The complaint alleges Vail violated the First Amendment rights of artist Danielle SeeWalker.
DENVER — The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Danielle SeeWalker, a Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta artist and muralist, who was selected as Vail’s Artist in Residence for the Summer of 2024. The lawsuit alleges that SeeWalker’s free speech rights under the federal and state constitutions were violated when the town of Vail abruptly canceled her residency after she expressed her personal views on the war in Gaza on her social media page.
“Vail's actions here violated Ms. SeeWalker's constitutional rights. The town is not permitted to condition participation in the Artist in Residence program on Ms. SeeWalker's personal assent with the town’s preferred world view," said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director. “Nor is Vail permitted to retaliate against Ms. SeeWalker for expressing views with which the town disagreed.”
The town of Vail created its Art in Public Places (AIPP) program in 1992 to promote public awareness of the arts. In November 2023, Vail adopted a new strategic plan to diversify the artists, perspectives, and materials represented in its public art collection. In January 2024, Vail selected SeeWalker as its summer 2024 Artist in Residence. Over the next few months, Vail and SeeWalker worked together to plan her residency. They discussed the projects SeeWalker would undertake as the Artist in Residence and Vail secured lodging for SeeWalker and her family during the residency.
In April of 2024, SeeWalker posted an artwork to her Instagram page entitled “G is for Genocide.” The artwork draws parallels between the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the crisis in the Gaza Strip. The piece had no relationship with the AIPP program or SeeWalker’s residency. Nonetheless, the town of Vail decided to cancel SeeWalker’s residency because of the views SeeWalker expressed in her post.
Vail’s invidious viewpoint discrimination — which violates the First Amendment and Colorado Constitution — perpetuates a history of censorship of Indigenous people’s perspectives in Colorado and the United States. In the brief call to notify her about the canceling of her residency, Vail’s Deputy town manager said to SeeWalker that because she had expressed her personal view on the crisis in Gaza, Vail could not have her creating art in their town.
“Hearing that my residency was cancelled because I shared my perspective as a Native woman on parallels between what happened to my own ancestors and what’s happening to people today in Gaza was disheartening. Native American voices have been censored for generations. Vail and other local governments need to know they can’t deny our constitutional rights in this way,” said Ms. SeeWalker.
Vail’s abrupt cancellation of SeeWalker’s residency caused her to lose out on professional opportunities and came at a financial cost to her and her two children. It also caused substantial emotional distress, shock, and sadness to SeeWalker and other Indigenous community members in Colorado and the U.S.
In addition to Macdonald, the legal team includes Sara R. Neel and Laura Moraff, ACLU Staff Attorneys, and Andy McNulty, Mari Newman, and Madeline Leibin of Newman|McNulty.
Visit the SeeWalker v. Vail case page here.