$500,000 to the new National Museum of the American Indian, and many tribal members will fly to Washington later this month for the opening.

"I think the Agua Caliente presence will be substantial," said Michael Hammond, executive director of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum.

Hammond and several board members from his museum will attend opening festivities for the museum starting Sunday in Washington.

The Agua Caliente is the fifth-largest tribal donor to the museum. Two of the largest donors, the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, each donated $10 million. The Agua Calientes couldn't be reached for comment.

Hammond said the Agua Caliente museum is the only native American museum that is a Smithsonian affiliate, which gives it the right to borrow objects for up to 10 years, long enough to build exhibits around, he said.

"(The national museum) is really the clearinghouse of tribes' sacred objects," he said. "Our focus, it's fair to say, is the history of the Coachella Valley, but from a native American perspective."

Exhibits at the national museum will highlight the nine bands of Cahuilla Indians in the region as well as tribal issues such as sovereignty and water rights, he said.

Hammond hopes the national museum will help raise funds for the new Agua Caliente museum, which is scheduled to open late next year and is projected to cost about $40 million to build and equip. Nearly all Indian tribes are building their own museums, or want to, he said.

He said the benefit of the revenue that Indian tribes earn by operating casinos "is that a lot of it is going to preserve culture, preserve language ... and for museums."

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