Alaska Native Heritage Center Awarded $3.5M from Mellon Foundation for Monumental Healing Garden Project

The Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) board and staff are excited to announce that we have been awarded $3.5 million from the Mellon Foundation as part of the Monuments Project, an initiative from the arts and culture institution based in New York, NY. This project represents a historic step towards healing for the Alaska Native community. It is intended for this endeavor to invigorate the artist community to work towards public commemoration of the largest challenges that Alaska Native peoples have faced throughout history.

“Arts and culture are healing, and this project is paramount to ANHC’s dedication to continued healing for Alaska Native peoples at the direction of our community,” said ANHC President and CEO Emily Keneggnarkayaaggaq Edenshaw. “This is a historical opportunity to redefine who and what monuments are from an Indigenous lens that are reflective of the voices and needs of our community. We are incredibly grateful to the Mellon Foundation for their longstanding support of our mission-driven work to strengthen Alaska Native cultures and ways of life.”

“This project will result in 10 monuments dedicated to our beautiful Alaska Native cultures, communities, and all who have been impacted by systemic issues impressed upon the Alaska Native community,” said Kelsey Ciugun Wallace, ANHC Vice President of Strategic Advancement and Communications. “By facilitating healing with our ceremonies and practices at the root of each monument, we create opportunities for healing, providing education, and increasing awareness in real-time."

This project has been in development for many years. The vacant space on ANHC’s campus once held critical programming for language and youth-focused initiatives and will now serve as the location for the first-ever healing garden on ANHC’s campus. In October 2023, ANHC held a healing totem pole raising and potlatch honoring those impacted by assimilative boarding schools. This ceremony and installation of the totem pole drew over 1,000 people to ANHC which accelerated this project significantly, showcasing the immediate need of our community for ceremony and healing spaces.

To lead the development of this project, ANHC has hired Marilyn Balluta (Dena’ina) as the Sr. Manager of Community Healing Garden & Monuments. In her role, Balluta will oversee the development of the land and resources on-site, planning and implementation of the monuments and ceremonies, documentation of the process and ceremonies, and will work directly with Alaska Native artists to solicit proposals and development of the monuments themselves.

ANHC will be releasing details about how artists can get involved in the project in 2025. Interested parties are encouraged to keep an eye on ANHC’s social media and website for future updates about opportunities to have their work in the healing garden.