Developing and Maintaining a Native American Center at a Public College - Essay Example

The longhouse was the perfect gathering place on college campuses where people from different cultural backgrounds could learn with each other, and deepen the native programs within colleges. Longhouses are a platform for supporting indigenous arts. The Evergreen State College in Olympia intended to build a longhouse that would serve as both a social facility and a public service center with the aim of supporting indigenous arts. The longhouse would serve as a multipurpose facility that can serve cultural, community, and educational functions.

The primary vision for instituting a multi-purpose facility in college campuses is to provide a platform for hospitality and service for people from different cultural backgrounds. If people in learning institutions learned to stay together, they would elevate the levels of education by creating and maintaining conducive learning environments. As a public service center, the longhouse would promote indigenous arts and cultural exchanges through education, creative expression, cultural preservation, and economic development.

The Evergreen State College received a $325,000 grant to build the longhouse to support the following programs; Annual Native art sales, Native arts marketing service, An artist in residence program, Business management and marketing workshops, and A tribal mini-grants program. Colleges have been committed to expanding Native programs and faculty. Longhouses have provided a program where the Native focused programs link undergraduate and graduate native students. The Evergreen State College’s case has underscored the need for longhouses.

The Native focused programs enable students from different cultural backgrounds to; link undergraduate and graduate Native students, structure future curriculum, attend Native workshops, interact in interdisciplinary programs, and hold classes, learn, and network. The longhouse program from The Evergreen State College has gained international significance highlighting the need for colleges and universities to develop similar institutions.