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New NW Native Cultural Center lands a site at Seattle Center

The Northwest Native Cultural Center is looking to build a two-story facility northeast of the International Fountain. City officials have pledged their non-financial support while the group seeks to raise $8 million for the project.

New NW Native Cultural Center lands a site at Seattle Center

by

Jessica Alberg

The Northwest Native Cultural Center is looking to build a two-story facility northeast of the International Fountain. City officials have pledged their non-financial support while the group seeks to raise $8 million for the project.

Editor's note: This story has been edited to correct the number of urban Indians living in the Seattle area whose tribes are based elsewhere.

Supporters of a new Northwest Native Cultural Center at the Seattle Center are moving ahead with plans for an $8 million,   two-story building north of the International Fountain — and they have   the blessing of city administrators. The facility would take five to   seven years to build and would be sited between the fountain and the   Pacific Northwest Ballet facility and McCaw Hall.

Fundraising for the cultural center has not begun, but will soon   because supporters just received a written pledge of support  from   Robert Nellams, director of the Seattle Center, said Roger Fernandes,   the cultural center supporters' leader. He estimated it would take three   to four years to raise the money needed for the project.

City Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw, chair of the Parks & Seattle   Center Committee, said she hadn't heard of the proposal. After hearing   the details she called the plan a "good thing to explore," saying "we   have a real opportunity to promote our Native culture." But she said the   city had not committed to providing the space if the money is not   raised.

The idea for a Native cultural center or museum came up last year, when city   officials were reviewing plans for a new Dale Chihuly glass museum near   the base of the Space Needle. Though the Chihuly proposal was chosen by   the city, Mayor Mike McGinn said the city would try to accommodate a Northwest Native Cultural Center somewhere on the Seattle Center grounds.

Jones & Jones architects are designing the building, which will contain 14,830 square feet over   two stories plus a basement. The facility will include a first-floor   Coast Salish  longhouse area with exhibits, a gift shop, gallery space,   classroom,  multipurpose room, and a café with Native foods, which   supporters describe as the first of its kind. The second floor will   include classroom, office, and meeting space, and the basement will be   used as workspace. The Native supporters wanted the building to be built   around existing trees and near the  fountain because of the   significance of water in Native American cultures, Fernandes said.

While the facility won't be built in time for the 2012 celebration of   the Seattle Center's 50th anniversary, supporters hope to hold events   honoring Native peoples during the broader festivities, Fernandes said.   Between now and completion of the cultural center, the group hopes to   also provide Native art markets and cultural events and celebrations   such as powwows.

Fernandes, a Native artist and storyteller, said the    focus of the cultural center will be on the native tribes  of the Puget   Sound, and he pointed out that the Seattle Center is explicitly   acknowledging  “the original inhabitants of this land.” The Seattle   Center is built on Duwamish tribal  land, and according to social   protocol of Native Americans, the  Duwamish people will be the hosts of   the Northwest Native Cultural Center.  But all tribes will be invited  to  participate in the center, Fernandes said.

The cultural center also will hold celebrations and events  to   represent tribes from other parts of the country. In Seattle alone,    there are 8,000 to 10,000 urban Indians from tribes elsewhere,   Fernandes said, adding that it's possible individual tribes could be   given rotating space at the center to highlight their culture over the   period of one month. There is a small area planned in the center in   order to accommodate this.

The Native center also is considering  assembling a cultural advisory   committee, which would include a cross-section of people from  different  tribes, so that tribes could express  their social protocols  and to  avoid misunderstandings among  tribes of the importance of each  tribe to  the center, Fernandes said. The center has received letters of  support  from the Duwamish Tribe and the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, a Seattle-based group that supports Puget Sound-area tribes.

Fernandes said the center would show that Native culture “is living,   breathing, active … people can see it, be with it." In the United   States, he said, Indians are often thought of or referred to  in the   past tense, and Indians are removed from  the modern life of Americans.   Cultural survival is very important to  Native Americans, and the  center  would allow Seattleites and  tourists to be with Native  Americans — not  just to look at their artifacts  but to interact with  the people. The  Center is hoping to provide an  educational celebration  of the cultural  significance of Native Americans, he added.

It's unclear whether the proposal will run into any opposition, the   way the Chihuly plan first did more than a year ago. Some critics   complained that the glass museum violated the Seattle   Center's Century 21 Master Plan, as would the proposed Native center. That plan, completed in 2008 when chances for a levy to fund improvements at the Center looked better, called   for more open space at the Center. But since that time, nonprofit groups   based at the Center have struggled to pay rent, Mayor McGinn has apparently turned thumbs-down on a special levy,  and city budget problems have added pressure for the Seattle Center to   raise more revenue. The Chihuly museum's backers have estimated that   facility will generate $10 million in lease revenue for the city over 20   years. Economic pressures were cited by the City Council when it approved the Chihuly plan.

The original plan for the Native cultural center called for it to be   free to the public. But Fernandes now says the group might need to   charge admission to make the center financially sustainable. The city   has no plans to contribute money to the Native center, Bagshaw said.

Seattle Center director Nellams did not return calls for comment. In   his letter pledging support for the Northwest Native Cultural Center,  he  said, "This truly has the potential to be a huge win-win for the  Native  American community, Seattle Center and the public at large. With  that I  am committed to working with you to make this historic vision  come  true, and I look forward to building a long-term partnership."

His letter, dated June 6, made no firm commitment, however, to provide the land.

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