(SitNews) Hoonah, Alaska - Alaska Native Voices, a cultural guide program in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve providing historical and contemporary views of Huna Tlingit culture with travelers to the park for 15 years, received the Best Cultural Heritage Experience award at the 16th annual American Indian Tourism Conference earlier this month.

The conference is hosted annually by the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), a national non-profit association of tribes, tribal businesses and entrepreneurs who promote leadership in education, training and technical assistance for Indian Country tourism. The conference brings together organizations to share knowledge, experience and best practices from tourism programs around the nation.

Glacier Bay
Photograph courtesy Alaska Native Voices

“This kind of recognition completely reinforces the work we do each summer to deepen the visitor’s human connection to Glacier Bay, the ancestral home of the Huna Tlingit,” Alaska Native Voices Director Mark McKernan said.

The Alaska Native Voices’ team of Cultural Heritage Guides shares a meaningful understanding of the Huna Tlingit culture with travelers through lectures, song, storytelling and displays of traditional art and craftsmanship. Guides provide personal narratives, perspectives, observations and stories that allow visitors to gain a greater sense of place while traveling through the immense landscape of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

In 2014, the Cultural Heritage Guides shared the living history of Glacier Bay’s indigenous people aboard 189 Holland America Line, Alaskan Dream Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions and American Cruise Lines ships in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Guides also host a series of Tlingit cultural presentations at Glacier Bay Lodge, located inside the national park, in partnership with the lodge and the National Park Service.

In addition to receiving the award at the conference, Alaska Native Voices gained a seat on AIANTA’s Board of Directors. Alaska Native Voices Visitor Programs Manager Mario Fulmer was elected to serve as one of two representatives from the Alaska region on the board. The board represents six regions across the nation.

Alaska Native Voices also operates a tourism consulting service available to other Native peoples, cultural groups and communities around the world. It is a subsidiary of Huna Totem Corporation, a Native village corporation owned by approximately 1,350 Alaska Natives with aboriginal ties to “Sít’ Eeti Gheeyi” (Glacier Bay) and Hoonah, the community where the Huna Tlingit resettled after being driven out of Glacier Bay by rapid glacial advance.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

On the Web:

Alaska Native Voices
www.alaskanativevoices.com

Source of News: 

Thompson & Co. PR
www.thompsonpr.com

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