Indian Pueblo Cultural Center - Must visit place in Albuquerque, New Mexico

The place in Albuquerque which I liked the most is Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. I had plan to visit Santa Fe but unfortunately the bus for railway station didn't show and I had to cancel the plan. After geeing back to hotel and taking some rest, I planned to visit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. It was best decision of that day and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. After spending 3-4 hrs at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, I headed to New Mexico University but this post is more about how to reach Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and main things to do. There are some very useful tips in terms of timing to visit, especially during weekends.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of Pueblo Indian Culture, History and Art in Albuquerque city of New Mexico state in USA. This center also includes a small, changing exhibit that highlights the work of living traditional and contemporary artists. Traditional Indian dances and artist demonstrations are open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. More than 200,000 people visit the center each year.

How to reach Indian Pueblo Cultural Center from different parts of Albuquerque ?

Lyft & Uber operates in Albuquerque city of New Mexico but the city also has pretty good bus service. I used Buses to commute between places in Albuquerque and took help from Google maps app. One bus ride costs you $1 and for $2 you get day pass & can use bus throughout the day without any max limit of rides. $2 day pass in Albuquerque city makes lot of sense.

Be aware that buses may not be on time all the time, so refreshing google app to know new time is worth. It saves you time by replanning. You may need to walk for a few minutes in case a particular route bus is delayed.

Please keep in mind that you may need to walk a bit if you chose bus and otherwise prefer Uber/Lyft.

Entry Fees for Indian Pueblo Cultural Center : $8.40 for non-residents of New Mexico

Adults - $8.40

Seniors (62 & over) - $6.40

Military (Active & Retired) - $6.40

New Mexico Residents - $6.40

Students/Children (ages 5-17) - $5.40

Children under 5 - Free

Groups (15 or more) - $5.40

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center timings :

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is open from Monday till Sunday and regular timings are 9:00 am-5:00 pm. Apart from that more events happen in the evening but most of them are for members of the Cultural Center.

What to expect at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center ?

The best thing I liked is the dance performance which happens only during weekends. Every Saturday & Sunday dance performance happens at 11am and 2 pm. This performance showcases Pueblo culture and it's brilliant performance by kids of different age groups with support of 2 curators who beat the drums and sing.

Pueblo communities have celebrated seasonal cycles through prayer, song, and dance. These dances connect the community to ancestors, community, and traditions while honoring gifts as well as make visitors aware about the culture.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is the only place in North America to offer traditional Native American dances every week year-round, showcasing dance groups from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, as well as Plains Style, Navajo, Apache, and Hopi dancers.

Apart from the dance performance, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various museum galleries. It's awesome to walk through each of them and enjoy audio-visual content. While checking out Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum I realised there are lot of commonalities how old houses used to be built in India with mud, grass pieces and natural material. For New Mexico, the resources quality may vary but practices were almost the same. That encouraged me to read more and check out various audio/video presentations in Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum.

Best time/day to visit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :

Because of above reason about dance performance, it's better to be there at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center by 11am. That gives you plenty of time to enjoy the dance performance and walking around the galleries of the museum.

Activities not to miss at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :

Apart from regular exhibitions, artists kiosks, Gifts shop, Restaurant, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center keeps organizing different activities and events. It's highly recommended to check below link before going there. You may want to optimise on your timings to visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center accordingly. This is even more important if you are planning a visit with Kids. There are quite a few activities for kids throughout the year.

https://www.indianpueblo.org/events/

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Museum ! The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various galleries and some of them have rotating exhibitions by artists from New Mexico and at times outside of the state. Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum has good number of galleries about permanent exhibits, "We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story." Through this particular exhibit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center shares the Pueblo people's legacy of resilience, telling the Pueblo story in the words and voices of Pueblo people. The exhibit's design is inspired by traditions that have been passed down for generations, and its displays honor our land and all living things. Following link shares about Exhibitions going on or happened in the past - https://www.indianpueblo.org/museum/museum-exhibitions/ . This is a good place to check before planning your visit because there may be interesting exhibitions at a particular time which you may not want to miss out.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Events !

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Museum !

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various galleries and some of them have rotating exhibitions by artists from New Mexico and at times outside of the state. Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum has good number of galleries about permanent exhibits, "We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story." Through this particular exhibit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center shares the Pueblo people's legacy of resilience, telling the Pueblo story in the words and voices of Pueblo people. The exhibit's design is inspired by traditions that have been passed down for generations, and its displays honor our land and all living things.

Following link shares about Exhibitions going on or happened in the past - https://www.indianpueblo.org/museum/museum-exhibitions/ . This is a good place to check before planning your visit because there may be interesting exhibitions at a particular time which you may not want to miss out.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Restaurant !

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has restaurant called Pueblo Harvest which is a full-service restaurant known for extraordinary regional and Native-sourced, Pueblo-inspired cuisine that blends honoring legacy and history with exhibiting artistry and modernity.

One can also enjoy patio dining with breathtaking views of the Sandia mountains around Albuquerque.

The restaurant also hosts live music every weekend year-round with an all-you-can-eat taco bar and gourmet pizza made fresh in an outdoor horno oven. Pueblo Harvest is open for breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner from Monday through Saturday and for brunch on Sundays.

Here is something special if it excites you :

Party on the Patio ( May - October)
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, 6-9:30 pm
$12 cover
Live music and horno-baked pizza on Pueblo Harvest’s beautiful outdoor patio.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Gift shop :

There is a gift shop close to the Pueblo Harvest and it has variety of pottery stuff which is very beautiful & elegant. Pueblo culture has huge importance of pottery and it's unique. Apart from that one can buy New Mexican jewellery
in this gift shop apart from various other kinds of gifts, fridge magnets, cloths etc.

When I was visiting Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, an artist was doing a demonstration of how she makes pottery art from different kinds of soil/sand available in New Mexico. It was wondering to hear how she creates brushes, colors and material organically. In fact, in some of the pottery arts she also produces preservative material from natural material available. It was incredible experience hear her and better appreciate the patience needed to make master-pieces out of natural resources available canyons of New Mexico state of USA.

Shopping at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :

Shumakolowa Native Arts brings manages the gift shop at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and offers collection of original, handcrafted works of Native American art. It's certainly great place to discover traditional and contemporary arts from award‐winning, internationally renowned artists as well as emerging talents, and shop art that is valuable for its beauty, craftsmanship and connection to tradition. I found it expensive for myself but I enjoyed appreciating art-pieces places in the gift shop.

Above sculpture is places just in front of Indian Pueblo Cultural Center which signifies evolution of Pueblo community in different kind of roles. The museum inside takes you through interesting journey through food, professions, seasons, etc.

Above photograph shows model of drum used by Pueblo community. These drums are made of animal skin for most of the outer things you see and the base is a big piece of tree branch which is hollowed from inside. And it seems different kind of drums need wood of various trees and the process to hollow also varies. thickness of final drum probably has a role to play in the sound it would produce.

Above photograph shows one of the models of Pueblo style house which is made up of mud and wood as main components. This looks very similar to old house in Northern states of India as well. I have spend my childhood in Himachal Pradesh of India and houses used to be exactly same in terms of material used. They are pretty good to manage different weather conditions. Give comfort in summers as well as winters.