An expedition into art, history, and healing around this land’s first people and the formation of the state of Colorado
Breathing Healing Bus
The Breathing Healing Bus is a mobile immersive experience in and around Control Group’s event bus. It offers a crucial counter-narrative to the “year of celebration” of Colorado statehood and U.S. nationhood called for by the 250 - 150 initiative, addressing the hard history of genocide, forced removal, and ongoing marginalization of Native Americans that define our nation’s and state’s history. It unpacks pivotal moments in the multi-century orchestrated campaign of erasure, inviting reflection on this history through an embodied and personally invested experience combining visual design, oral histories, healing meditations, and interactive prompts.
Created by a powerful community of Native artists, activists, and historians, the Breathing Healing Bus is touring the Front Range through 2025, and in 2026 will tour the state as part of The Truth About 250-150, a project led by Wakáška Yuza. The Bus is the latest in a series of creations within Control Group’s Breathing Healing project, led by Cinnamon Kills First in collaboration with a growing community of Native and allied artists, historians, activists, and healers.
Event Schedule
The Bus will appear at public events through Fall 2026 – a combination of partnered appearances, bookings, and freestanding activities. Check back for updates.
September 6 at the Denver Friendship Powwow (10am-3pm at Civic Center Park)
September 20 at Broomfield Days (10am-5pm at Midway Park)
September 26 at the Denver Fall Tribal Leaders Convening (11am-4pm at CSU Spur Hydro)
October 3 & 5 at áyA Con – Indigenous Comic and Art Festival (11am-5pm at RiNo Art Park)
October 4 at Barr Lake Harvest Festival (9am-1pm at Barr Lake)
October 11 at Denver American Indian Festival (10am-4pm at Lakewood United Methodist Church)
October 12 at Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration (11am-4pm at The Dairy Arts Center)
October 13 at Denver Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration (12-6pm at City Park)
October 15 at Superior Historical Commission (2-6pm at Superior Community Center)
Interested in bringing the Breathing Healing Bus to your community or event?
what to expect
The Breathing Healing Bus integrates history, artistry, and healing into an embodied, personalized experience for each guest. Exterior murals beckon guests toward the Bus, where docents greet them, orient them into the experience, set them up with audio playback and accompanying reading materials (a zine that guests take home). The interactive built environment inside the Bus lays out and responds to the history of Native presence and displacement across Colorado, mobilizing parts of People of the Sacred Land’s seminal Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) reports published in 2024. A healing space in the back of the Bus invites contemplation and commitment-making. The Bus is a free experience designed for most ages (12+, or younger with caregiver present). Guests may enter at any time during open hours, and can stay as long as they choose.
project background
The Breathing Healing project began in 2021, with an invitation from Control Group to Cinnamon Kills First to share her work at an upcoming event. She and artistic director Patrick Mueller used the visit to begin building relationship around a creative vision intertwining Kills First’s artistic and healing practice with Control Group’s immersive theatre approaches and organizational resources. With Kills First guiding the vision and Control Group fueling the project’s labor, resources, and administration, this vision gradually expanded into a series of projects and public offerings.
In 2022-23 the Breathing Healing leadership team grew to include Bill TallBull (TallBull Memorial Council), Laurie Rugenstein (Right Relationship Boulder), and Kristine Whittle (Restorative Therapies). A series of public dialogues in 2023 helped the group develop and refine plans for a mobile immersive theatre production sharing the history of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre, intended for non-Native audiences, as well as trips for Native guests to the Sand Creek Massacre site – both using Control Group’s event bus.
The 2024 immersive production received high critical acclaim for its nuanced handling of challenging material and its combination of history, artistry, and healing. The Breathing Healing Bus continues this work, in an offering designed for nimble mobility and envisioned as an emissary of this history and healing across the state and the Mountain West.
press
"Breathing healing into the banks of Sand Creek" by Desiree Mathurin, Denverite, May 6, 2024
"Facing the truth, damn the consequences" by John Moore, Denver Gazette, May 7, 2024
"Feeling the Past to Heal It: Breathing Healing into the Banks of Sand Creek (Review)" by Kirsten Carey, No Proscenium, May 12, 2024
"Immersive theater production grapples with history of Sand Creek Massacre" by PBS, May 15, 2024
process and team
Control Group’s ongoing program Breathing Healing is guided by a leadership council comprised of Indigenous and ally voices. A coalition of Colorado-based Indigenous artists, activists, and historians developed the vision and contents for the Breathing Healing Bus, with critical partnership and advising on TREC report findings from representatives of People of the Sacred Land.
The Breathing Healing Bus is supported by the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, the Bonfils Stanton Foundation, RiNo Gives, Colorado Creative Industries, and many individual donors.
Leadership
Cinnamon Kills First, Bill TallBull, Laurie Rugenstein, Patrick Mueller, Kristine Whittle
Management
Patrick Mueller, Kristine Whittle, Mona de Amor, Laurie Rugenstein
Design & Build-out
Diego Florez-Arroyo, Hannah Lucero, Nazhone Morgan, Kristina Bad Hand Maldonado
Exterior Murals
Diego Florez-Arroyo
Somatic Meditations
Cinnamon Kills First
Storytelling
Cinnamon Kills First, Bill TallBull
Video Editing
Mona de Amor
Values & History
Terri Bissonette, Bill TallBull
Event Staff
Whisper Bissonette, Mona de Amor, Nazhone Morgan, Patrick Mueller, Kristine Whittle