The Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center (YPCC), also known as ''Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center and Museum'', formerly known as the ''Yup'ik Museum, Library, and Multipurpose Cultural Center'' (or ''Facility''), is a non-profit

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

of the

Yup'ik The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik ( own name ''Yupʼik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an ...

(and sometimes Alaskan Athabaskan of the region) culture centrally located in

Bethel, Alaska Bethel () is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the Kuskokwim River approximately from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay. It is the largest community in western Alaska and in the Unorganized Borough and the List of cities in ...

near the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...

' Kuskokwim Campus and city offices. The center is a unique facility that combines a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, and multi-purpose cultural activity center including performing arts space, for cultural gatherings, feasts, celebrations, meetings and classes, and that celebrates the Yup'ik culture and serves as a regional cultural center for

Southwest Alaska Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary. Geography Southwest Alaska includes a huge swath of terr ...

. The name of ''Yupiit Piciryarait'' means "Yup'iks' customs" in

Yup'ik language The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik ( own name ''Yupʼik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an ...

and derived from ''piciryaraq'' meaning "manner; custom; habit; tradition; way of life". Construction of this cultural facility was completed in 1995, funded through a State appropriation of federal funds. Total cost for construction was $6.15 million. The center was jointly sponsored by the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and at the present the center operated by the UAF's Kuskokwim Campus, AVCP and City of Bethel. The building houses three community resources: the Consortium Library, the Yup'ik Museum, and the Multi-purpose room or

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

. The mission of the center is promote, preserve and develop the traditions of the Yup'ik through traditional and non-traditional art forms of the Alaska Native art, including arts and crafts, performance arts, education, and Yup'ik language. The center also supports local artists and entrepreneurs.

Architecture

The Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center was built in 1994‐95 to be a community and regional asset. The

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

design of the facility celebrates the Yup'ik culture and designed by Livingston Slone Architects of

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

. In keeping with the preservation and conservation of the Yup'ik culture, Yup'ik themes such as the double circle motif or circle-and-dot design (''ellanguaq'' sg ''ellanguat'' pl in Yup'ik) like Yup'ik masks that represent the cosmos and earth, are incorporated into architectural elements throughout the building, such as the ceiling patterns and light fixtures. The performing arts space includes a platform for

dancing Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

that is located under a raised ceiling designed to refer to the Yup'ik qasgiq (traditional large semisubterranean men's community house), the museum provides exhibit space for Alaska Native arts and crafts and support spaces and storage areas are environmentally controlled to assure proper storage of artifacts and artwork.

Management

The entire facility is owned and managed by the UAF's Kuskokwim Campus, which oversees facility operations and maintenance and provides building security. The university is also in charge of renting out the facility's conference space. The multi-purpose room managed by UAF's Kuskokwim Campus. The Yup'ik Museum and gift shop operated by the Association of Village Council Presidents, Inc. (AVCP). The Consortium Library operated by the City of Bethel and the UAF. The UAF presently has a three-year grant from the

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

to increase the sustainability of this facility. The university is applying for a three-year continuation of this grant. The City of Bethel contributes to library operations. Association of Village Council Presidents controls museum space and gift shop and pays a lease of $20,000 per year.

Multi-purpose auditorium

The multipurpose room or

managed by UAF's Kuskokwim Campus, used for trainings, classes, conferences, concerts and meetings. It is the largest facility of its kind in the delta and much in demand. The multi-purpose rooms and classroom, designed for community and cultural events and conferences, are in high demand. The multi-purpose auditorium houses a stage for dance and community meetings. Other events held at this facility include: weekly Saturday Markets, Cultural Nights, Summer Arts Camp (for local youth), art classes (held during the regular school year), Yup'ik dance nights (in which local dance groups perform for the public), and Athabaskan fiddle dances. A university representative reported that they try to schedule activities that are tied to arts and culture.

Saturday market

The center serves as a regional gathering center for Yup'iks to stimulate ideas, advance their

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK), folk knowledge, and local knowledge generally refers to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. Traditional knowledge includes ...

and

traditional ecological knowledge Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans ...

, and enhance the quality of life. The center also hosts a bimonthly summer "Saturday Market" where artisans and crafters from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta come to sell their crafts. There is a variety at the market, but many of the crafts include traditional Yup'ik parka cover or kuspuk (''qaspeq''), story knives (''yaaruin''), woven baskets (''mingqaaq''), ulu (semilunar woman's knife) and more. The center and local partners developed a fund based competition for start-up Yukon-Kuskokwim region businesses.

Yup'ik Museum

The ''Yup'ik Museum'', also known as ''Yupiit Museum'' or ''Yupiit Piciryarait Museum'' is a repository of cultural heritage artifacts and art from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region and is the only museum of its kind in the region of Alaska. The museum is a tribally-owned and operated

, located inside the YPCC in Bethel. The

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

for the museum and gift shop is the Association of Village Council Presidents. The museum is located within the 18,000 square foot cultural center and houses approximately 5000 pieces of art, pictures and artifacts. The areas related to the museum total 3,800 square feet and include storage, a gift shop, and offices. The gallery houses two permanent exhibits, and one temporary exhibit that changes every 3 months. The museum is free to the public, and the hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 12 pm to 4 pm. Presently, the museum and gift shop employs one part-time

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

Museum history

The Yup'ik Museum as the Bethel Museum got its start thanks to a $5000.00 grant awarded to the City of Bethel in 1965, as part of Alaska's Purchase Centennial, celebrating 100 years of the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The original museum was located in a log house, made with trees cut and shipped downriver from Bethel by barge. By 1968, the Bethel Council on the Arts managed the museum. The City of Bethel took over management of the museum again, and the objects were moved into a new log cabin. On July 4, 1970, it opened and was renamed the Yugtarvik Regional Museum. The log cabin was gutted by fire in 1980, damaging both the building and collection. It was broken into several times since opening and closed periodically for lack of volunteer staff. In 1995, with the opening of the new YPCC the museum was moved to AVCP and renamed the Yupiit Piciryarait Museum.

Exhibition

The museum has three galleries. Two galleries display the permanent

exhibits An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

of the Yup'ik (and Cup'ik) and the Alaskan Athabaskans of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in ancient and contemporary times. The third gallery is reserved for temporary exhibits that changes every 3 months that include some Native collections. The museum has housed numerous temporary exhibits in order to stimulate cultural education and honor the lives of generations past. The museum's first exhibit is the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's "Crossroads Alaska". Ann Fienup-Riordan's ''Agayuliyararput (Our Way of Making Prayer): The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks'' exhibit opened in 1996 at the museum.

Museum gift shop

The Yup'ik Museum Gift Shop specializes in Alaska Native art work of the region and with the museum operated by the Association of Village Council Presidents, Inc. (AVCP). The ''Association of Village Council Presidents, Inc.'' (AVCP) is the recognized tribal organization and non-profit Alaska Native regional corporation and operates the gift shop But, the Calista Corporation is a for-profit corporation business corporation and was formed at a meeting of the AVCP in Bethel on January 3, 1972, as a direct result of

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by U.S. President, President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting what is still the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to reso ...

(ANCSA) of 1971. The Association of Village Council Presidents is interested in increasing the connections between this facility and the surrounding villages.

Consortium Library

The ''Consortium Library'' is a

library consortium A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are academic, public, school or special libraries, and/or information centers. Library consortia h ...

managed in partnership among the City of Bethel, UAF and statewide library services. The library incorporates the university of UAF's Kuskokwim Campus library and the City of Bethel community library, and includes a reading room overlooking a small pond, a children's reading room and a Yup'ik room which houses special collections relating to the Yup'ik culture.

References

External links

Museum Native Archive project: Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center
— ''prepared by Melissa A. Rodriguez''.
Vimeo.com: "The Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Museum, Bethel" video
{{Authority control Yupik culture Native American museums in Alaska Bethel, Alaska Buildings and structures in Bethel Census Area, Alaska Cultural centers in the United States Libraries in Alaska Museums in Unorganized Borough, Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks Non-profit organizations based in Alaska Arts organizations established in 1995 1995 establishments in Alaska Tourist attractions in Bethel Census Area, Alaska