dodds likes to open general sessions with drummers and chanters to spark the interest of people mingling in the prefunction areas.

“It draws people into the ballroom,” she says. “After people enter, a tribal elder will give a traditional Native American blessing for six or seven minutes. Then we’ll end the presentation with a lively hoop dance. It’s all very authentic and it really gets people energized.”

One of the most entertaining and interactive ways to introduce local culture at meetings is to bring in Native American artisans and entertainers during receptions. Newman likes to stage such events in Enchantment’s main ballroom, which has floor-to-ceiling views of Boynton Canyon, where there are ancient ruins belonging to the Yavapai Apaches.

“We can set up a marketplace where artisans are weaving rugs and carving kachina dolls,” Newman says. “We can have hoop dancers and flutists. The key is that all of this goes on while the group is mingling and networking. They’re not told to be quiet and watch—it’s all part of the action.”

In a similar vein, the Pointe Hilton Resort at Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix often stages Native American dance performances for groups in its Falls Water Village, a complex of pools and terraces that was inspired by Havasu Falls, an ancient tribal site in the Grand Canyon.

“In the pool area, there is a Lucite stage where the performers look like they’re floating,” says Andee Oleno, spokesperson for Pointe Hilton Resorts.

Opportunities for groups to enjoy Native American dance and music are hardly limited to events arranged for meetings. Such entertainment is readily accessible throughout Arizona. Among the most extensive public offerings is Scottsdale’s Native Trails, a free festival of events held from early January through early April that features dance and music performances and cultural displays several times a week at the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall.

“It’s a great event for groups to take part in,” says Tatum Luala, spokesperson for the Scottsdale CVB. “They can watch it on the lawn with box lunches or even from the patio at the Asia de Cuba restaurant in the new Mondrian hotel.”


Cultural Flavor

Staged entertainment is just one way that groups can get a taste of Native American culture. At Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, the taste can be quite literal at the resort’s Kai, an award-winning, AAA Five Diamond restaurant with a menu inspired by the culinary traditions of the Pima and Maricopa tribes. Many dishes include fresh produce grown in the Gila River community.

“Our chef, Michael O’Dowd, oversees both Kai and the banquet facilities, so groups can taste the cuisine from Kai, including buffalo dishes, even if they’re not dining there,” Sunbird-Martin says. “The chef can also do culinary demonstrations for groups, who then get to eat the meal they saw being prepared.”

Groups staying at the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort and Casino, located just east of Scottsdale on the Fort McDowell-Yavapai Indian Reservation, can try traditional Native American cuisine at Anhala, its main dining area. The restaurant, which is decorated with a large mural partially created by Yavapai school children, serves dishes using squash blossoms, corn and beans grown on the reservation.

The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch, which operates an on-site Native American Learning Center in partnership with Hopi representatives, provides insight into traditional agriculture at its Native Heritage Seed Garden. The garden, which has more than 30 varieties of indigenous plants and crops, was created with help from a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Native American seeds and farming in the Southwest.

Cultural interpreters at the Hyatt can take groups through the garden and explain agricultural techniques and traditions.

“For example, the interpreters can show how cotton goes from the ground to a garment,” says Ann Lane, spokesperson for the resort. “They can see how it grows in the garden and then how it’s processed at the Learning Center, where we have traditional spinning devices and looms.”

Other cultural exchange programs offer opportunities for groups to get involved with community service activities during the meeting. At Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, Sunbird-Martin has arranged for groups to donate time toward such projects as planting trees at the Gila Crossings Elementary School.

“We’ve also arranged for team-building events where the group is divided into teams of five to build bicycles, which are given to kids in the community,” she says. “The kids come to the resort thinking they are just getting some ice cream or pizza and then end up getting bikes. It’s a very emotional thing for the kids and the group.”

Sunbird-Martin also arranges for customized Native American gift items for meeting attendees, working with community artisans to create beaded chains for name badges, shell etchings, cactus jewelry, pottery, and art pieces.

At the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, groups can enjoy art exhibits featuring the work of Arizona’s foremost Native American artists and participate in special events that include workshops, demonstrations, lectures, artist receptions, and “Dinner with the Artist” evenings. Native American silversmith Peter Roybal, artist-in-residence at the Four Seasons, leads tours of the resort gallery, which is operated in conjunction with the Trail of Painted Ponies Fine Arts and Events Co.


Gathering Places

Arizona abounds with museums, archaeological sites and other attractions devoted to Native American culture. Along with offering insightful exhibits, many make evocative backdrops for receptions with traditional music and entertainment.

One of the best places to experience the art and culture of Native Americans is at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, which offers several courtyards and other spaces for a wide variety of events. The museum launched a permanent exhibit in 2005 called Home: Native People in the Southwest, which illustrates the importance of family, community, land, and language in Native American culture.

The museum also has a satellite in Scottsdale, Heard Museum North, which offers special exhibits as well as items from the Heard’s permanent collection.

Also high on the Native American venue list in Phoenix is Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park, where visitors can explore an interpretive trail through the 1,500-year-old village belonging to the Hohokum, the oldest known settlers of central and northern Arizona. The museum offers reconstructed dwellings and an example of the Hohokum’s impressive canal system.

The Mesa Southwest Museum in Mesa is another noteworthy venue with a Native American theme.

“The museum has a lot of great exhibits on Native American history and also has a rooftop area for receptions of up to 100 people,” says Milt Fort, director of marketing for the Mesa CVB. “Plus you can hold after-hours receptions in the museum itself.”

In Tucson, the Arizona State Museum, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, offers exhibits that trace some 13,000 years of human habitation in the Southwest. Its permanent exhibit, Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest, focuses on 10 tribes in Arizona and northern Mexico, using artifacts, multimedia and text to bring their stories to life.

Just south of Yuma in Somerton, the Cocopah Museum and Cultural Center offers life-size dioramas that illustrate the heritage of the Cocopah people, who continue to reside in the Yuma area. Along with exhibits, the museum maintains a small library and a gift shop selling beadwork and other crafts.


For More Info

Flagstaff CVB    928.779.7611     www.flagstaffarizona.org

Greater Phoenix CVB    602.254.6500     www.visitphoenix.com

Lake Havasu City CVB    928.453.3444     www.golakehavasu.com

Mesa CVB    480.827.4700     www.mesacvb.com

Metropolitan Tucson CVB    480.421.1004     www.visittucson.org

Scottsdale CVB    530.544.5050     www.scottsdalecvb.com

Sedona–Oak Creek Canyon COC    928.204.1123     www.visitsedona.com

Tempe CVB    480.894.8158     www.tempecvb.com

Yuma CVB    928.376.0100     www.visityuma.com