Submitted
2025 Indigenous Communities Fellowship

A Cultural Restorative Process

Team Leader
Phillip Kairaiuak
Using the YI Arts, and implementing it into the school system will be start to become part of the puzzle for the solution(s) we face as a YI group. I first shared my song, Seal Boy Dance/Song,. to my cousin Marie Meade who have worked with our YI Elders who grew up in the Old YI Culture as the last...
What is the name of your organization?
A Cultural Restorative Process
What is the name of your solution?
A Cultural Restorative Process
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Piecing togerther the remaining Yup'ik-Inuit elements and build back up our Acilquq (Plant Root Foundation) to thrive again
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Yup'ik Region: Yukon River Delta, Kuskokswim River Delta, Bristol Bay
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Not registered as any organization
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Nutmllartaq: A Yupik-Inuit complete world view on the principle "how the natural world dictates how the act, feel, and express the Natural World around us" was colonized and nearly destroyed. From birth to death, a human being's life was already mapped out based on the individual's inherent "inner gift". Our tribal/spiritual leaders built up on the previous lifetimes of experiences, where it became our 'guiding principles' solidified and survived the tests of time. Everyone knew where they came from through their parental visual marks or of a said region. Each individual was allowed to thrive unlike today restrictive nature that only caters to the corporatized logic.
What is your solution?
Using the YI Arts, and implementing it into the school system will be start to become part of the puzzle for the solution(s) we face as a YI group. I first shared my song, Seal Boy Dance/Song,. to my cousin Marie Meade who have worked with our YI Elders who grew up in the Old YI Culture as the last generation born in the early 1900s who knew stories well past the two known glacial periods, 10K and 14K years respectively, and the rest of us being hungry for it. Those non dancing commuties will be given a leg up by being provided with dance songs of old stories I have composed so they do not have ask for permission, and eventually build up on it by compositions of their own. The youth will begin to show case their respective regional At'kuk inspired Qaspeq (modern fabric) apparel at the first YI showcase in Anchorage, AK.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Qanrucimanriamta Cirmitukut: Because we have stopped being told, we changed. Our YI Elders were brutally honest with us to give our society food for thought of where we are as a collective, and what needs to be rectified individually or as a group. The YI youth is our future for this project that must carry it forward to the next generation and add more to it for the successive generations to come. Each YI respective region will still have stories to tell. We, the current generation, will be the ones setting the stage for them to build upon it. Through this process, we will begin to ourselves and of our youth of the expectations, and how they carry themselves in Life.
Solution Team:
Phillip Kairaiuak
Phillip Kairaiuak