The Iñupiat Heritage Center was designed
to serve as an inspirational facility to promote and protect Iñupiaq
culture, history, and language through exhibits, classes, performances,
and educational activities. The facility includes a gallery, a traditional
room for working on arts and crafts, a classroom, a large conference
and performance room, the Tuzzy Consortium Library, and the offices
of the Iñupiat History, Language and Culture Commission. It
opened to the public in early 1999 after ten years of planning, and
is currently managed by the North Slope Borough Planning Department.
The University of Alaska Museum of the North (UA Museum), established
in 1929, is a public and scholarly resource center whose mission is
to acquire, conserve, investigate, and interpret specimens and collections
related to the cultural, natural, and artistic heritage of Alaska
and the Circumpolar North. Through education, research, and public
exhibits, the Museum serves a state, national, and international community
of residents, visitors, students, and scholars, as well as acting
as a repository for specimens from state, federal, and international
science programs. The UA Museum has a strong relationship with Alaska’s
Native communities, built and maintained through a long history of
collaborative work on repatriation, exhibitions, and educational outreach.
In addition, technical assistance is provided to smaller, rural museums
and cultural heritage centers.
Next: Community Collaboration
