Alutiiq Museum Awarded Grant from Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council for Renovation

With an $8 million grant from the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council the Alutiiq Museum will renovate its facilities. The grant will support a three-year project to transform the Alutiiq Center building into an enlarged space for museum activities. 

The project will begin in February of 2022. It will increase collections storage, expand public spaces, replace the building’s aging physical plant, and create staff offices. These plans are tied to both the museum’s professional needs and community input.

“We surveyed our audience in 2019 and found a strong desire for more services,” said Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “People enjoy the museum and appreciate its facilities, but they see our current space as limited. Our patrons are hungry for more artifact displays. They want places to gather, teach, and create. They need better access to our library, and they asked for a larger museum store.”

All of these issues will be addressed by the renovation. The museum will transform its entire first floor into public space. The exhibit gallery and store will be significantly enlarged, and a classroom created. Here, the museum will be able to meet with Elders, hold classes, and host receptions. “We are going to create a living culture classroom, a place where people can gather to share knowledge and celebrate traditions,” said Counceller.

Behind the scenes, the project will enlarge vital collections storage. The Alutiiq Museum adds roughly 6,000 items to its holdings annually—from research, loans, and gifts. The museum’s original vault was filled to capacity about ten years ago necessitating leased space for collection care. Grant funds will be used to create a new vault in the building’s basement with a laboratory and exhibit fabrication space.