The aleut community of ST. Paul island will adapt local games and stories drawn from everyday community experiences into engaging live theatrical portrayals to help preserve the local language, unagam…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Aleut Community of Saint Paul Island $210,625 on September 1, 2026, under the Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program (CFDA 45.308) to develop theatrical scripts and interpretive materials that preserve Unangam Tunuu (the Aleut language) and local culture. The recipient will adapt local games and stories drawn from everyday community experiences into live theatrical portrayals that highlight cultural values, humor, resilience, and intergenerational relationships. The project will produce fully developed theatrical scripts with integrated Unangam Tunuu language and supporting interpretive materials. These scripts and materials will be catalogued as publicly available resources to benefit community members beyond the project period. Work is performed in St. Paul, Alaska, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028.

The aleut community of ST. Paul island will adapt local games and stories drawn from everyday community experiences into engaging live theatrical portrayals to help preserve the local language, unagam tunuu (UT), and culture. These performances will transform familiar moments and traditional play into structured narratives that highlight cultural values, humor, resilience, and intergenerational relationships within the community. The result will be fully developed theatrical scripts with integrated UT where appropriate, which will help preserve and perpetuate language and unangax̂ cultural knowledge as measured by community feedback. The scripts and interpretive materials will be preserved and catalogued as publicly available interpretive resources to continue benefiting community members into the future.