Monday, July 28, 1997
UCLA grad students design Native American center
PROGRAM:
Friends of Satwiwa, National Park Service work together on
cultural projectBy Cindy Choi
Daily Bruin Contributor
The open space and the majestic hills on the western edge of the
Santa Monica Mountains could have easily become another land
development project.
Thanks to the campaign led by Charlie Cooke, the hereditary
chief of the Chumash Nation, the land is the same as it has been
for thousands of years and is now the home of the Satwiwa Native
American Indian Culture Center.
Devoted to the celebration and the preservation of contemporary
Native American cultures, "it is a learning center for all people,"
Cooke said.
The story began in 1976 with Cooke’s dreams of creating a
cultural center to serve the Native Americans in Southern
California. A huge population without a place to practice their
cultures, Cooke envisioned the new place as a "land base" for those
dislocated from their native territories.
In a grassroots effort, the Friends of Satwiwa (FOS) was formed
to advocate for a culture center, and established a partnership
with the National Park Service (NPS) to accomplish this goal.
Finally in 1980, the NPS successfully acquired a site despite
the ambitions of developers who had other plans for the same
property. Resisting the bulldozers ready to seize the land in case
the escrow fell through, Cooke staved off powerful developers and
their plans for 640 tract houses.
"He stood right in front of the bulldozers and said you’re not
coming in here," said Pam Darty, the park ranger who staffs the
center.
Still some hurdles remained. The center, which had operated out
of a small house for eight years, needed to erect a new
structure.
UCLA School of Architecture and Urban Design graduate students
took on the task of the designs. The idea of the culture center
immediately appealed to the students as a prospective project
because it provided the opportunity to work with a program imbedded
in a cultural context, noted Professor Richard Schoen.
The FOS and the NPS both cooperated with the students to develop
the design strategy. For example, the large square window in the
Center’s south wall frames the spiritually significant Boney
Mountain.
From the drawing boards in 1988 to the grand opening in April
1996, eight years of planning, fund-raising and construction
passed.
The enormous uncluttered views of the surrounding mountains are
exactly what urban Native Americans need, Cooke said. "This is a
place where you can come out and relate to the land. When you
relate to the land, that’s when you can feel Mother Earth," Cooke
affirmed.
Darty, a Creek Indian, agrees on the basic drive for Native
Americans to maintain a relationship with the land.
"We aren’t whole people without connecting to the earth. I want
to connect not only through my shoes but with my bare feet,
spiritually and literally," Darty said.
Darty encourages Native Americans to use the personal, cultural
and land resources waiting for them at the center. Native Americans
are welcome to use the land at Satwiwa for private ceremonies and
gatherings.
They may have a cultural center in the urban districts, but no
land to practice their cultures. Not many Native Americans know
about Satwiwa, according to Darty.
As a ranger, Darty observed that the Native American visitors
comprise a minority.
"When we see anyone who looks like an Indian, we’re thrilled to
death," Darty said.
Even though the center is equally important for non-Native
Americans, in order for the center to fulfill its duties to Native
Americans, more publicity is essential.
The cultural programs designed by the FOS attract approximately
200 visitors on the weekends, according to Darty. The Guest Host
Program invites various Native Americans to share their cultures
each Sundays.
Vitus Jack (Yupik), an Eskimo carver, will bring his art and
personal stories in August. Future guest host Hank Stevens (Osage)
hails his opportunity because "the tribal people speak with their
own voices and demonstrate their own skills."
Other plans for the center include an ethnobotanical garden, the
cultivation of the native plants used by the indigenous people of
the Santa Monica Mountains.
The visitors come with diverse motives. Patricia Libbey came to
the center to enhance her understanding of Native American
cultures. As a teacher of Native American art, she asserts the
importance of providing the cultural context of art.
"I have to teach the whole life of the people," Libbey said.
Due to financial and bureaucratic limitations, the center has
not realized its full potential as a "landbase," said Kat High, a
Hupa Indian and a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends
of Satwiwa.
She hopes to open the center every day as opposed to the present
Saturday and Sunday schedules and to make Satwiwa a continuous
resource that extends beyond its 10-to-5 operating hours.
In spite of the communication difficulties, Satwiwa Native
American Indian Culture Center is made possible by both sides of
the partnership who have invested their energies. Regarding its
future, Cooke remarked "I envision it’s going to go on and
expand."