House of Welcome
Open House
October 25, 2025 at Noon
s'gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ House of Welcome
The Evergreen State College
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Olympia, WA 98505
RSVP
- Email: longhouse@evergreen.edu
- Call: (360) 867-6718
Can’t make it? support the House of Welcome with a gift:
Support the House of Welcome
Event Program
Schedule of activities for Saturday, October 25
People who want to participate in the procession should gather outside at 11 am.
| 12:10 pm | Welcome 30th Anniversary: Director Laura VerMeulen Introduction of Emcee: John Goodwin |
|---|---|
| 12:15 pm | Opening Song & Protocol Pillar Family, Squaxin Island Tribe | Whitener family |
| 12:30 pm | Alaska Kuteeyaa Dancers |
| 1 pm | Lunch Served – Buffet |
| 1:30 pm | PNW Alutiiq Culture Camp artists Share song during meal |
| 1:45 pm | Pillar Family: Hillaire Family |
| 2:15 pm | Coast Salish Wool Weavers |
| 2:30 pm | Pillar Family: Makah Tribe: Hottowe Family Alex McCarty Honoring |
| 3 pm | Founding Director Tina Kuckkahn |
| 3:15 pm | Git Hoan Dance Group: David Boxley |
| 4:15 pm | Pillar Family: Hazel Pete Family: Yvonne Peterson and Trudy Marcellay |
| 4:45 pm | Early Days: Pillar Colleen Jollie |
| 5 pm | Pillar Family: Vi Hilbert Family |
| 5:20 pm | Pillar Family: Bruce Miller Family |
| 6:30 pm | Thanks to Everyone |
30 Years of Impact
A history of the Longhouse
On September 22, 1995, the Longhouse opened at The Evergreen State College. The first of its kind built on a U.S. college campus, it was truly a grassroots project, long envisioned by faculty, staff and students to demonstrate and build commitment to Native studies, Native students and representing Northwest hospitality for students and visitors from all cultures. In 1997, the same pillars that helped imagine what having a longhouse on a college campus might be like, gave us the name s'gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ, or “House of Welcome.” The naming affirmed the mission established in 1996 to support and promote Native arts and cultures and to be a place of education. Native studies classes, now the Native Pathways Program (and previously known as the Reservation Based Community Determined Program), have made the House of Welcome their home.
As the scope of our mission grew, our program grew. In 2009, we expanded the House of Welcome to include an office and archive suite. In 2012 we built the first carving studio, Pay3q’ali, “a place to carve” in Twana. In 2018 we added the fiber arts studio Paimārire that means “Peace and Serenity” in Māori, which embodies sq3tsya’yay “Weaver’s Spirit Power.” In 2019 we opened the teaching space of the carving studio to complete the Pay3q’ali carving complex. Studios that Indigenous forms of wool, basketry, carving are part of the curriculum for all students and places where master artists can share their knowledge in shorter term workshops. Together the Indigenous arts campus is truly place where we do not study Native Americans, but rather study the world through a Native perspective, brought forward by people from many diverse cultures back in 1995.
So often we get the chance to meet alumni who tell us part of the story of the creation of the House of Welcome, and we honor their roles in helping to shape our long 30-year legacy of work to bring worlds together. Through stories, we learn even more about why this was such an important project back in 1995. It is more than a building, more than a set of buildings, but a place reflecting Northwest Hospitality—Indigenous hospitality—as Mary Ellen Hillaire dreamed.
