Culture
We take great pride in our Inupiat culture and continue traditions that date back thousands of years. We emphasize the importance of cooperation and promote a strong sense of community and family. Our connection to the natural environment is also central to our culture.
We are hunters both on land and at sea. We are wise stewards of all that we have been given, which is a philosophy we apply in our business approach.
The Kuukpik Corporation merges traditions from the past with future visions.
The North Slope is known for oil, but art is another precious resource. For thousands of years, Inupiaq artists have reflected their land and culture in art pieces, passing the craft down the generations.
Artists use local resources like caribou, polar bears, arctic foxes, and marine animals like bowhead whales in their work. One of the most recognizable forms of artwork from the region is the Eskimo mask, made from caribou skin, wolverine, wolf, or caribou skin, or a combination of all three. Other prominent local crafts include model skin boats and/or model baleen boats.
The people of the Kuukpik Corporation come from the Inupiat village of Nuiqsut, located on the Nigliq Channel of the Colville River Delta, approximately 35 miles from the coast of the Beaufort Sea. Nuiqsut was one of three abandoned Inupiat villages identified in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) 1971. The provisions of ANCSA allowed Alaska Native communities with at least 25 families to form village corporations and claim entitlement to their traditional lands.
In 1973, a group of Kuukpikmiut families journeyed back to their homelands along the Colville River to establish the village of Nuiqsut. Their return was guided by a deep connection to the land and a shared vision of living in balance with traditional values and modern life. The Paisangich captures the stories, places, and knowledge that shape who we are—as Inupiat, Kuukpikmiut, and stewards of our homelands.
This cultural plan reflects generations of experience on the land and documents the continued importance of hunting, fishing, and shared community life. As development in the region grows, this plan empowers our community to ensure that decisions reflect our values and protect our way of life. Learn more by reading the original document.
The Inupiat are the Inuit people of Alaska’s Northwest Arctic, North Slope boroughs, and the Bering Straits region. They continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing, including whaling. One important traditional ceremony still actively participated in is the Nalukataq, or spring whaling festival. The capture of a whale benefits each community member, as the animal is butchered, and its meat and blubber are allocated according to a traditional formula. Even city-dwelling relatives thousands of miles away are entitled to a share of each whale killed by the hunters of their ancestral village.
More than 55 percent of the Nuiqsut workforce is employed in the private sector, mainly by the Kuukpik and construction industry. The North Slope Borough employs 30 percent of the local labor force, and the School District employs another 9 percent. Some residents sell local arts and crafts, including skin masks and boats, fur mittens, parkas, and carved ivory.
Kuukpik leadership and those living in the village remain closely connected to the traditions of their ancestors. The Kuukpikmiut continues the ancient tradition of harvesting bowhead whales each fall. The bowhead, along with other harvested fish, birds, and animals, is critical to the food security of the people. Their spiritual connection to the land and sea is what has sustained the Kuukpikmiut since time immemorial. It is also what unifies the North Slope communities as the harvests are shared beyond the villages in which they are harvested. The traditions of Eskimo dancing, Eskimo games, the blanket toss festival, and the spring and fall festivities remain a part of Kuukpikmiut culture today.
