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The California Indian Heritage Center will fill a long-standing need in the state, serving the needs of both Native and non-Native citizens.  It will replace the current State Indian Museum in Sacramento with a center where Indian people can come together, celebrate and preserve their past, and promote the continuation of their traditions. It will also be a place where California students, teachers, and families can learn about the history and heritage of California’s indigenous people and contemporary Indian life. It will be a destination for tourists from around the world to learn about Native American culture in California.

The Department of Parks and Recreation and the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force are working to make the California Indian Heritage Center a reality. The legislatively-authorized Task Force has two primary statutory purposes: to recommend to State Parks a site for the project, and to recommend the governance structure for the center.

Preliminary concepts for the facility include formal exhibit galleries for historic and contemporary exhibitions, a theater, outdoor village reconstructions, native plant gardens, and ceremonial areas. The facility is estimated at approximately 80,000 to 120,000 square feet.  In addition to gallery and programming spaces, one or more structures will contain curation facilities, a research center, meeting rooms, office and support areas, a shop, and possibly facilities for food service. The grounds will include areas for special events and traditional gatherings.  Construction may take place in phases, but the vision for the completed center is for it to serve as the hub of cultural activities throughout the state by networking existing and emerging local, State, and tribal museums through electronic media, training programs, and shared exhibitions, and to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors of all kinds.

The California Indian Heritage Center will be developed and operated as part of California’s State Park System, in collaboration with and under the guidance of the California Indian community. An initial $5 million in voter-approved parks bond monies allocated for the project is providing funding for the preliminary planning phase, which will include programming, master planning  and some initial site development.