Alutiiq museum in Kodiak celebrates the past to connect with the future

The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is undergoing a major renovation that officials hope will attract tourists to its Kodiak Island community in Alaska. The museum's efforts got a recent boost with a grant from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association. (Photo courtesy of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository)

A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourists to its Kodiak Island community got a boost from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association.

The association, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, awarded a grant to the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository for a new project, “Keneq — Fire Gallery: Sharing Our Living Traditions.”

The renovation will expand the public spaces in the building to better serve the community through more exhibits. It also will include a large mural on the outside.

“This project is going to help us design a new exhibit in our gallery, as well as a couple of other things, including a statewide ad campaign for our museum and also a competition for artists for an outdoor mural,” the museum’s executive director, April Laktonen Counceller, told ICT.

“Our current building looks a little bit like an office building. It doesn’t have a strong cultural presence,” Counceller said. “I’m excited to bring the incredible culture that we have inside our walls to an outside wall so that people out on the street can see our building. And now, that’s the Alutiiq Museum I want to go visit.”

The city of Kodiak is the largest town on Kodiak Island and the home of Alaska’s largest fishing fleet. From 1792 to 1799, the town was the capital of Russian America. 

At 3,670 square miles, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States, according to Travel Alaska — roughly the size of Connecticut. It’s home to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, and offers fishing, wildlife viewing, backcountry camping, whale watching, and kayaking. 

Counceller says Kodiak may not be as famous as other parts of Alaska, but said tourism numbers are increasing with the pandemic in the rear view window. The island’s natural environment is the main attraction.

“Kodiak is a little bit off the beaten path here in Alaska,” Counceller said. “We’re not in the Southeast region when people often think of cruise ships and that sort of thing. We do actually get cruise ships here, but a lot fewer than you might see in Juneau or Ketchikan.”

They plan to spread the word with help from the new grant.

“We’re hoping to capture the attention of some of these people who may not have wanted to come to Alaska in the past, but are now seeing it as a great place to visit,” Counceller said. “So we’re hoping that this tourism grant will help get the word out about what we have to offer. For those people who are already coming to Kodiak, we want our museum to be one of those not-to-miss places, because we really have, in my opinion, the best understanding and the best way of educating about our Native people.” 

The museum is also an important resource for Alutiiq history.

“Archives are definitely important and it’s something that we try to connect people with here at the museum,” Counceller said. “We’re called the Alutiiq Museum and Archeological Repository.” 

The museum is a source of information and knowledge of the Alutiiq people and neighboring Native communities. It involves the 4,000 island residents in many ways.

“Some people think of a museum as only having one thing to offer, and that is exhibits, but we have so many more additional programs to help support the culture in the community,” Counceller said. “We just recently started doing some workshops to teach the regalia, the snow-falling parka pattern, but in a modern style out of velvet. We’ve been doing workshops on the beaded regalia, the headdresses and the beaded cuffs and that sort of thing.” 

Language revitalization is also important. The museum offers language classes, summer culture camps and other programs.

“It’s something to be really celebrated about learning our language,” Counceller said. “Kids are taking a look at language classes. Sometimes they’re learning on their own, sometimes they’re doing it in school …Our culture is really current in a state of revitalization and it’s an exciting time to be involved.

“It’s an exciting time to learn about our people because,” she said. “Our culture is really open in terms of wanting to share about our culture with other people in the community who are not tribal members or visitors that come from far away.”

ICT originally published this article. ICT is an an independent, nonprofit, multimedia news enterprise. ICT covers Indigenous peoples.

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