A video by curator Sean Mooney, documenting the work of Central Yup’ik dancer, storyteller, and traditional knowledge keeper Chuna McIntyre on location in the Museo Etnologico of the Vatican Museum, the Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, and the Ethnographisches Museum, Berlin, during their Rome Prize Fellowship, from 1 September, 2025 through 9 January, 2026.  Chuna and Sean have collaborated on museum collections, cultural restoration efforts, and exhibitions for over 25 years.  

45 minutes

Chuna McIntyre (Central Yup’ik) was born and raised in the native village of Eek, Alaska, along the Kuskokwim River. He is a traditional knowledge keeper, elder, visual artist and dancer, and the founder and director of Nunamta (“of Our Land”) Yup’ik Dancers, which has traveled the world sharing Alaska’s Native cultural heritage. Chuna has spent over four decades performing for Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences, working to restore Yup’ik cultural traditions and language. He was declared a National Living Treasure by the Yup’ik people in 2015. A chief consultant to the Smithsonian Institution on Yup’ik culture, Chuna is also curator of the permanent Inuit installations at the deYoung Museum, San Francisco, and is one of the foremost experts in the construction and symbolism of Yup’ik parkas and dance masks.