The Anchorage Museum will host several events connected to the Global Leadership in the Arctic conference, taking place in Anchorage on Aug. 30-31. Conference attendees will include President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
Large art installations inviting public interaction will be positioned outside the museum and at the Dena'ina Center from Aug. 28-Sept. 1. Triptychs of plywood with images of the Arctic will be partly covered with 4-inch square blocks on which words in various northern languages are written. The public will be invited to take the blocks as keepsakes of the conference and as the "takeaway messages" are removed, the complete photographs will be revealed. On the back of the plywood will be a space where people can write down their answers to "questions about their own place in the world."
A sign reading "Chin'an gu ninyu," "Thank you, you came here" in Dena'ina, has been hanging on the facade of the museum since Aug. 19 and will remain in place through Sept. 1. T-shirts with the phrase will be distributed during the "Arctic August" event on Aug. 30. On that day the museum lawn will be the site of a celebration from noon to 4 p.m. with music by Pamyua, cooking demonstrations and the art installation. That event will be free, but note that the museum will be closing at 4 p.m. that day.