Valley Fever: Chumash Museum Opens

The long-awaited Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center is a project that dates to 2005. That inaugural impulse two decades ago was itself based on ideas that had begun germinating some thirty years before. All those decades of thinking and planning were seen as actually coming to long-awaited fruition when construction began in 2018. Now at last the grand endeavor officially opens its doors to the public on Thursday, May 15. The state-of-the art LEED Silver-certified complex is a gathering place for the tribe to share its rich cultural heritage with the public, including artifacts and innovative multimedia exhibits that capture the history and spirit of the Chumash culture and experience. The Chumash Museum’s design and architecture, by Jones & Jones Architects (who also designed the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian), is organized to showcase the Chumash people, both in tradition and in daily life, including areas of medicine, language, song and music, tribal gatherings, family and community. 

Elements of Chumash culture surround visitors as they progress through the museum, beginning at the Welcome Gallery, where visitors are greeted by a huge sculpture called Keeping Our Culture Alive. The permanent exhibit gallery is where the tribe’s millennia-spanning message unfolds, while other spaces include a gathering house amphitheater, and lush gardens where visitors learn about the sustainability and balance that have played important roles in Chumash culture for generations.

The Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center is located at 3500 Numancia St., at the corner of Highway 246 and Edison St. in Santa Ynez. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm Thursday through Sunday.

Visit https://www.sychumashmuseum.org