Plains Indian Museum Programs

“A living, breathing place where more than just Indian objects are on display…” —Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West offers programs and learning opportunities relating to the Plains Indian Museum collections, including the Lloyd New Native American Arts Institute, artist-in-residence presentations, school programs, a tipi activity and guided tour, a Plains Indian map representing movement on the Plains among more than 45 different Indian cultures, and gallery demonstrations. Learn More about our full offerings of activities on our main Learn page.

Plains Indian Museum Powwow

The Plains Indian Museum Powwow is one of our signature educational programs, offered each June. Please visit our Powwow page for more information.

Educational Programs

The Plains Indian Museum hosts school classes and offers tours with advanced registration through our Education Department, and collaborates with the St. Labre Indian School to teach museum practices to students.

St. Labre Museum Studies and Culture Class

In a collaborative program of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the St. Labre Museum Studies and Culture Classes, students from the St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Montana, learn essential museum practices by working directly with objects in our collections.

Five students participated in our 2012 program. Along with their instructor Cecilia Thex, students Cameron Russell, Brianna Toinetta, Bucky Old Elk, Dalen Littlebird, and Naomi Redfield learned about issues and practices in museum work through hands-on experience with our Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection. Here the group visits our 1850s-era hide tepee in the Seasons of Life Gallery of the Plains Indian Museum.

The students worked on this pair of moccasins as part of their training in museum practices.