The Turtle, once home to the Native American Center for the Living Arts, sleeps by Niagara Falls. Originally founded in 1971, the building took four years to complete, 1977-1981.

For nearly 15 years, it was the largest center for Indigenous arts in the East. Closed in 1995, it is now  no longer held in Native hands, and is critically endangered and unmaintained, currently held by a real estate development L.L.C. aiming for tear down and redevelopment.

Its importance as an expression of Haudenosaunee self determination; a means for preserving arts and culture, as community cultural center, as living educational center, and as a rare example of Indigenous architecture, by Northern Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes and Tuscarora sculptor Duffy Wilson, cannot be overstated.

It served as a liberatory space and cultural home, particularly in the years that the so called "residential schools" (and day schools) began to close. While those institutions have a long history (on both sides of the border) designed for ethnocide and resulting in outright murders, numbers of children often forcibly removed to them doubled between the 60's and the 70's in the U.S.  ICWA, the  Indian Child Welfare Act (1978) finally gave families the legal right to refuse to place their children into  these institutions.

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 had increased autonomy, but it wasn't until 1978 that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA)  was signed into law, at least in theory, recognizing the rights of Native peoples to  their practices, access to sacred sites, and sacred objects.

The Turtle continues to be a source of great pride.

It also remains a source of deep sorrow at its closure and decades long 'sleep.'

The Turtle is a building of global significance it is unique.

It has been recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the 11 most endangered historic places for 2025. Vacant for 30 years now, on June 15, 2025 Niagara Falls was illuminated in purple, marking the closure of the Turtle and to honor its architect. It has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Office of Historic Preservation and prior to the opening of the Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., representatives from the Smithsonian visited the Turtle incorporating aspects from it into the final design of the museum.

Currently there are efforts to reawaken the Turtle, led by Friends of the Niagara Turtle (also see their social media presences, such as the facebook group.) The Turtle has been drained of its colors, it remains vacant, and is currently not being maintained. The clock is ticking on it. The hard work of the Friends has also gained local recognition, such as   the "2025 Preservation Award for Neighborhood Preservation Organization" by Preservation Buffalo Niagara.

What we can do- Help share information about the Turtle, (And see first person accounts from the time it was open- Turtle stories)  volunteer, and support the work to  awaken it for generations to come. Turtle Island must save the Turtle.