A note about parking: The Gregg Museum has limited parking. Carpooling or walking is strongly encouraged. Please view available parking options here as you prepare for your visit to the museum:  https://gregg.arts.ncsu.edu/about/visit/planning-your-visit/

When: Wednesday, May 27 | 5:30–7:00 PM

Where: The Gregg Museum of Art & Design Main Lobby

“Cradleboards were carefully crafted for the physical and spiritual protection of our children.” – Amanda Hill, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Kiowa Tribe, featured in the Gregg Museum exhibition,  Through Our Eyes, In Our Hands: Prioritizing Indigenous Knowledge in Museums.

Join the Gregg Museum for an evening of film and conversation exploring the ongoing work of repatriation. Connected to the exhibition Through Our Eyes, In Our Hands: Prioritizing Indigenous Knowledge in Museums, this program invites reflection on the responsibilities museums hold in returning sacred objects to their rightful communities.

On view at the Gregg Museum is an 1880s Kiowa cradleboard, repatriated in 2025 through the NAGPRA process, which offers a powerful context for this conversation. What does it mean for sacred objects to reside in museums, even temporarily? How do we move from possession toward restoration?

Filmmakers Ben West and Yancey Burns of the Rena Flying Coyote Collective explore these questions in Repatriation to Restoration. West, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and Executive Director of the Collective, has worked with major film and cultural institutions and co-directed the award-winning documentary Imagining the Indian, a finalist for the Library of Congress Lavine Ken Burns Prize. Burns, a filmmaker and producer of the Collective, brings a background in journalism, law, and documentary storytelling, and has contributed to nationally recognized projects focused on Native representation and advocacy. The Rena Flying Coyote Collective is a nonprofit dedicated to sharing Indigenous stories through film, television, and the arts.

Following the screening, West and Burns will be joined by Nancy Chavis, Director of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian at UNC Pembroke, for a brief discussion about the documentary film, along with Q & A with the audience.

Free with online registration here.