Alaska Native Heritage Center: building for the future: this nonprofit organization promotes cultural diversity and celebrates Alaska Native traditions.

• Author: Morgan, Barbara

Heritage Road curves through the Alaska woods in northeast Anchorage until the Alaska Native Heritage Center stands before you. Once inside, you stand by the balcony to view Alaska Native dancers, with a background view of a lake and surrounding landscape through the windows of the curved semi circular area. Five traditional village sites representing Alaskan Native cultures await your visit.

Inside you may see a juried art exhibit. Down the hall you can attend a class to make cedar hats, watch a master weaver or see the clothing exhibit in new cases.

Outside, in the Alaska summer, visitors are invited to picnic and watch Native dancers. In the winter, guests are invited to snowshoe and ice skate as weather permits.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center's 26-acre campus on a parcel of private land includes a 26,000-square-foot Welcome House, where even the theatre is circular and open so tables and chairs can be arranged accordingly for different events. The center's mission is to celebrate, perpetuate and share Alaska Native cultures.

Approximately 135,000 visitors at tend the Alaska Native Heritage Center each year. Seven thousand school district students come through annually, a number that is growing.

Each year the Alaska Native Heritage Center forms programs around a theme. During 2004 and 2005 it is "Living from the Land and Sea." The center is governed by a volunteer 15-member board of directors from Alaska Native corporations and civic and business groups.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Alaska Native Heritage Center has a new downtown Ship Creek Center, which sells admission tickets and offers a new gift shop. A new shuttle service picks up visitors from the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel, the Ulu Factory, the new downtown Ship Creek Center, the Log Cabin and Downtown Visitor Information Center, and additional downtown locations.

A new totem pole designed by Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson was raised last August with a traditional ceremony by elders from Southeast Alaska. The design depicts a man who represents the Alaska Native Heritage Center opening the box of knowledge to be shared with the community. The child figures represent the eagle and raven moieties of the Tlingit people. The figure at the top of the pole represents an elder who teaches traditional values.

Jackson's work has been displayed in museums and private collections throughout North America and in museums in Europe and Japan.

Alaska Native Heritage Center reestablished free...