WCA dedicates new cultural facility

A good-sized crowd of over 100 people attended the dedication ceremony for the Wrangell Cooperative Association's new cultural center on Saturday.

After a welcoming performance by the Shxat Kwaan Dancers, the building was consecrated by Rev. Wilson Valentine of St. Philip's Episcopal Church and cleansed with a traditional placement of cedar boughs by community members.

"This is over a decade in the making," said Aaron Angerman, WCA tribal

administrator. He expressed the Tribe's thanks for those who made the project happen. This included financial donors such as M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust, Rasmuson Foundation and Sealaska Corporation, as well as the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority, which provided the plot to build on.

"We are really glad to help sponsor and make this happen, but really it was all of you," said Kris Norosz, representing the Rasmuson board.

From cement to the rafters, community members helped make the center become a

reality. Angerman thanked Tis Pederman, who applied

for grant funding, and her

sister Carol Snoddy,

who helped facilitate construction.

The contractor behind the structure itself, Todd White, expressed his thanks for being included in the project.

"This project and the Shakes house probably meant the most to me," he said. "I'm just glad to be a part of it."

The building will be a center for the promotion of Native arts, hosting classes and

providing workspace for artists and crafters, in addition to giving them a place to sell their wares.

The cultural center cost nearly $1 million to build, and construction on the facility began in the spring of 2013, shortly after restoration of the Chief Shakes Island Tribal House. Work continued into the next year, finally being completed in October 2014.

The cultural center's

completion was the second of three phases for cultural

development being undertaken by WCA. This began with the restoration of the island house and will conclude with the future re-carving of eight totem poles and training of local master crafters.

The new center will be

integral to this last component.

The dry, well-lit workspace

will allow carvers to work on

projects any time of the year.

Eventually, classes will include cultural courses, such as language, storytelling and drawing. People will have the opportunity to learn and share craft skills as well, from

traditional arts like carving and tanning to more modern ones like quilting and jewelery-making.

It is meant to be a job-creator as well. The center's retail store will cater to tourists and locals alike, selling a range of clothing items, jewelry and gifts created at the facility.

"This is a community

project, a community building," commented Angerman. While at times construction was a struggle, he said it was

ultimately seen through to the end.

"We're going to be carving these totems really soon," he promised.

Attendees to the dedication were afterward invited to a traditional salmon bake at the Stikine Native Organization building, and further celebrations continued at Shakes Island.

Sealaska Corporation director Richard Rinehart Jr. also spoke, expressing the organization's support for the project.

While the dedication was a time to reminisce, it was also an opportunity to look ahead, and Rinehart promised Sealaska would continue advocating for the inclusion of Wrangell and four other Southeast communities in provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

"We've always been here," he said. "As long as I'm here I know I'm going to do everything I can."

The corporation supported representatives of the Southeast Alaska Landless Corporation who went to Washington D.C. in June to meet with the state's congressional delegation and push for passage of a pair of bills that would, if passed, correct the exclusion.