CVTC oversees museum operations that steward the cultural expressions of Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax (Chickaloon Native Village), that support the department’s work in cultural perpetuation, cultural site preservation, cultural heritage tourism and repatriation.
CVTC collects, researches, documents, and preserves ethnographic objects, historical photographs, documents, periodicals, and audio-visual materials relating to the history, traditional language, and cultural traditions of Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax. CVTC strives to make the CVTC Permanent Collections and Archives robust and efficiently searchable for Tribal citizens to expand their knowledge about their families and their community.
To support the “decolonization” of the curation of Indigenous collections, CVTC has adopted a curatorial practice of collecting, interpreting, and exhibiting its collections in a manner that recognizes Indigenous stewardship practices that perpetuate the “cultural transmission” of traditional knowledge, language and ways of being while also being in alignment, when possible, with Western museum accreditation standards.
To improve access, CVTC endeavors to inform through curated digitization by unearthing our past, and illuminating our present, so that we may protect, preserve, and strengthen our future generations through online exhibits and its digital collections database, Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax Ugheldze Le Cilaes (Chickaloon Native Village Information We Share) which can be accessed through CVTC’s sister site at: www.chickaloon.org
More Than A Museum - In 2021 CVTC entered pre-development for a future Cultural Facility that will house the CVTC Permanent Collections and Archives and support the CVTC Culture and Historic Preservation Department’s programs. This new facility will be dedicated to honoring our ancestors by living and sharing our resilient Ahtna culture.
The Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax’ Cultural Facility will be committed to Ahtna culture and language perpetuation of the Ahtna Dene (Ahtna Peoples) of Ts’itonhna’ nene’ (Matanuska Watershed) and greater Dene unceded ancestral territory.
It will encourage Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax Tribal citizens, their families, and the public to participate in educational experiences and to research topics including hands-on Indigenous lifeways, Ahtna language lessons, archaeological studies, collections investigations, and the transfer of Traditional Ancestral Knowledge.
By engaging everyone in the celebration of Ahtna Dene heritage, it will reduce cultural isolation, reawaken traditions, build intergenerational ties that broaden cultural understanding, and create a welcoming environment for discovery.
It will respect and honor all Peoples. Acceptance and appreciation of other cultures, including Ahtna Dene, depends on the commitment and involvement of other culture bearers, Tribal governments and villages, community organizations, agency partners, and residents from the surrounding communities.
