Help kickstart our nonprofit!

Established in August of 2024, the Sonoran Desert Cultural Preservation society's mission is to preserve, celebrate, and promote the Sonoran Desert’s ancient, historical, and contemporary cultural plurality.

With your support, we will offer community workshops, events, an Arizona tattoo museum, traditional and ancestral healing arts, and so much more engaging activities to elevate the amazing cultural diversity of the Sonoran Desert!

We envision a world where cultural pluralism is celebrated and supported throughout the Sonoran Desert.

What is cultural pluralism?

A social system in which everyone’s culture is valued, accepted, unique, and supported in a culturally diverse society.

Our Values:

Racial equity
Gender equity
Religious equity
Data justice
Cultural autonomy
Power sharing with people of all ages and backgrounds
Collectivism
Elevating the voices of diverse peoples, past and present

Our history:

Born of a need for a multicultural center in South Phoenix, body art specialist Darryl Pittman, Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology, Lily Villa, and Ph.D. candidate in transborder studies, Jesús Villa developed the Sonoran Desert Cultural Preservation Society in 2023 in South Phoenix. Their efforts are to offer opportunities for cultural reclamation and pride through historical and contemporary ceremonial body art, traditional Mexican healing, and death liberation practices as well as ethnographic, historical, and genealogical research to elevate the ancient, historical, and contemporary communities in the Sonoran Desert.

Sonoran Desert Cultural Preservation Society

Help the Sonoran Desert Cultural Preservation Society Create more community and educational events!

Team Members