KatirviK
Gathering Place

The people of the Bering Strait Region were invited to participate in naming of our new cultural center. Kawerak conducted a region-wide vote via mail and Katirvik was the clear winner. Katirvik means “Gathering Place” in Inupiaq and sounds very similar to St. Lawrence Island and Central Yup’ik words meaning the same. The most defining feature of the cultural center is the gathering space/classroom which is built in a circular shape and is designed to emulate the look and feel of the traditional gathering place, the qagzri or qasgeq.