The Cultural Terrace is the heart of the Irvine Great Park. The Museum for Indigenous Culture and Natural History needs to be the heart of the Cultural Terrace

Our proposal for the establishment of the MICNH is not only in line with every stated goal of the Cultural Terrace, it exceeds those goals and brings new levels of benefit to the city of Irvine, the County of Orange, and to the Southern California Region as a whole. The historic and unique opportunity to build this institution has not been present for a long, long time. There are very few places in the United States where there has been this unique availability of a site in need of reuse and re-purposing, located in a major suburban/urban region with the perfect confluence of population, freeways and mass transit, including a nearby Amtrack stattion. Indeed, situated next to the approved Great Park Botanical Gardens, the MICNH would be the the most recent Indigenous Culture and Natural History Institution in the U.S, poised to become one of the finest in nation.

The educational benefits of the Museum of Indigenous Culture and Natural History will be generational. Science and History, learning and research, all in one place.

A public place for exploration, research and learning. A Build Back Better Project which will create jobs, economic activity, and create a nationally known destination, here in Orange County. A place where Science and History come together with meaning. A place for the curation and display, for all, of the amazing fossils and artifacts, now in storage and unavailable to the public. A place for Ceremony and learning about Indigeneous Culture. A place for restoring tribal culture and understanding natural history. A place for events, and a place to experience.

Our plans for the Museum and its grounds coming soon! A site layout that gives sense of place and is integrated with the Botanical Gardens and the surrounding areas of the Cultural Terrace. The Outside Leads to the Inside.....

Proposed Chumash Cultural Center Concept, Santa Ynez, by Jones and Jones, Robert Jones,

The Integrity of the Great Park is at stake...and we are the stakeholders!

Currently the Great Park of Irvine is a sprawling, unfinished mess of the former El Toro Marine Base facilities, expensive planned communities, end to end sports facilities, and an ampitheater. There is no flow because there is no integrated plan, only a piecemeal development barely managed by the City of Irvine and facilitated by Five Points Development. It is featureless, and without vision, so the City has once again turned to for profit parts to fill up what they think is needed. We ask, does the Wild Rivers Amusement park really represent culture in Orange County? (and in the middle of a drought!) Is more retail really the answer? Why does the City of Irvine continually present specious public input sessions and then ignore calls for a Museum concept such as ours? Will we get a real Museum Village next to a Great Botanical Gardens, with shared parking and a planned overlap that makes sense? And what about a perimeter with scaled hospitality and functional faclities which will serve the destination?

Click on the image to link to the next Irvine City Great Park Meeting Agenda

Cultural Terrace Concept plan by Irvine Planning, 2019. Does not show the intrusion of the Wild Rivers Water Amusement park, nor our proposed Museum of Indigenious Culture and Natural History