Klukwan has secured a $50,000 grant to design a cultural landscape exhibit for its Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage Center building.
The grant from the National Endowment for the Arts was one of 66 Our Town grants totaling about $5 million.
“The cultural landscape exhibit will be one of four major exhibits we plan to have in place when we open the doors of our Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage Center in Klukwan,” said village president Jones Hotch Jr.
The exhibit will feature a map of the Chilkats’ ancestral land base, and will incorporate Tlingit place names for significant cultural and subsistence use sites, artistic components and technology to access more in-depth information on places within the map.
“The grant will help center planners bring in museum professionals to work with tribal elders, community members and heritage center staff to design the exhibit,” Hotch said.
“Not only will the Our Town award help us get this important exhibit designed but it also represents a vote of confidence that may open up other funding sources to us,” Hotch said.
The NEA received 275 applications for Our Town this year. Recommended grant amounts ranged from $25,000 to $200,000.