Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI, STAKEHOLDERS TO DEVELOP FIRST-EVER ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGE READING STANDARDS

SHI to hold first meeting next month to consult with Alaskans statewide

Jan. 26, 2024

A public agency has tapped Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) to produce the state’s first-ever Alaska Native language reading standards, and the institute is inviting language educators and speakers, community members and allies to a virtual meeting in February.

Through the project, SHI will work with people across the state to develop the standards on behalf of the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development for adoption by the Alaska State Board of Education.

Public input and participation will be a critical component of the project, said SHI Education Director Kristy Ford. SHI will also work in partnership with Teaching Indigenous Design for Every Student (TIDES), an Alaska Native education consulting group owned by Shgen George and Nancy Douglas, who are long-time educators and developers of Native language curriculum.

“It will take the entire community of Alaska to provide guidance, direction and encouragement to develop the new Alaska Native language reading standards. To be successful, we will need to tap the wisdom of Alaskans across the state,” Ford said.

The standards will be designed for students in kindergarten through third grade and be applicable to all 20 of Alaska’s Native languages. The move is part of a larger effort to support the development and use of Alaska Native languages in schools and to codify standards through which the state can measure students’ reading proficiency.

“The state has a clear policy directive that all students should be able to read at grade level by the end of third grade. This program will provide critical support for instruction of Alaska Native languages because the standards will make it clear that reading in an Alaska Native language is valid for demonstrating third grade reading proficiency,” said SHI President Rosita Worl, Ph.D.

State law currently allows for reading instruction to be conducted in and through Alaska Native languages. However, the state has no way of measuring how well students through third grade are reading in their Native languages.

“The new standards will provide a means for the state and school districts to communicate learning expectations to educators and to demonstrate to policy makers how well students are performing,” Ford said.

The first meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 6, and a second meeting will follow at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8, via Zoom at bit.ly/nativelanguage-standards.

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 and advocacy 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, deputy director, Communications and Publications Department, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com; Jamie Shanley, assistant director, Education Department, jamie.shanley@sealaska.com. 907.586.9583

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

BABY RAVEN READS BOOK WINS AWARD FROM AMERICAN INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Book singled out for illustrations, story by Tlingit artist and author

Jan. 23, 2024

Sealaska Heritage Institute’s book “Celebration” has won a 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor from the American Indian Library Association (AILA).

AILA, an affiliate of the American Library Association, gives biennial awards to identify and honor “the best writings and illustrations for youth, by and about Native American and Indigenous peoples of North America.”

The book, which was illustrated by Tlingit artist Jaax̱snée Kelsey Mata Foote and authored by Tlingit writer and artist Da.áat Lily Hope, was published through Baby Raven Reads, a Sealaska Heritage program for Alaska Native families with children up to age 5 that promotes language development and school readiness.

“Celebration” is one of five books in North America to receive the honor this year.

“Once again, we are astounded and humbled by the extraordinary reception our Baby Raven Reads books have received,” said SHI President Rosita Worl, Ph.D. “It’s so important for Native children to see their cultures accurately reflected in books and school materials. We are grateful to the AILA for elevating books across the continent that achieve this goal.”

The book, which was published in 2022, tells the story of the institute’s biennial dance-and-culture festival, Celebration, as seen from a young girl’s point of view.

The story brings readers into the life of one particular child, who has already learned about Celebration and who eagerly anticipates the event, wrote SHI President Rosita Worl in the foreword.

“We see how grandparents in our society play an important role in teaching our youth about our traditional culture and the songs and stories of our clans. She clearly sees that Native culture and Celebration will continue to play an important part in her life,” Worl wrote.

The story begins with a ferry trip to Juneau and culminates with the young girl’s dance performance at Centennial Hall, before she attends some of Celebration’s associated events, including the Toddler Regalia Review, the Native Artist Market and the Indigenous Fashion Show.

“Celebration” received this honor because of the illustrations, which were made by Mata Foote, who is Raven of the Taakw.aaneidí clan, and the story, which was written by Hope, who is Raven of the T’aḵdeintaan clan.

About Celebration
SHI held the first Celebration in 1982 at a time when the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian were in danger of losing knowledge of their ancient songs, dances and stories and the meaning behind the crests depicted on their regalia and clan at.óowu (sacred objects). It was held at the urging of Elders and clan leaders, who worried the cultures were dying after a period of severe oppression, during which time Native people did not sing their songs and dance their dances in public. The first Celebration was meant to underscore the fact the cultures had survived for more than 11,000 years.

The event proved to be so profound, SHI’s board of trustees decided to sponsor Celebration every other year in perpetuity. Celebration sparked a movement that spread across the region and into the Lower 48 — a renaissance of Southeast Alaska Native culture that prompted people largely unfamiliar with their own heritage to learn their ancestral songs and dances and to make regalia for future Celebrations.

Today, Celebration is one of the largest events in Alaska, drawing thousands of people to the four-day festival, many of whom are children.

About Baby Raven Reads
SHI sponsors Baby Raven Reads, an award-winning early literacy program that promotes a love of learning through culture and community. The program supports families with Alaska Native children up to age 5 living in Southeast Alaska. Participants attend family events and receive free books and literacy kits through the program.

Baby Raven Reads was first piloted in Juneau in 2014. Through partnerships with Tlingit and Haida Head Start, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Chilkat Indian Village, Ketchikan Indian Association, Metlakatla Indian Association and the Organized Village of Kake, the program has expanded to serve 17 communities in Alaska.

The program is based on ample research showing that Alaska Native students do better academically when culturally relevant content is incorporated into learning materials and classes. Books published through the program also help educate non-Native families about Alaska Native cultures, place-based storytelling, and traditional oral literature.
In recognition of SHI’s success in promoting literacy through Baby Raven Reads, the Library of Congress selected the program as a 2017 Best Practice Honoree, making it one of only 15 programs in the world to receive the honor that year. In 2018, the American Indian Library Association gave SHI’s book “Shanyaak’utlaax̱: Salmon Boy” its American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award, and in 2020, recognized “Raven Makes the Aleutians” with a Picture Book Honor Award.

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 and advocacy 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.; Lily Hope, author, 907.957.8774, lilyhopeweaver@gmail.com, www.lilyhope.com; Kelsey Mata Foote, illustrator, 505.614.6236, kelseyfootey@gmail.com, https://www.instagram.com/kelseymatafoote

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR COLLEGE, VOC-TECH SEALASKA SCHOLARSHIPS

Institute offering cash incentive to early birds

Apply

Dec. 15, 2023

The enrollment period for Sealaska scholarship applications is open for the 2024-2025 school year.

The deadline to apply is March 1, 2024. However, Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is offering a $50 incentive to those who complete their scholarship application on or before Feb. 1 and who are accepted as scholarship recipients; if selected as a recipient, the $50 will be included in their scholarship award. Applications must be filled out and submitted online at scholarship.sealaskaheritage.org.

Awards will be made to Alaska Native Sealaska shareholders and descendants enrolled full- or part- time in accredited colleges, universities and voc-tech schools. Students must also have at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. The scholarship program was founded by Sealaska and is administered by Sealaska Heritage.

“Investing in shareholders and communities is one of Sealaska’s top priorities,” said Tesla Cox, Senior Director of Shareholder Development. “Building up our shareholders from within by supporting their pursuit of education is one way in which we are able to grow vibrant, resilient communities. And we consistently see education and workforce development come up as top priorities for shareholders as well. Sealaska is proud to work closely with SHI to support our students as they pursue higher education and, in turn, invest in and strengthen their own connections to culture and community.”

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; Matt Carle, Sealaska Senior Director of Corporate Communications, 907.903.8210, matt.carle@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 Press Release

SHI PLANS TO LAUNCH TLINGIT GESTURE PROGRAM

Funds from recent church reparations to also aid in determining existence of Haida and Tsimshian gestures

Nov. 30, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is launching a groundbreaking new program to document 100 gestures used in Tlingit communication identified nearly 40 years ago, to recover other gestures still known and used by Tlingit elders, and to investigate whether similar structures existed for Haida and Tsimshian languages.

Documenting the practice, known as the Tlingit Gesture System (TGS), could be a jumping off point to developing sign languages for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. In North America, only the Plains Indian Sign Language has been fully documented, said SHI linguist Jeff Leer, Ph.D.

“This project to document this practice is therefore truly groundbreaking,” Leer said.

It’s not known if knowledge of gesture systems existed among the Haida and Tsimshian, and the institute’s project will investigate whether knowledge of this system exists, said SHI President Rosita Worl, Ph.D.

“Documentation of these gesture systems can add a new body of Indigenous knowledge about Southeast Alaska Natives and will be applied in Native language restoration efforts,” Worl said.

What is Known

Most of what is known about the TGS was documented by Leer in his manuscript Report on the Tlingit Gestural System. Leer, who first began studying the Tlingit language in 1964, worked with fluent gesturer Elizabeth Nyman, a Tlingit elder of the Yanyeidí clan from Atlin, Canada, to record more than 100 Tlingit gestures. Some gestures have also been identified by Robi Littlefield of Sitka.

Leer first observed Nyman’s gestures in 1987 when he went to Whitehorse to work on Tlingit place names. He took special note of her gestures as she narrated, and whenever possible, made a practice of videotaping her narrations to document her gestures in context.

Nyman told some of the stories more than once, and Leer observed that she frequently used the same gestures at the same points in the narrative that she had previously. Her gestures sometimes anticipated the corresponding event in the narrative, and at times, she even used gestures in place of speech.

“These observations convinced me beyond doubt that her gestures were primarily meaningful,” Leer said.

The TGS is similar to conventional sign languages in that it conveys concrete, useful information to the observer. The TGS differs from conventional sign languages in that the information it conveys is generic; the TGS has very few “signs” in the conventional sense and lacks the means to distinguish between species, sex, age, color or similar specific conditions.

These gestures are also quite unlike mainstream Anglo-American gestures where hands are used to make chopping motions or wide circles, which function largely as punctuation marks.
The TGS was especially well developed in the areas of hunting, fishing and making war, since hunters and warriors frequently needed to communicate in silence, and since gestures were necessary in long-distance boat-to-boat communication. Moreover, since there were deaf individuals, the TGS was most likely adapted for use as a home sign language to communicate with such individuals; however, no such home sign language has been documented, Leer said.

SHI aims to determine if additional gestures beyond the 100 exists and to grow the gesture system into an actual Tlingit Sign Language (TSL) by documenting existing gestures that have fallen through the cracks and creating signs for specific vocabulary items to convert the TGS into a TSL.

SHI’s Involvement

SHI is sponsoring the program, which will be led by Leer, through reparation funds given to the institute in October by the Ḵunéix̱ Hídi Northern Light United Church, Northwest Coast Presbytery and Presbyterian Church U.S.A. The payment was meant to atone for the racially motivated closure of a Juneau church in 1963 that was ministered by the late Tlingit spiritual leader Dr. Walter Soboleff.

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 Media and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI OFFERING MUSEUM, ART INTERNSHIPS IN ALASKA, NEW MEXICO

Candidates will get hands-on experience in museum sciences and art practices.

Nov. 29, 2023

(Apply Museum) (Apply Art) (Flyer Museum) (Flyer Art)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is recruiting undergraduate and graduate students for paid museum and art internships in partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in New Mexico.

Museum Internships

Students may apply for either a position at SHI in Juneau, Alaska, or for an opportunity at IAIA’s Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Museum interns will gain hands-on experience with cataloging museum collections, object storage management, and exhibition planning, research and/or installation.

The SHI-based museum studies internship will start May 27, 2024, and last for six weeks. The interns will work with SHI’s collection of Northwest Coast objects, assist with museum exhibit preparation and work alongside SHI staff in collections management.

The IAIA internship begins on June 27, 2024, and lasts for six weeks (ends July 26). MoCNA holds the National Collection of Contemporary Native American Arts with close to 9,000 artworks, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography, contemporary apparel, textiles, cultural arts, new media and installations. The interns will work with the MoCNA team to develop and install a summer exhibition.

Art Internships

The SHI-based art internships, also based in Juneau, will start May 27, 2024, and last for nine weeks. At the conclusion of the program interns will have a broader practical understanding of what is expected from an artist when engaging in a variety of income-generating activities; increased artistic knowledge and skills; a practical understanding of how to plan and operate special arts events, summer programs and arts learning opportunities; experience with operations of a nonprofit organization; and knowledge of reporting requirements for operating community activities.

The selected interns will prepare and implement in-person and online arts events and activities, plan and implement online and/or in-person summer camps for youth, participate as an SHI “artist in residence” focusing on developing skills in Northwest Coast art forms and provide general assistance to the art department team.

All internships are available to undergraduate students who have completed two years of college and to graduate students majoring in museum and art studies or a related field. Preference will be given to applicants with a 2.5 GPA or higher.

The candidates must provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination. The current updated vaccines are a recommendation, not a requirement.

The programs are part of a larger effort to support an Alaska Native arts associate degree or certificate at UAS and a studio arts and museum studies degree at IAIA.

More information regarding compensation, housing and logistics is available on the application. The positions pay $26 per hour. The application deadline is Jan. 31, 2024.

If you have any questions regarding the museum internship, please contact Dr. Kaila Cogdill, SHI collections and curatorial manager, at kaila.cogdill@sealaska.com. If you have any questions regarding the art internship, please contact Kari Groven, SHI art director, at kari.groven@sealaska.com.

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.

Caption: SHI 2023 museum intern Jordan Martinez near one of the institute’s exhibits. Photo by Kaila Cogdill, 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

EDUCATION CONFERENCE TO FEATURE POWERHOUSE KEYNOTES, IMPRESSIVE PRESENTERS’ ROSTER

Registration open

May 2, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has enlisted renowned, nationally-known educators to give keynote addresses at its sixth Culturally Responsive Education Conference for teachers and administrators, which is part of a larger effort to promote culturally responsive pedagogy in schools.

The event, Our Cultural Landscape, has drawn some of the best professionals in the field, including the award-winning, best-selling author Monique Gray-Smith; Angela Lunda, Ph.D., co-principal investigator on the Molly Community Science Project; and longtime educator Panigkaq Agatha John-Shields, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage for Indigenizing Education at the School of Education.

The theme of this year’s event is Latseen KaáX̱ Yeéi Atdaaneé ‘ Gathering for Strength. The conference will offer breakout sessions on a wide range of topics, including:

• Gathering for professional growth
• Gathering for well-being
• Gathering for wisdom
• Gathering from the land

The conference is scheduled June 13-15. Educators may register to attend now. There is no cost to register for virtual or in-person components.

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, possibilities for indigenizing curriculum and building safe social environments for all learners.

Keynote Bios

Monique Gray-Smith is an award-winning, best-selling author. Her books cover a broad spectrum of ages, topics and emotions. Woven into all of Gray-Smith’s writing, speaking engagements and online courses is the teaching that Love is Medicine. In September 2022, she released her 4th children’s picture book, I Hope with Orca Book Publishers. Her focus has been weaving history, resilience and trauma informed training for educators, social workers, librarians and early childhood teams. She is an appointed member of the Board of Directors of Royal Roads University and the Minister’s Advisory Council for Indigenous Women for the Government of BC and is the elected President of the Board of Directors for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. She is well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity and focus on resilience.

Koogak’aax (Angela Lunda), Ph.D. is a life-long Alaskan of the Tling├¡t tribe, Ch’aak (Eagle) moiety, Kaagwaantaan (Wolf) clan, and the Sitka Diíx X’awool’ja Hít (Two-Door House) with more than three decades as a teacher and administrator. She is passionate about equity in education and ensuring that all students receive a quality education in a culturally safe and nurturing environment. Lunda’s research interest centers on the cultural identity development (CID) of young Indigenous Alaskan children and the ways that schools and communities support healthy CID. Lunda is co-Principal Investigator on a multi-year National Science Foundation-funded grant, the Molly Community Science Project, a collaborative grant between GBH-Boston, the producers of the popular Molly of Denali children’s television program, South Dakota State University, and the University of Alaska Southeast.

Panigkaq Agatha John-Shields, Ph.D., is the daughter of the late Dr. Chief Kangrilnguq Paul and Anguyaluk Martina John from the Yup’ik village of Toksook Bay, Alaska, where she was raised traditionally by many elder mentors. John-Shields was an educator for 17 years at the Lower Kuskokwim School District where she served as an English-as-a-Second-Language teacher for Yup’ik students at Kilbuck Elementary School, and at Ayaprun Elitnaurvik Yup’ik Immersion Charter School as an immersion teacher, material developer and a principal. She currently is an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage for Indigenizing Education at the School of Education. Her professional passion is to teach through the lens of personal stories and experiences integrating Indigenous education and culturally responsive teaching and learning.

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.

Caption: SHI’s 2022 education conference. Photo by Stacy Unzicker, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute. Note: Media outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher resolution file, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI TO SPONSOR ERNESTINE HAYES AS FIRST SPEAKER IN FALL LECTURE SERIES

Free event to be offered in-person, virtually

Sept. 1, 2021

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a lecture on Thursday as part of its new fall series on a wide variety of topics beginning with award-winning author and professor Ernestine Hayes.

In her talk, An Alaska Native Memoir: Our Lives are Stories Telling Themselves, Hayes will examine what it means to be Indigenous in 21st century Alaska and share the question that guides her story forward. 

Hayes will recount the challenges, obstacles and opportunities that defined her path from territorial Alaska to San Francisco and beyond while holding to her roots of having been born in the Juneau Indian Village at the end of the Second World War.

Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes belongs to the Wolf House of the Kaagwaantaan clan of the Eagle side of the Tlingit nation. Hayes was a Rasmuson Distinguished Artist in 2021 and Alaska Writer Laureate from 2016-2018. She is the grandmother of four, great-grandmother of three, and the author of Blonde Indian: an Alaska Native Memoir and The Tao of Raven.

The lecture is scheduled for 12 pm, Thursday, Sept. 8, in Shuká Hít within SHI’s Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. in Juneau. The lectures will be livestreamed and posted on SHI’s YouTube channel.

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.

Caption: Ernestine Hayes, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute. Note: News outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SIX PEOPLE PURCHASE HISTORIC CHILKAT ROBE AT AUCTION, GIVE TO SHI

Ancient design speaks to earliest introduction of Chilkat weaving to the Tlingits

Jan. 16, 2024

Six people in the Lower 48 have purchased an historic naaxein (Chilkat robe) at auction and donated it to Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), where it can be studied by artists to perpetuate this ancient and endangered art form.

The robe, estimated to be at least 150 years of age by the highly esteemed Haida Chilkat weaver Evelyn Vanderhoop, has great historical significance because its design appeared on the first robe of its kind traded from the Tsimshian to the Chilkat Tlingits in Klukwan, she said.

“The history of the robe and the honor this design continues to receive from the Chilkat people make this a very valuable acquisition,” Vanderhoop said.

SHI President Rosita Worl, a Chilkat Tlingit from Klukwan, called the donation a wonderful gift.

“We are grateful and indebted to the people who came together to make this extraordinary donation to SHI. Our ancestor is coming home to teach our weavers about this ancient art form and design. This is a joyous occasion for us,” Worl said.  

The Tsimshian people pioneered the technique of Chilkat weaving, one of the most difficult and complex art forms in the world. After the Klukwan Tlingits acquired that first robe, Chilkat women took it apart and learned how to weave the robes themselves, said Worl, an anthropologist. The weavers were so prolific, the blankets became known as Chilkat robes.

SHI staff became aware the robe was for sale through MBA Seattle Auction House, but its $39,000 price put it beyond the nonprofit’s reach.

That’s when a perfect storm ensued. Three weavers, including Vanderhoop, Lily Hope and Kandi McGilton, contacted Dr. Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, the curator of Northwest Native art at the Burke Museum in Washington, searching for a way to stop the robe from returning to private hands, where it had lived for many years. Together, they encouraged a small group of donors to purchase the robe and donate it to SHI so that it would be accessible to Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people for study in perpetuity.

“I think the redeeming part about the story is that all of us can work together to make these good things happen,” said Bunn-Marcuse. “We can come together across different institutions and communities to make sure that historical creations are accessible to contemporary artists and community members.”

Two of the donors, Bob and Rita Moore, have a deep connection to SHI. They attended SHI’s biennial Celebration for the first time in 2014 and have gone to every event since (except 2020, when it was virtual due to the pandemic). They’ve also made contributions to SHI that included funds to establish SHI’s Walter Soboleff Building and its Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus, among other donations.

It was important to them to help return the robe to the people who pioneered and perpetuated the art form.

“In learning about Northwest Coast Indigenous art, we have become aware that many of the historic items currently in non-Indigenous hands were at best sold under duress, and at worst outright stolen. So, we are delighted to help bring a culturally important object like this robe back to the people it came from,” Bob Moore said.

Other donors included Nancy Kovalik, Martha and Eugene Nester and Ashley Verplank McClelland.

Tlingit weaver and teacher Lily Hope said she is grateful that another handwoven teacher is coming home.

“My students and I look to historic Chilkat works for technical mastery, inspiration and permission to allow flaws. We’re looking forward to visiting with her when she arrives,” Hope said.

The institute plans to hold a ceremony to welcome the robe home and bring the spirits back to life. 

Provenance of the Robe and Design

MBA Seattle Auction House provided no provenance nor information on the identities of current or past owners of the robe. The robe appeared at auction in 2022, and information on an auction site at that time revealed it was recently owned by an individual in Seattle who had acquired it from a woman there on March 4, 1957.

Regarding the design, Vanderhoop ‘ who studied at the Museum of Natural History in New York in 2000 ‘ examined a robe with the same pattern and found, in their archives, a document written by Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons, an ethnographic photographer who from the late 1800s spent 40 years researching and documenting Native cultures in Southeast Alaska.

In the document, Emmons stated that the pattern on the robe was the first one to be traded to the northern Tlingit.

In 2017, Vanderhoop found another document by Emmons at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. According to the document, Emmons, in his official duty as a Naval officer, traveled to Klukwan in 1887 and was hosted by Chief Chartrich. According to Emmons, Chief Chartrich was the owner of a robe of this pattern, and Chartrich informed him of its history. In the document, Emmons stated the pattern was on the first Chilkat robe traded from the Tsimshian.

The original robe is thought to be in the collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Vanderhoop said. 

About Chilkat Robes

Chilkat weaving is one of the most complex weaving techniques in the world, and it is unique to Northwest Coast cultures. Chilkat weavings, which function as clan at.├│ow 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.  The process of harvesting the goat and bark and then processing these materials was also complex and laborious. 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; Dr. Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, curator of Northwest Native art at the Burke Museum, 206.543.5595, kbunn@uw.edu; Evelyn Vanderhoop, Haida weaver and teacher, evevanderhoop@gmail.com; Lily Hope, Tlingit weaver and teacher, 907.957.8774, lilyhopeweaver@gmail.com; Bob Moore, donor, robert.carter.moore@gmail.com.

Caption: Chilkat robe acquired by SHI through donors. Photo courtesy of MBA Seattle Auction House. Note: news outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher-res version, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com