Redesigning the Cultural Landscapes at Sealaska Heritage Institute

During the summer of 2020, our clients at the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, Alaska had an unexpected opportunity. The COVID-19 outbreak around the world eliminated the ability of tourists to visit the interactive galleries we helped design and produce in 2018. No cruise ships would be docking a few short blocks from their building and the thousands of tourists that normally visit their location to learn about Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures would not be coming. The galleries are closed for the season but funding is available for making improvements and updates to one of the main interactive components in the Our Grandparents’ Names on the Land exhibition. The 65-inch multitouch tabletop monitor introduces visitors and residents to over 3,000 places that were named and inhabited by Native People for 10,000 years before Alaska became part of the United States. 

Our planned updates will include a more detailed description of several events including migrations, battles, and geological phenomena that help define the Native experience and culture. These Cultural Landscapes are introduced in the current version of the interactive tabletop software but the stories are lacking real detail. The new changes will allow videos (including dramatic drone footage of specific locations) to be added to each Cultural Landscape. Other content and more engaging ways to interact with the content will also be added. 

When the tourists can start visiting Juneau again, they will find an even more compelling educational and cultural experience at the Sealaska Heritage Institute.