Play Video

Sealaska Heritage Institute - Southeast Alaska

We promote Sealaska's Values in Action Through SHI Programming

Who are we?

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), a private nonprofit founded in 1980, mission is to advance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. SHI’s goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. Sealaska Heritage also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history, and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee, and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.

We offer numerous programs promoting Southeast Alaskan Native culture, including language and art – we also maintain a substantial archive of Southeast Alaskan Native ethnographic material. We partner with local schools to promote academics and cultural education. Biennially, we produce Celebration, Alaska’s second-largest Native gathering. We own and operate the Sealaska Heritage Store and curate an ongoing cultural exhibit on the first floor of our headquarters in Juneau’s landmark Walter Soboleff Building. 

What do we do?
SHI Mission: Sealaska Heritage Institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events.

SHI Vision: Indigenous culture, values, and knowledge will be integrated into public policy, institutions, and programming serving Alaska Natives to sustain the cultural vitality of current and future generations.

SHI Administration Department

Admin.

Read More
SHI Arts Department - Southeast Alaskan Native Arts

Arts

Read More
SHI's Archives and Collections Department

Archives & Collections

Read More
SHI's Communications and Publications Department

Communications & Publications

Read More
SHI's Culture and History Department

Culture & History

Read More
SHI's Development Department

Development

Read More
SHI Education Department

Education

Read More
SHI Retail Department

Retail

Read More

SHI MEDIA & STREAMING EVENTS

LIVE STREAMING EVENT CONCLUDED
SHI's Live Streaming, Announcements, Events, News and Press Releases

Celebration 2024

SHI is sponsoring a live, statewide broadcast of Celebration on KTOO 360TV public television and live webcasts on the institute’s  website and YouTube channel. The event will also stream on KTOO 360TV and on KTOO’s Roku and Apple TV apps. Live broadcast of Celebration 2024 is available statewide on KTOO 360TV (where to watch). If you like to rewatch – Day One: click here | Day Two: click here | Day Three: click here

SHI RESIDENT ARTISTS

Promoting Alaskan Native Arts and Artists

Sealaska Heritage Institute's Artists Residency
(Limited In Person Demonstrations At SHI)

Sealaska Heritage Institute proudly showcases within our site’s designs, as part of our community endeavors, artworks commissioned by SHI artists and/or artists that sell their works via our online and offline shop. We invite you to visit our Shop in Juneau and/or Visit our online shop to purchase their works. In the future we will have a section within our website dedicated, a virtually gallery, to the promotion of Southeast Alaskan Native Artists that we collaborates with.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is Born from Great Wisdom

Passing of the "Container of Wisdom"

Sealaska Heritage was founded in 1980 by Sealaska after being conceived by clan leaders, traditional scholars, and Elders at the first Sealaska Elders Conference. During that meeting, the Elders likened Native culture to a blanket. They told the new leaders that their hands were growing weary of holding onto the metaphorical blanket, this “container of wisdom.” They said they were transferring this responsibility to Sealaska, the regional Native corporation serving Southeast Alaska. In response, Sealaska founded Sealaska Heritage to operate cultural and educational programs.
NATIVE PEOPLE PRESERVING THE NATIVE STORY
Since 1980, Sealaska Heritage Institute has been a steward of our past and a catalyst for our future.
Coming Soon
NATIVE PEOPLE CRAFTING THE NATIVE STORY
Shop Juneau's best collection of Native- and animal-themed gifts and souvenirs.
Coming Soon
NATIVE PEOPLE TELLING THE NATIVE STORY
Immerse yourself in an epic that is still unfolding.
Coming Soon
HERITAGE FORWARD
We honor our ancestors and pave the way for the future by making heritage a living thing.
Coming Soon
Previous slide
Next slide

SHI Tradition & Authenticity

four core values of southeast alaskan natives

  1. Haa Aaní: Our Land: Honoring & Utilizing our Land (Haida: Íitl’ Tlagáa; Tsimshian: Na Laxyuubm)
Alaskan Natives Four Core Values
Alaskan Natives Four Core Values

2. Haa Shuká: Past, Present, and Future Generations: Honoring our Ancestors and Future Generations (Haida: Íitl’ Kuníisii; Tsimshian: Na Łagigyetgm)

3. Haa Latseení: Our Strength: Strength of Body, Mind, and Spirit (Haida: Íitl’ Dagwiigáay; Tsimshian: Na Gatlleedm)

Alaskan Natives Four Core Values
Alaskan Natives Four Core Values

4. Wooch Yáx: Balance: Social and Spiritual Balance (Haida: Gu dlúu; Tsimshian: Ama Mackshm)

Heritage Forward

SHI is all about “the fresh, the modern, the unexpected – that fosters originality

Heritage isn’t something old and static… It’s a continuum, stretching back thousands of years—since time immemorial—and stretching forward into the distant future. Heritage encompasses all that has been bestowed from our ancestors: land, art, stories, language, values, community, tradition, culture, and more.

0:00
0:00