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. Asia * Cen ...

of the

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

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

Bethel, Alaska Bethel ( esu, Mamterilleq) is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is the largest community on the Kuskokwim River, located approximately upriver from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay. It ...

near the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for c ...

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

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

, a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

, 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, complex, and ...

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

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

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 theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

. 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 Alaska Native cultures are rich and diverse, and their art forms are representations of their history, skills, tradition, adaptation, and nearly twenty thousand years of continuous life in some of the most remote places on earth. These art forms ar ...

, 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 constructing buildings o ...

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

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

. 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 a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

that is located under a raised ceiling designed to refer to the Yup'ik

qasgiq Qargi (), Qasgi or Qasgiq (by the Yup'iks), Qaygiq (by the Cup'iks), Kashim (by the Russians), Kariyit, a traditional large semi-subterranean men's community house' (or "communal men's house, men's house, ceremonial house, council house, dance ...

(traditional large semisubterranean men's community house), the museum provides

exhibit Exhibit may refer to: *Exhibit (legal), evidence in physical form brought before the court **Demonstrative evidence, exhibits and other physical forms of evidence used in court to demonstrate, show, depict, inform or teach relevant information to ...

space for

s 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 Ur ...

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) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Or ...

and

traditional ecological knowledge Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) describes indigenous and other traditional knowledge of local resources. As a field of study in Northern American anthropology, TEK refers to "a cumulative body of knowledge, belief, and practice, evolving by ...

, 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 An ulu ( iu, ᐅᓗ, plural: ''uluit'', 'woman's knife') is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cu ...

(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 (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

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 la, cura, 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 parti ...

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 The Alaska Purchase (russian: Продажа Аляски, Prodazha Alyaski, Sale of Alaska) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a ...

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 of the Yup'ik (and Cup'ik) and the

Alaskan Athabaskans The Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan AthapascansWilliam Simeone, ''A History of Alaskan Athapaskans'', 1982, Alaska Historical Commission or Dena (russian: атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски) are Alaska ...

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 and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

's "Crossroads Alaska".

Ann Fienup-Riordan Ann Fienup-Riordan (born 1948) is an American cultural anthropologist known for her work with the Yup'ik of western Alaska, particularly on Nelson Island and the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska. She received her Ph.D. i ...

'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 The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establis ...

and operates the gift shop But, the

Calista Corporation Calista Corporation (pronounced ) is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Calista was incorporated in Alaska on June 12, 1 ...

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 President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing ...

(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 school, public, academic, special libraries and/or information centers. Consortia exist on a ...

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