The Global Meaningful Travel Map

Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center

Discover a vibrant hub celebrating the diverse cultures and landscapes of Interior Alaska, featuring engaging exhibits, local crafts, and community events.

OUR EXPERIENCES
The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center (MTCVC) is where we come together to learn, to explore and to celebrate the diversity of the Interior, its lands and its peoples. Visitors can walk through our How We Live: The People and The Land exhibit or join us for one of our upcoming events to learn a new craft. Visitors can also connect onsite with the Explore Fairbanks Visitor Services and the Alaska Public Lands Information Center.

ABOUT US
The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center is an innovative partnership of Fairbanks’ destination marketing agency, Explore Fairbanks; the National Park Service Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center; Tanana Chiefs Conference’s Cultural Programs; and Denakkanaaga, an organization serving as the voice for Athabascan elders in Interior Alaska. We aim to provide visitors and locals a unique, beautiful place filled with opportunities to learn about the peoples, ways of life, and lands of Alaska’s Interior.

OUR IMPACT
In addition to serving tourists, student groups, and locals directly at the facility, Interior Alaska residents benefit from MTCVC-based Cultural Traditions workshops conducted in the villages of our region. Indigenous artists provide the Alaska Native Gift Shop at the MTCVC with creations for resale to visitors. Regional businesses (urban, rural and remote) promote themselves at the MTCVC, where visitors seek information and guidance on their exploration of the Interior of Alaska. MTCVC is committed to sustainability, from adapting technologies that reduce the use of energy and therefore our carbon footprint, growing a garden as an educational exhibit regarding local foodways where the produce is donated to a nonprofit that prepares meals for the unhoused. We are a part of our community and have created a place where our pride of place and of people is evident MTCVC partners with local tribal and Native organizations in the development of new programs and the review of existing exhibits so that the most respectful and accurate representations of local ways of life are made available, with these offerings having been informed by culture bearers from inception. The partners of the MTCVC have a Cultural Awareness/DEI committee that meets quarterly to inform trainings for staff and to work with programs to ensure best practices.

DETAILS
To learn more, contact info@morristhompsoncenter.org

What are your minimum and maximum group sizes?
A minimum of 1 and our max capacity for the exhibits and lobby space, per fire code, is about 350.

Do you require visitors to pre-book?
No

Do you have group rates?
No; Admission is free.

Do you pay commissions to travel advisors?
No

What languages do you offer your services in?
Depending on the time of year we have staff on hand who range from a working knowledge to fluency in Denaakk’e, Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and American Sign Language. Many materials offered by building partners are available in non-English languages and are available upon request, with new translations added regularly to accommodate our visitors.

When are you open?
0800 – 1800 Memorial Day to Labor Day (summer hours) 0800 – 1700 Labor Day to Memorial Day (winter hours)

What accommodations do you make for people living with disabilities?
MTCVC is committed to accessibility and is committed to upgrading and expanding our spaces to be inclusive and usable by all of our visitors. On the grounds of the facility we have designated parking spaces, walkways designed for use by those with mobility aids and picnic tables that are inclusive. Within the building we have two transport chairs for visitor use, assistive listening devices, audio descriptions and captioning in the exhibits and for the films shown in the theater, and we have a tactile map of the downtown area of Fairbanks.