The 2023 Dhegiha Language Conference will take place July 24-26 at the Quapaw Downstream Casino Resort with a third day of event activities thanks to a $20,000 donation approved by the Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise Board.
During the gaming board’s May meeting, its members heard and considered a $20,000 funding request from Candy Thomas who represented the Dhegiha Preservation Society, which organizes and hosts the annual Indigenous language conference now in its 12th year. The $20,000 donation from the Nation will go toward the additional day of food, hotel and conference facility costs at the Downstream Casino Resort, owned and operated by the Quapaw Nation.
The Dhegiha tribes consist of the Osage, Omaha, Quapaw, Kaw, Ponca and Northern Ponca nations. They are part of a Siouan language group whose languages are similar with a shared history and culture.
Each year, the language conference serves as a teaching, networking and social gathering especially for the Dhegiha tribal language instructors, students and tribal officials to share their teaching knowledge in presentations and activities.
“During the Middle Woodland period, Osages were part of a large group and inhabited the area of confluences of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and eventually Dhegiha split into five tribes – Osage Quapaw, Ponca, Kaw and Omaha, so it’s been around for a long time, we lived close together, we have very similar languages and this (society) language got started in 2004 with (Osage master teacher) Dr. Herman “Mogri” Lookout and (fellow instructor) Tracey Moore and Mogri studied the language for a long time, he started a little group, which I was fortunate to be a part of,” Thomas told the gaming board.
Thomas said the group met first with Omaha tribal members and they discovered many similarities in their respective languages and the interest grew with meeting the other tribes resulting in the first formal conference in 2011.
“Over the years, it’s grown and grown,” Thomas said of conference attendance with most years held at Downstream with attendees also bringing their families to the resort large enough to accommodate the conference. Downstream has been the selected venue in past years because of discount costs offered, she said, noting one conference year was in Omaha, Neb.
For costs, Thomas said the two-day 2022 conference budget was $41,000. She noted Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear has also attended the previous years’ conferences and is pleased with the presentations and “asked us this year if we would extend it to a third day and do more and that’s why we’re here … It costs us $20,000 a day to accommodate all those people (including singers for a handgame), meals, IT (equipment), speakers.”
The gaming board supported the $20,000 request and discussed whether the money would be provided as a sponsorship or donation during the meeting and subsequent June 16 meeting.
Board Chairman Geoff Hager noted the funding request initially came as a sponsorship request and there would be questions on how the sponsorship would be marketed and other rules that accompany those requests.
Congresswoman Jodie Revard, who attended the May meeting, applauded the funding request, noting the support for the Osage language continues from her days on the 31st Tribal Council (under the former Osage government) when the language program initiative started. “It’s still here alive and well through our language and cultural program and I think this will be a great endeavor for the board to hang their hat on … It would be awesome too if you guys attended the conference, you make life-long friends there and Candy’s right, it really helps with our (language) curriculum,” Revard said.
Thomas said the casino previously donated smaller amounts to prior year conferences, as well as the Osage Foundation, and the other tribes also contribute depending on their resources to the event costs. For event marketing, Thomas said all entities who donate or sponsor the conference costs will be recognized on the conference booklets and other flyer and advertisements shared.
The gaming board also discussed the idea of hosting the 2024 Dhegiha Language Conference at the Osage Casino facilities in Tulsa if the amount is approved as a sponsorship. At the June gaming board meeting to revisit the $20,000 request, Thomas said she couldn’t make the 2024 Tulsa conference commitment on her own, but it would be taken up with the Dhegiha Preservation Society’s board annual meeting during this year’s conference.
“We are interested in hosting the next Dhegiha (conference), we would love to continue conversations about that,” Hager told Thomas. “We’re very interested in increasing our involvement and commitment with this event and this organization.”
Thomas said “thank you, I appreciate your consideration and that you’re continuing to consider it and I look forward to working with all of you.” After further discussion on June 16, the gaming board voted to approve the $20,000 request as a donation to the Dhegiha Preservation Society with “yes” votes from Hager, Vice Chair Claudette Carnett and Bruce Pollock.
For more information about registering for the 2023 Dhegiha Language Conference, contact William Lynn at william.lynn@osagenation-nsn.gov