Alutiiq Museum announces closure ahead of major expansion and renovation

The Alutiiq Museum is closing its doors in mid-July, as it prepares to break ground on a $13.8 million expansion project later this summer.

The Alutiiq Museum’s planned renovation and expansion will add 3,400 square feet to the museum’s existing building on Mission Road. The new space will include a bigger exhibit gallery and museum store, and a classroom and public gathering space. It also plans to build a collections vault and research laboratory in the facility’s basement.

“This is an exciting moment in the museum’s history,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller in a press release dated Wednesday, June 28, noting that the organization’s needs had outgrown the current building’s footprint.

The project is funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, Koniag, the Kodiak Area Native Association, the Rasmuson Foundation, the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak and donations from other organizations and individuals, according to the museum.

The museum will close its gallery to the public on Thursday, July 13; it plans to host a free event for the public the week before that – on Saturday, July 8 – to learn more about the planned expansion. 

Meanwhile, museum staff will continue to host off-site programs during the closure, and the museum’s store will move to the Kodiak Area Native Association’s new downtown marketplace, which has been under construction since late 2021. KANA has not yet announced an opening date for that facility.

Construction on the expanded Alutiiq Museum will begin in August of this year, and will likely take a year and a half to complete.