Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI LAUNCHES CONTEST FOR CELEBRATION 2024 ART DESIGN

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Nov. 30, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is holding a contest to solicit a design for Celebration, a biennial dance and culture festival that celebrates Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

SHI is seeking a Northwest Coast art design that depicts the theme: Together We Live in Balance, which incorporates two significant concepts.

“Southeast Alaska Natives have learned that social and spiritual ‘balance’ is essential to maintain a healthy society and our relationships to past and future generations,” said SHI President Rosita Worl. “We also recognize that this same concept of ‘balance’ applies to living in our environment and to maintaining balance among the animals and fish populations on which we depend.

“The reference to ‘together’ is an acknowledgement of the importance of unity among our peoples and communities to ensure that the strength of our society is maintained.”

SHI is requesting sketches of proposed Celebration art, as opposed to finished pieces. The process is similar to a request for proposals. The sketches must be clear enough that reviewers can understand and interpret the concept.

The winning artist will receive $1,000 and the design will appear on materials, including t-shirts and programs associated with the event, which is one of the largest Native gatherings in the state, drawing thousands of people to Juneau every even year. SHI will also publish an article about the artist in the Celebration program.

The institute may also purchase additional entries for other uses, such as illustrating programs.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 12, 2024. Celebration 2024 is scheduled for June 5-8.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social 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.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI ANNOUNCES WINNER OF CELEBRATION 2024 ART CONTEST

Feb. 22, 2024

An artist from Seattle has won Sealaska Heritage Institute’s (SHI) competition to visually represent this year’s Celebration, a huge, dance-and-culture festival held every even year in Juneau since 1982.

The artist, G̱at X̱wéech (Nick Alan Foote), won with his piece “Sacred Embrace,” which was inspired by the Celebration 2024 theme, Together We Live in Balance, which incorporates multiple significant concepts.
“Southeast Alaska Native cultural values define social and spiritual ‘balance’ as essential to maintaining a healthy society and our relationships to past and future generations,” said SHI President Rosita Worl. “We also recognize that this same concept of ‘balance’ applies to living in our environment and to maintaining balance among the animals and fish populations on which we depend.

“The reference to ‘together’ is an acknowledgement of the importance of unity among our peoples and communities to ensure that the strength of our society is maintained,” Worl said.

To capture the essence of the theme, Foote used a blend of elements that represent unity and harmony within the diverse aspects of life shared among Alaska Native cultures. The composition is framed by the figures of a spirit and a human positioned across from each other with arms extended in a connecting embrace, signifying the deep connection between Alaska Natives and spirituality, Foote wrote in his artist statement.

Central to this embrace are a Raven and an Eagle, positioned on opposite sides to form an inseparable and harmonious bond. This powerful imagery serves as a tribute to the cultural heritage and vital relationships within our communities, underscoring the importance of interdependence for strength and unity, he wrote.

At the very core of the design rests a salmon, a potent symbol of the intrinsic bond and interdependence Alaska Natives have with nature and its crucial role in maintaining life’s balance.

“Together, these elements weave a dynamic and cohesive narrative that celebrates the enduring bonds Alaska Native people have to spirituality, cultural heritage, the natural world and one another,” he wrote.

Honorable mentions were given to pieces by Kalila Arreola, Katelynn Drake, Odin Lonning, Andrew Tripp and Lance Twitchell.
In all, 18 Native artists from Alaska and the Lower 48 submitted 21 pieces for consideration. Entrants submitted rough sketches of their ideas, which were then assessed by the selection committee. The winning pieces were chosen through a blind process in which the committee, which was kept anonymous, did not know the names of the artists who made the pieces they reviewed. Foote’s design will be the main visual SHI will use to depict Celebration 2024.

About the Artist
Nick Alan Foote, also known by his Tlingit name, G̱at X̱wéech, is a renowned artist of the Raven moiety and the Dog Salmon clan. He has earned distinction through his extensive body of work, which encompasses traditional formline designs alongside his work as a children’s book illustrator and graphic designer.

His upbringing in Ketchikan and across Southeast Alaska nurtured a profound connection to the land and an earnest appreciation for his cultural heritage and traditions. These connections were significantly shaped by his family’s influence and culturally responsive educational opportunities such as the Johnson O’Malley Program and the Sitka Native Education Program.

Foote’s artwork is a deep-seated homage to his heritage, crafted with the intent to inspire, instill pride and strengthen Indigenous communities. Through his art, he seeks to heighten awareness of the contemporary challenges and events that impact Native communities, using his creations as a conduit for education and enlightenment. He aims to acquaint both younger generations and the wider public with the rich traditions of Alaska Native culture.

Now residing in Seattle, Washington, Foote continues to manifest his passion through Nick Alan Art, his own business venture, where his artistic endeavors continue to flourish and impact.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI 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.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com; Nick Alan Foote, Celebration 2024 art contest winner, nickalanart@gmail.com.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

HISTORIC CHILKAT ROBE WELCOME HOME CEREMONY

SHI TO HOLD CEREMONY TO WELCOME HOME HISTORIC CHILKAT ROBE PURCHASED AT AUCTION

Feb. 26, 2024

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will hold a public ceremony this week to welcome home a historic naaxein (Chilkat robe) that was purchased by six people in the Lower 48 and donated to the institute.

At the ceremony, the Chilkats will pay tribute to a Nisga’a (sometimes called Tsimshian) woman who married a Chilkat man and brought the art of weaving to the Klukwan Tlingits. The Nisga’a woman gave the Chilkats a woven apron with a beaver design, and a woman from the Gaanaxteidí clan in Klukwan took it apart to study the weave. From there, the women of Klukwan grew into such prolific weavers that the art practice came to be known as Chilkat weaving.

The Chilkats later wove a robe that bore the same design as an old Tsimshian blanket. That design is featured on the Chilkat robe donated to SHI and the piece is estimated to be at least 150 years old.
The ceremony will include a special recognition of the donors, Bob and Rita Moore, Nancy Kovalik, Martha and Eugene Nester, Ashley Verplank McClelland and Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse; and the weavers who assisted in securing its return, including Evelyn Vanderhoop, Wooshkindein Da.Aat Lily Hope and Mangyepsa Gyipaayg Kandi McGilton.
The event will also include a traditional Spirit Dance to welcome it home and bring life back into the robe.

The ceremony is scheduled for 12 pm on Friday, March 1 in the clan house at SHI’s Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau. SHI will also live stream the event. The public is welcome to attend.

About Chilkat Robes
Chilkat weaving, which is unique to Northwest Coast cultures, is one of the most complex weaving techniques in the world. Chilkat weavings, which function as clan at.óow or ceremonial objects within the Native community, are distinct from other weaving forms in that curvilinear shapes such as ovoids are woven into the pieces. The curved shapes are difficult and very time-consuming to execute, and a single Chilkat robe can take a skilled weaver a year or longer to complete. Traditionally, mountain goat wool and yellow cedar bark were used. Harvesting and processing the wool and bark was also a complex and laborious task. In recent years, Chilkat weaving was considered to be an endangered art practice. A few Native artists mastered the craft and are now teaching it to others, giving hope this ancient practice will survive.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI 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.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI LAUNCHES NEW APPS TO TEACH HAIDA AND TSIMSHIAN LANGUAGES

Free platforms include audio of words and phrases, video

Dec. 18, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has launched its first apps that teach the Haida (X̱aad Kíl) and Tsimshian (Shm’algyack) languages, both of which are considered to be endangered.

Two of the free apps teach vocabulary and phrases in Haida and Tsimshian, while another teaches Native words for birds and ocean animals in an interactive environment. Both are available for iOS and Android mobile devices.

The effort is part of SHI’s quest to revitalize the Indigenous languages of Southeast Alaska, said SHI President Rosita Worl, Ph.D.

“We know when ancient languages are lost, a whole universe of wisdom dies with them. Indigenous languages contain so much knowledge about our planet, including history on ancient geographical events, such as glacial movement and climate change,” she said.

“We must do everything we can to revitalize our languages and to preserve Indigenous knowledge, and these apps are a part of that.”

Language Games Apps
(App for iPhone) (App for Android) 

“SHI: Language Games” builds on a platform formerly offered in only Tlingit. Now, users can scroll down to select Lingít, X̱aad Kíl or Shm’algyack.

The app includes two programs that teach the words for birds commonly seen in Southeast Alaska and ocean animals indigenous to the region. As the birds and ocean animals move, users can click on them to see and hear the Native words. The “Birds!” game teaches the words for eagle, raven, owl, hawk, Steller’s jay, robin, sparrow and kingfisher. The “Ocean Animals” game teaches the words for beluga whale, blue whale, humpback whale, seal, sea lion, porpoise, killer whale, squid, jellyfish, herring and ocean.

Both games include quizzes and a feature that allows players to track their highest scores.

Language Learning Apps

(Learning Haida: (App for iPhone) (App for Android) (Learning Shm’algyack: (App for iPhone) (App for Android)

The “Learning Haida” and “Learning Shm’algyack” apps include sections on vocabulary, phrases and their respective alphabets, plus indices that show all of the words and phrases in alphabetic order by English translations. The apps also include links to YouTube videos that teach elements of the languages.

The Haida vocabulary is grouped into 41 categories that include animal body parts, animals, art, bathroom, beach, birds, human body parts, buildings/structures, clothing, colors, commands, cultural art, fishing and hunting, food and meals, foods, home, insects, landscapes, location, mammals, matter/minerals/materials, Native Youth Olympics, numbers, nursery, ocean and beach, outside, person/people, plants, recreation, regalia, school, sea animals, sea vessels, sky/atmosphere, time, tools, transportation, verbs, water, weaving and wellness and health.

The Haida phrases include categories for plants and weather.

The Tsimshian vocabulary is grouped into 26 categories that include bathroom, beach, birds, body, building/structure, clothing, colors, cultural, fish, food, home, insects, kitchen, mammals, numbers, nursery, occupations, ocean, plants, pronouns, recreations, school, sea creatures, sky/objects in the sky/weather, tools and transportation.

The Tsimshian phrases include categories for beach, birds, body, building/structure, clothing, colors, cultural, fish, food, home, insects and kitchen.

Users have the option to turn off the English words and audio to immerse in the Native languages. Both apps include quizzes and a feature that allows players to track their highest scores.

SHI will continue to update the apps as new words and categories are added.

Haida translations were done by Skíl Jáadei Linda Schrack, Dag Júus Robert Yates, Kugíin-g Dúu Lauryn Framke, Susie Edwardson and Kelsey Thompson. Haida audio was recorded by Schrack and English audio was recorded by Thompson.

Tsimshian translations were done by Ggoadm ‘Teebn Victoria Mckoy and Shiggoap Alfie Price and audio was recorded by Price.

Both apps were developed for SHI by Wostmann & Associates of Juneau. 

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI 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.

In the 1990s, SHI’s board of trustees instructed staff to focus on revitalizing Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian languages. Prior to that, SHI was focused mostly on documenting the languages, which historically were oral and not laid out in written form.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com. 

Caption: Still of “Birds!” from “SHI: Language Games,” courtesy of SHI. Note: news outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher-res version, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI TO SPONSOR ITS FIRST-EVER JURIED FILM FESTIVAL

Event to be held during Celebration 2024

Dec. 5, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) for the first time will sponsor a Juried Film Festival in an effort to support Indigenous storytelling through digital media.

Entries must be 5-10 minutes in length and created within the past 2 years. The films may cover any topic and can be live action, stop motion or animated.

Selected films will be shown at Gold Town Theatre in Juneau during Celebration 2024, scheduled June 5-8.

SHI will also premiere a feature film of Tlingit “Macbeth” during the festival. The play, performed by Native actors, was written by Anita Maynard-Losh in collaboration with Tlingit elder Johnny Marks, who worked on language programs at SHI. The production debuted in partnership with Perseverance Theatre at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in 2007. Sealaska funded the filming of the performance, and SHI is now sponsoring the postproduction phase of the project.

Submissions can be sent electronically to SHIarchives@sealaska.com. See application for acceptable file formats.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social 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.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute

SHI ALASKA CONFERENCES.

off shi Campus

SHI Conferences

conference.sealaskaheritage.org

Welcome to Our Cultural Landscape, Sealaska Heritage’s seventh culturally responsive education conference. This event provides educators and administrators with a deep understanding of culturally responsive education and equips them to transform their classrooms, pedagogy, and curriculum to fully support all students’ success—especially those who have been historically underserved, disenfranchised, and marginalized by colonized systems.

Educators, administrators, university faculty, and community members are all welcome and encouraged to attend. Attendees will find engaging and informative sessions to support their thinking around culturally-responsive and sustaining pedagogies for K–12 and university settings, critical theory, place-based education, and possibilities for indigenizing curriculum and building safe social environments for all learners.

The conference is scheduled August 7-9, and will be offered in person at Thunder Mountain High School, in Juneau, Alaska, with featured elements available virtually. The theme of this year’s event is Connecting Culture, Community and Curriculum.

This page will be updated frequently as new information is available, please check back often! 

Call for Presenters

The conversation continues…

• AK Culturally Responsive Education Facebook group.
  • #OurCulturalLandscape on Twitter.
  • Contact Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Sealaska Heritage Institute

CELEBRATION | HERITAGE FORWARD

SHI’s Bent Wood Box of Celebrations

WELCOME TO CELEBRATION: 2024: June 5-8

In 1982, the fledgling Native nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute held a dance-and-culture festival to celebrate the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. At the time, Native people were emerging from a long period of cultural oppression by Westerners, and they worried that young people weren’t learning their ancient songs and dances. A couple of hundred Native people gathered in Juneau for the event, called Celebration. They could not have imagined then that Celebration would spark a movement across the region — a renaissance of Native culture that prompted people largely unfamiliar with their heritage to learn their ancestral songs and dances and to make regalia for future Celebrations.

Today, Celebration is one of the largest cultural events in the state, drawing thousands of people to the four-day festival. It is the largest gathering of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people in the world. It has grown to include associated events, including a Juried Art Show and Competition, a Juried Youth Art Exhibit, a Toddler Regalia Review, an Indigenous Fashion Show, a Native Artist Market, and Native food contests. The biennial event is schedule in early June every even year in Juneau. Everyone is welcome to attend.

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celebration

ORIGIN OF CELEBRATION

Prior to European contact, the peoples of the Northwest Coast held many traditional ceremonies in which singing, dancing, formal oratory, and feasting took place. As the economy of the region changed to one based on cash rather than trade and sharing, some Native traditions floundered. Dance, song, traditional oratory, and knowledge of clan protocol were in danger of being lost to history. Realizing this, Native elders created Celebration as a way to bring Native people together to showcase and preserve their traditions and customs.

ADAPTING & REVITALIZING ALASKAN NATIVE CULTURES

Celebration is a new tradition. During earlier times, a clan from one moiety would always host a clan from the other moiety. An Eagle clan, for example, might host a Raven clan and, then, the reverse would occur in order that balance, reciprocity, and respect be maintained. Those who danced together as either hosts or guests were from one clan, one side. Now, clan members have scattered in order to pursue careers and personal interests, and the formal system of reciprocal obligation has become more difficult to maintain although traditional ceremonies are still a vital part of Northwest Coast culture. At Celebration, some clan members still gather as single-clan Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian dance groups but most groups at Celebration represent combinations of many clans.

As times have changed, the peoples of the Northwest Coast have adopted revitalized festival traditions while continuing to maintain the old. Although Celebration follows the pattern of a traditional ceremonial it is not a potlatch or memorial party. Adoptions, name giving, memorial services, and other events that are a proper part of those traditional gatherings are not part of Celebration and are observed at other times.

Celebration Information & Details

Sealaska Heritage will hold an in-person Celebration in Juneau from June 5-8 in 2024. The lead dance group will be Dakhká Khwáan Dancers (People of the Inland). Please do visit the links below for more information and details.

For four days every other June, the streets of Juneau fill with Native people of all ages dressed in the signature regalia of clans from throughout Southeast Alaska and beyond. There is traditional song and dance. Arts and crafts. Food. And people speaking local Native languages. This is Celebration, our biennial festival of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

Celebration is one of the largest gatherings of Southeast Alaska Native peoples and is the second-largest event sponsored by Alaska Natives in the State of Alaska. The event draws about 5,000 people, including more than 2,000 dancers. Thousands more watch the event online. A 2012 study showed each Celebration generates an estimated economic impact of $2,000,000.

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  Celebration Programs (Announcements & Applications)
  
  
  

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  Photo & Recording Policies
  
  
  

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  Celebration’s Volunteer Application