The Cocopah Indian Reservation, home to about 900 members, is located approximately 13 miles south of Yuma and 180 miles from both San Diego and Phoenix.
The local tribal economy is growing beyond its traditional farming tradition to include the Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino and Conference Center, Ultra Star Multi-tainment Center, an industrial park and other enterprises to come. The Ak-Chin people, who are part of the O’odham culture, have lived in this area for countless generations.Today, Ak-Chin is a tight-knit community of more than 600 members. The Ak-Chin Indian Community is located 58 miles south of Phoenix in the northwestern part of Pinal County. As always, we encourage visitors to call the tribe’s cultural center, tourism or information office before scheduling a visit. Use the links below as tool in planning a trip. The relationships are based on mutual trust and active participation, and have repositioned the Heard away from the traditional museum role as a professional observer of “the other.” With the offices of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona across Central Avenue from the museum, the Heard is uniquely positioned to continue working closely with Arizona’s American Indian tribes.
In the last decade, the Heard Museum has worked to develop professional relationships with American Indian tribes. Arizona is home to 22 tribes, each with its own rich history, culture, language and land base.
