Skylar Bowman
Salish Current
In the coming months, a new mural will gradually take shape in downtown Bellingham. Artists from Children of the Setting Sun Productions, or CSSP, will begin to line the alleyway of their new Indigenous hub, Setting Sun Circle. Upon completion, the mural will remain ever-changing. By day, the wall will depict a shining coastal scene. By night, projections will light the coast into a moonlit scene of bioluminescence.
The mural is just the beginning of the space’s transformation over the next couple years. The building was gifted to CSSP — a local, Indigenous-led nonprofit renowned for film-making and media — by the building’s previous business owners, Mindport Exhibits.
While the nonprofit is no stranger to event planning and community involvement, a physical space to gather and host is something they have never had before.
“One of the core values that we have is gathering people,” said Michael Vendiola, also known as daniseten, chief operations officer for CSSP. “We love to gather people and thank people, recognize people of knowledge — folks who have done good work in the community.”
The new building will offer this congregation space, but its plans far surpass a simple recreation room. According to Chris Lejeune, the project manager, the lower levels of the building will offer several feature spaces that serve the public and organization alike, including a 50-foot immersive LED screen.
A stage will be built in front of the screen in order to accommodate speakers and performers, said Lejeune.
The screen will be used to showcase many of CSSP’s original films, including “Salmon People,” “Story Pole” and “West Shore,” but the nonprofit hopes to expand even more.
“Our future goal is to really have a high-calibre film festival that will be a destination for films both nationally and internationally,” said Vendiola; “sort of like a Sundance Film Festival or Seattle International Film Festival. We hope to bring that to Bellingham as well.”
Vendiola envisions this space as an academic arena with panels and presentations that follow in their mission to protect land, water and air and preserve the culture and identity of Coast Salish people.
The first event of Setting Sun Circle’s history was held on May 16 in celebration of The Seattle Times environmental reporter Lynda Mapes’ newest book, “The Trees Are Speaking.”
Then in June, a masters student belonging to the organization’s Young Tribal Leaders Program, Raven Borsey, held a presentation showcasing his research on traditional reef netting. The Lummi fishing community attended, along with other members of their community.
Borsey, along with his brother, Free, won the 18th annual Bullitt Prize in 2024. The award recognizes those under 35 from underrepresented communities who “demonstrate academic, professional or grassroots leadership that advances the environmental movement.” Raven also received the cultural anthropology outstanding graduate award for excellence in 2024 during his studies at Western Washington University.
Next to this theater will be the Coast Salish Lifeways Gallery, housing a wall-sized Coast Salish map. Lejeune explained the map will be in 3D relief, and depictions of ocean currents and salmon migration will then be projected onto it — salmon being a core facet of Coast Salish culture.
“It’s a storytelling mechanism map,” said Lejeune. “There will be a lot of other elements in this gallery that tell place-based and historic story.”
Near these features will be an immersive dome. Visitors will be able to walk inside the dome and experience more up-close footage, like canoe journeys, from the inside.
Supporting Native artistry
Setting Sun Circle will also focus on supporting Native artistry. Near these immersive features, in view of the large storefront window, will be a maker space for artists in residence. This program will support Native artists of many kinds, as new creative studios will be added upstairs, and the basement already contains a full woodshop.
The space will offer Native artists like glass blower Dan Friday, also known as kwul kwul tw, a place to showcase their work in Bellingham. While Friday has pieces in collections across the world, Setting Sun Circle will provide a place right here at home. Some of his work is already on display in the building’s front window.
Additionally, artists will have support through a variety of media. For instance, if a wood carver creates a physical carving, the staff can then take that piece and “bring it to life” with tools like digital animation, Lejeune said.
“It’s letting the art permeate through different mediums to tell its story,” he said.
There will also be artist exhibitions in the maker space that are open to the public. This could include glassblowing, woodworking, weaving and other Coast Salish arts.
Additionally, potential workshops open to the public may include basic weaving, classes on native plants, Native language and more.
“We’re hoping to have as broad of a cultural experience as possible,” said Vendiola.
Keeping up with expansion
Setting Sun Circle’s vision does not end here. After being gifted the Mindport building and beginning the planning process, the nonprofit soon realized they were already outgrowing their new space.
In 2024, Lejeune remembers wishing the building next door would go up for sale — and then it did. In a lucky circumstance, they were able to buy Backcountry Essentials’ previous location and complete their trifecta of storefronts, Mindport Exhibits already being made up of two.
This third storefront will house a retail area, a contemporary art gallery and a healing garden. It will be open for public perusal, so patrons will be welcome to contemplate current Native art while following the layout into a peaceful outdoor area.
As seen in their early expansion, Vendiola confirmed the nonprofit has experienced rapid growth since Mindport’s generous donation, forcing them to fast forward their thinking.
“We’re doing a lot of things that we’ve never done before, but that’s a really beautiful place to be,” he said. “We just want to make sure we’re doing it in a good way.”
Back to the beginning
While the nonprofit takes on these expansions, the staff’s goal still comes back to serving their original mission.
CSSP strives to continue the work of Frank Hillaire, known by his ancestral name as hey ta luk. Vendiola, Darrell Hillaire — the nonprofit’s executive director — and several other staff members are descendants of hey ta luk.
As explained by Vendiola, hey ta luk was born in the late 1840s and attended the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliot. While living through much cultural censorship, hey ta luk took on a role of protection for his people.
“One of his visions was to retain our culture and identity through song, dance and ceremony,” said Vendiola. “When we look back on it now, of where we’re at now, we see our work as an extension or an arm of what he created.”
The name of the organization itself, Children of the Setting Sun, was the name of hey ta luk’s original dance group.
Another core value the nonprofit carries forward is the stewardship and caretaking of the traditional Coast Salish lands they come from — the land of the setting sun. Setting Sun Circle hopes to address prominent concerns with the environment, specifically the protection of the Salish Sea and its tributaries.
“We believe that we have answers to some of these pressing issues that are facing today’s society with caretaking and appropriate management of resources and the repairing and healing of Mother Earth,” said Vendiola.
Vendiola also stressed the importance they place on examining the health of their relationships amid a tribal and non-tribal world. While Setting Sun Circle will be a place of advanced technology and innovation, it will also serve as a center to share, coexist, support one another and showcase other ways of knowing.
These initiatives coincide with the partnerships they have built with local Bellingham and Ferndale school districts, providing films to educate children and foster healthy relationships with the community early.
Coming home
While CSSP has invested into their partnerships with the Bellingham community, the donation of this building is tangibly giving them something back. The new space is located only a block and a half away from Whatcom Creek where the Hillaire family once had a fishing village — meaning it is located on their ancestral homeland.
“It brings a sense of healing,” said Vendiola. “A sense of return and purpose and place and really enhances the idea of caretaking, remembering the work of our family and our ancestors and being caretakers of that space.”
While the lower levels of Setting Sun Circle will be open to the public, the upper levels will serve as a work space for the staff of CSSP. This will provide room for their production teams, including their podcast, titled “Young and Indigenous.”
“The current vision is that we’ve designed this space to accommodate the whole organization to move into the upper floor,” said Lejeune.
This space is “basically a home,” furthered Vendiola.
The buildings of Setting Sun Circle fittingly face the west, meaning the sun will set on the space each night: a physical manifestation of the land — and people — of the setting sun.
While plans are still subject to change, all spaces should be free for visiting school children, while the contemporary gallery and healing garden will be free to the public. The immersive side of the building will be available to the general public through tickets or memberships.
Currently, Setting Sun Circle is set to open in the fall of 2027. Through donor support, state grants, city grants and foundations, the nonprofit raised $6.5 million for the project, but they still need to raise $10 million more to complete the project, said Amy McKinley, the fund development director.
In December of this year, Dawson Construction will take on the space’s demolition and construction. However, select events that may occur in the meantime, which will be shared via the CSSP social media.