Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI TO HOLD CEREMONY FOR TOTEM POLES, BRONZE FACES THIS WEEK

Event to be live streamed, everyone welcome

April 17, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will hold a ceremony on Saturday for the first 12 poles of Kootéeyaa Deiyí (Totem Pole Trail) and Faces of Alaska, a major installation of bronze masks representing the five major Native groups of Alaska.

The ceremony will feature opening comments by Native leaders, political dignitaries and Fran Houston, spokesperson of the Áak’w Kwáan—a group of Tlingit clans that occupy the Juneau area as their homelands. Two ceremonies will follow: Thanking and feeding the spirits of the trees and Yéik Utee (Imitating the Spirits).

A totem pole dedication will be led by representatives of the clans and tribes whose crests are depicted on the poles. Seven of the totems represent the following clans: the L’eeneidí, Wooshkeetaan, Yanyeidí, Ishkahittaan, Kaagwaantaan, L’uknax.ádi and the Shangukeidí. Of the remaining five totems, four will represent the Haida Eagles and Ravens and the Tlingit Eagles and Ravens, and one will represent the Tsimshian.

The Faces of Alaska installation will feature comments from the master artists commissioned to make the masks. Four of the masks represent the Inupiat, Yup’ik, Aluttiq and the Athabascan and one mask represents the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. Three of the masks will be installed prior to the ceremony and two will be installed later.

Totem Pole Trail is the third and final phase of SHI’s vision to make Juneau the Northwest Coast arts capital of the world, said SHI President Rosita Worl, noting the construction of the Walter Soboleff Building and the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus marked phases one and two respectively.

“We have a dream to bring back the great and ancient material culture of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian in all of its glory and for all to see,” Worl said. “I hope the community will participate in the ceremony and celebrate these new additions to Juneau.”

When all 30 poles have been raised along Totem Pole Trail, SHI will have met its goal to make Juneau the Northwest Coast arts capital. 

“However, we have much work to do to continue to expand our efforts in teaching Northwest Coast art and promote its recognition throughout the state and nation,” Worl said.

The event will kick off at 11 am, Saturday, April 22, with dancing by groups and individuals at Heritage Plaza by the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus. The Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy (TCLL) students from Harborview Elementary will lead the procession. Everyone is invited to dance. The formal ceremony will begin at 12 pm. SHI will live stream the program on its YouTube channel.

Totem Pole Trail

The ceremony, scheduled for April 22, will mark the installation of the first 12 of 30 totems for Totem Pole Trail, an initiative launched in 2021 through a $2.9 million grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project. The Monuments Project is an unprecedented $250 million commitment by the Mellon Foundation to transform the nation’s commemorative landscape.

Through this grant, SHI hired 10 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian artists, including TJ and Joe Young of Hydaburg, Jon Rowan of Klawock, David R. Boxley of Metlakatla, Nathan and Stephen Jackson of Saxman, Nicholas Galanin and Tommy Joseph of Sitka, Robert Mills of Kake and Mick Beasley of Juneau. Haida artist Warren Peele was also hired to make a totem pole for the project in 2022 through a grant from the Denali Commission. TJ Young made two of the poles for the project.

The Mellon grant also funded apprentices to mentor with each of the artists.

“We discovered through this process that there aren’t a lot of master artist Northwest Coast totem pole carvers. SHI’s Native Artist Committee considers a person a master artist totem pole carver if he/she has carved at least five totem poles. With the limited number of master totem pole carvers, the mentor-apprentice arrangement became a vital component of the project,” Worl said.

“These indigenous master carvers and artists have made even more visible the stories and cultural legacies of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples to all who experience Southeast Alaska,” said Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation. “The Totem Trail, together with other vital community commemorative efforts across the United States, is re-shaping our understanding of monuments and memorials to better reflect the complexity and multiplicity of histories in our country. We are deeply honored to support this work in Juneau.”

The totem poles will be an entry point from the waterfront to Heritage Square, a space encompassing the intersection of Seward and Front Streets and surrounding area that was named by the city in 2018. Each totem pole will eventually feature a corresponding story board that identifies the clan, crests and information related to the artwork. 

Faces of Alaska

The ceremony will also mark the unveiling of Faces of Alaska, a spectacular monumental art installation at the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus featuring bronze masks that represent Alaska’s five major Native groups, including the Inupiat, Yup’ik, Alutiiq and Athabascan.  The fifth group will be a combination of the Southeast tribes, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, because they are culturally interrelated.

Master artists from each of Alaska’s five cultural groups were selected to create four-foot monumental bronze masks that are representative of their region’s artistic traditions. The Faces of Alaska art pieces positioned on pedestals will provide visitors to the arts campus a centerpiece for discussion and education on Alaska’s different cultural groups. The installation will serve as a gateway to Alaska, introducing other regions and the diversity of the state’s Native cultures.  

“I see Juneau and Southeast Alaska as the gateway to the rest of Alaska, and I wanted to introduce visitors and local residents to the other Indigenous groups of the state. Additionally, other groups of Alaska Natives have settled in Juneau and Southeast Alaska, and I wanted to make them feel welcome in our region,” Worl said.

The pieces were made by artists Perry Eaton (Sugpiaq/Alutiiq), Lawrence Ahvakana (Iñupiaq), Drew Michael (Yup’ik) and Kathleen Carlo-Kendall (Koyukon Athabaskan). Tsimshian artist John Hudson made a bronze mask that represents the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.

The masks made by Ahvakana, Eaton and Michael will be installed prior to the ceremony and the other two will be installed later.

About Totem Poles

Northwest Coast art evolved over several thousand years in the rich and complex Indigenous societies of the Pacific Northwest of North America. From the earliest contact with Westerners, wood carvings, weavings and other cultural pieces depicting Northwest Coast art were aggressively collected by museums and explorers and acclaimed as one of the most distinctive and unique art traditions in the world.

One of the most widely-known art forms within this tradition is the totem pole (kootéeyaa in Lingít, gyáa’aang in X̱aad Kíl, and p’tsaan in Sm’algya̱x). While its exact origins are unclear, scholars have traced the earliest known examples to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska, Haida Gwaii, and northern British Columbia.

The carved figures depict crests, spirits and designs that symbolize the rich history of clan origins and migrations and significant ancestors who made lasting contributions for their descendants. Carved exclusively of red cedar, totem poles are raised on important occasions such as marriages, the construction of a new clan house or the transfer of historic names and titles from one generation to the next. “Shame poles” were also carved if an individual or clan grievously offended another clan.

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.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

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

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI ESTABLISHES FIRST-EVER REGISTRY OF TLINGIT CLAN CRESTS

Institute publishes book about six clan crests based on knowledge from clan leaders, spokespersons; more crests to follow

April 12, 2023

(Get the Book)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has established the first-ever registry of Tlingit clan crests— the most important symbols of the history and identity of Tlingit people—and published a book presenting the initial six clans and crests documented for the project.

The book, The Crests of Tlingit Clans, features clan narratives that were prepared from transcripts of oral histories, interviews, videos and speeches given by clan leaders and clan spokespersons representing the clans whose crests are described in the volume.

The book also features imagery of the six crests, which were acquired by ancestors in the ancient past and represent crucial encounters with supernatural beings that determine the unique identity and character of clan members.

The book is based on the registry, and SHI will continue to expand the resource as more crests are added, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“This initial version of the registry presents one crest for each of six clans. There are many Tlingit clans, and SHI will continue to raise funds to document additional clans and crests,” Worl said.  “Furthermore, most clans have more than one crest, and the registry will also be expanded to include as many crests as can be documented.”

The book includes short narratives describing the acquisition of the following crests developed from accounts provided by clan leaders and historians:

•         Kaawashag̱i G̱ooch (Panting Wolf) Crest of the Kaagwaantaan clan
•         Tl’anaxéedáḵw (Wealth-Bringing Woman) Crest of the L’eeneidí clan
•         X̱’áakw (Fresh-Water-Marked Sockeye Salmon) Crest of the Lukaax̱.ádi clan
•         Xeitl (Thunderbird) Crest of the Shangukeidí clan
•         Ḵ’eiḵ’w (Kittiwake) Crest of the T’aḵdeintaan clan
•         Tóos’ (Shark) Crest of the Wooshkeetaan clan

The book was edited by SHI’s Senior Ethnologist Chuck Smythe, Ph.D. and published through the institute’s Box of Knowledge series. The book is available through the Sealaska Heritage Store. The registry is posted online on SHI’s website.

This project was supported in part through a grant from the Grants to Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian Organizations Program as administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior.

About Tlingit Crests

Crests are the most important symbols of the history and identity of Tlingit clans, acquired by ancestors in the ancient past and representing crucial encounters with animal persons and spiritual beings that determine the unique identity and character of clan members. Other significant events in clan histories are also memorialized in crests, and they may encapsulate more recent historical events that have shaped the life experiences of clan ancestors and descendants. Crests were acquired by clan ancestors and held in perpetuity by clan members through the generations as sacred clan property. The right to depict the visual representation of the encounter was often acquired as payment for the life of an ancestor, usually the ancestor who was involved in the event. The payment also bestowed on the clan an ownership claim on the crest animal or non-human being and on the place where the encounter occurred, and an exclusive relationship with the supernatural entity involved in the event. Crests embody the supernatural entities depicted on at.óow (sacred property belonging to the clan) including material objects and the stories, songs, and names which represent them. Crests are living beings and their spirits reside in at.óow, which are regarded as alive.  (Excerpted from The Crests of Tlingit Clans)

About Box of Knowledge

SHI’s Box of Knowledge Series consists of essays, reports, and books that the institute considers should be made available as a contribution to studies on Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures, history, and languages. They may be based on work carried out by researchers working in collaboration with SHI, contributions prepared by external experts, and work by staff. Publications in the Box of Knowledge Series are available for sale through SHI’s website at www.sealaskaheritage.org.

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; Chuck Smythe, SHI Senior Ethnologist, 907.586.9282, chuck.smythe@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2002

Video series shows eleventh Celebration, more years to follow

April 10, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube video of Celebration 2002.

Celebration is a dance-and-culture festival first held by SHI in 1982 that has grown into the world’s largest gathering of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. The 2002 event featured 34 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

Celebration 2002 marked the first time SHI sponsored its Juried Art Show and Competition, which was part of an effort to encourage and enhance the creation and production of Southeast Alaska Native objects of artistic value which have fallen into disuse and are becoming rare; to stimulate and enhance the quality of artistic work among Native artisans; and to encourage the development of new forms of art of purely Southeast Alaska Native form and design.

The event has grown into one of the institute’s most popular programs, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“We have seen such growth among our artists and some very high caliber pieces accepted into the Juried Art Show over the past 21 years, so I think it has been a tremendous success,” Worl said.

In the first competition, the late Chilkat weaver Clarissa Rizal (then Hudson) won Best of Show for her Chilkat robe Copper Woman and Tlingit artist Richard Beasley took First Place for a shakee.át.

Celebration 2002 also marked the first time SHI sponsored a food contest. In that first one, people competed for best black seaweed, a delicacy among the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian that has medicinal properties. In later years, SHI added contests for best soapberries, seal oil and dry fish.

SHI also hosted a Hawaiian dance group, Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Ensemble, which proved to be a huge hit at Celebration.

SHI sought grants to digitize and share past Celebration tapes so the footage could be used as a resource for dance groups wanting to learn from past performances, language learners wanting to hear Elders speaking, people wanting to learn more about their culture and to teach others about Southeast Alaska Native cultures.

The rest of SHI’s Celebration footage, up through Celebration 2016, will be posted online. Celebration 2018 was the first Celebration posted on YouTube in its entirety in 2019.

The Celebration: 10,000 Years of Cultural Survival project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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.óow (sacred objects). It was held at the urging of Elders, 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, including thousands of children.

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

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2023

Video series shows tenth Celebration, more years to follow

March 30, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube video of Celebration 2000.

Celebration is a dance-and-culture festival first held by SHI in 1982 that has grown into the world’s largest gathering of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. The 2000 event featured 44 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

The participants and visitors of Celebration 2000 united under the theme “Restoring Balance Through Culture.” The opening ceremony featured a welcome by Dr. Walter Soboleff and the telling of a Wolf story by Clarence Jackson, who was Tlingit of the Ch’áak’ (Eagle) moiety, Tsaagweidí (Killerwhale) clan of Kake, Alaska.

“As we’ve revisited past Celebrations through our project to digitize and put the video online, we’ve realized what a treasure trove of cultural knowledge we documented by videotaping the event. We have participants speaking in all three languages and traditional scholars telling our ancient stories, and all of this has been preserved for future generations to study,” said SHI President Rosita Worl.

SHI sought grants to digitize and share past Celebration tapes so the footage could be used as a resource for dance groups wanting to learn from past performances, language learners wanting to hear Elders speaking, people wanting to learn more about their culture and to teach others about Southeast Alaska Native cultures.

The rest of SHI’s Celebration footage, up through Celebration 2016, will be posted online. Celebration 2018 was the first Celebration posted on YouTube in its entirety in 2019.

The Celebration: 10,000 Years of Cultural Survival project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

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.óow (sacred objects). It was held at the urging of Elders, 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, including thousands of children.

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 ACCEPTING PROPOSALS FROM PRESENTERS FOR 2023 EDUCATION CONFERENCE

Testimony heard in last of a nationwide series of consultations with Indigenous people

Feb. 23, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is accepting proposals from presenters for its sixth Culturally Responsive Education Conference, which is part of a larger effort to promote culturally responsive pedagogy in schools.

SHI is soliciting proposals from educators in Alaska and worldwide to present in person or virtually. This year’s theme is Latseen Káx̱ Yéi Atdaané— Gathering for Strength.  Educators in early childhood through university and community educators are encouraged to submit proposals for presentations related to the following topics:

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

The deadline to submit proposals is April 7, 2023. SHI will give preference to proposals that illustrate relevance to the conference theme, as well as to presentations that connect to culturally responsive education, equity in education and/or Alaska Native education issues, participant engagement, creativity and demonstrated expertise related to the topic. 

The goals are to promote academic success of Native students and cross-cultural understanding, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“We know through evaluations and academic results that Native children do better in school when their cultures are incorporated into classrooms. Teachers are the key to improving the educational experience of our young people,” Worl said.

SHI’s conference in 2022 served nearly 700 educators from Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington as well as educators from Australia, Canada and Switzerland.

The 2023 conference, scheduled June 13-15 in Juneau, is open to all educators in Alaska and worldwide who are interested in culturally relevant education.

The conference is part of SHI’s education program Thru the Cultural Lens, which was founded in 2012 to give cultural orientations for educators. For more details about the conference, contact Ben Kriegmont at ben.kriegmont@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

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM TO CULTIVATE MORE INDIGENOUS ACTORS, PERFORMING ARTISTS

Application period for March workshop now open

Feb. 21, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is launching a new demonstration project to cultivate more Indigenous actors and performing artists to support future productions that incorporate Native culture and language.

SHI is currently accepting applications for the first session, which is free and scheduled March 11-12 with Native teachers Ed Littlefield, Lyle James, Kolene James, and Lance Twitchell.

The program, Naakahidi (Clan House) Academy, aadé sh kadulneek yé (the way stories are told), is meant to further the skills of Indigenous performers to act and sing in the Tlingit language and to refine their skills in dance, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people have an ancient history of storytelling and performing Native songs and dances, so the progression to a modern setting such as the stage is a natural fit. Performing arts is another way to teach the general public about our cultures in a new and dynamic way,” Worl said.

During the workshop, Littlefield and Twitchell will teach Tlingit language basics and strengthen performers’ connections to the text. Instructors will also incorporate several songs and dances into the sessions.

Budding performers from all performing arts disciplines are encouraged to participate, including dancers, musicians, actors and storytellers. Fluency in the Tlingit language is not required.

SHI is seeking additional funds to expand the program to productions in the Haida and Tsimshian languages.

The free program is open to high school students and adults in Juneau. Applications are due Friday, March 3. For more information about the workshop, contact Flordelino Lagundino at 907-586-9579 or at flordelino.lagundino@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

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 1998

Video series shows eighth Celebration, more years to follow

Feb. 15, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube video of Celebration 1998.

Celebration is a dance-and-culture festival first held by SHI in 1982 that has grown into the world’s largest gathering of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people.

Celebration 1998 was dedicated to the learning of Southeast Alaska Native languages.

By the mid-1990s, Celebration welcomed a growing number of dance groups from Canada, which was a natural evolution of the event, as Native people don’t recognize the border between the two nations, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“Alaska Native oral traditions talk about extensive contact between Southeast Natives and Canadian tribes. Oral histories also indicate Native people did travel from Southeast to the Interior and from the Interior to Southeast. DNA analysis on the remains of a man found in a glacier in 1999 determined he was Canadian and Alaskan,” Worl said.

SHI sought grants to digitize and share past Celebration tapes so the footage could be used as a resource for dance groups wanting to learn from past performances, language learners wanting to hear Elders speaking, people wanting to learn more about their culture and to teach others about Southeast Alaska Native cultures.

The rest of SHI’s Celebration footage, up through Celebration 2016, will be posted online. Celebration 2018 was the first Celebration posted on YouTube in its entirety in 2019.

The Celebration: 10,000 Years of Cultural Survival project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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.óow (sacred objects). It was held at the urging of Elders, 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, including thousands of children.

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

GROUNDBREAKING TLINGIT SCHOOL PROGRAM EXPANDING TO EIGHTH GRADE

Interim principal hired, program to expand on Lingít lessons

Feb. 1, 2023

A groundbreaking Tlingit elementary school program established by Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and the Juneau School District (JSD) in 2000 is expanding to eighth grade, welcoming a full-time, interim principal and growing its Lingít language instruction.

The program, Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy (TCLL), uses a place-based approach that integrates Tlingit language and culture into daily instruction, as numerous studies have shown that Indigenous students do better academically when Native culture is reflected at school.

The program will expand from its current K-5 services into grades 6-8 by the 2024-2025 school year, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“The growth will allow the deeply supportive and intentional community that TCLL has built to continue supporting students on through their middle school years,” Worl said.

The program also has a new full-time, interim principal—Molly Box, a former JSD principal who has worked in education for 30 years.

Box worked as a classroom teacher for more than 20 years at the middle school level and as an assistant principal at Floyd Dryden Middle School. She retired in 2021 after serving as principal of Harborview Elementary and TCLL and teaching grades 4-5 at Harborview.

The Juneau School District is currently seeking a permanent principal who will work with families in supporting language revitalization.

The program is expanding to middle school as part of a plan to establish a dual language program, a form of education in which students are taught literacy and content in two languages. The shift means teachers will incorporate more Lingít into lessons.

Funding from and partnerships with SHI, Douglas Indian Association, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, Hoonah Heritage Foundation, the Juneau School District and Tlingit & Haida Central Council has enabled the program to flourish for more than 20 years. The current team of educators is comprised of three Elders, three language instructors and three classroom teachers. With the expansion to middle school, the team will add an additional two classroom teachers, one language instructor and one Elder.

In addition to content-based instruction, TCLL students engage daily with Tlingit Elder cultural specialists, go on culturally oriented field trips (clan house, traditional food harvesting, etc.), celebrate their linguistic skills by performing songs/dances at community events and learn Tlingit cultural values.

Through the grant, SHI is also developing 60 books in Lingít for the program.

The TCLL middle school program will offer culturally-relevant elective classes and access to sports and after-school activities available at the other two optional JSD middle schools. Box will work with parents to establish a TCLL Site Council and Family Committee.

About TCLL

The Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program (TCLL) is place-based, culture based “program within a school” where the Tlingit language and culture are integral to daily instruction, where they are celebrated and respected. TCLL in the Juneau School District (JSD) is one of three optional programs open to all students, along with Montessori Borealis School and the Juneau Community Charter School. TCLL started with Sealaska Heritage in 2000, and it proved so successful, the school district assumed funding for the program. A study in 2013 found that the incorporation of traditional tribal values of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian directly contributes to Alaska Native student success and fosters an environment to grow leadership skills, self-confidence, and creativity. SHI’s goals are to build a thorough language immersive program within TCLL, increase teacher fluency in Tlingit language, and develop TCLL into an autonomous Optional Program in the JSD. TCLL is supported through Sealaska Heritage with federal funding from the Alaska Native Education Program. 

Parents of Native students have equal opportunity to enroll their Native child in the TCLL program. Students enrolled in TCLL and their families have equal treatment and access to services as JSD provides necessary educational supports and accommodations for TCLL students in need in compliance with federal and state laws. For more information, visit the TCLL website.

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

Caption: TCLL teacher Joshua Jackson and students at an event at SHI. Photo by Nobu Koch, 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 SETS DATES FOR TOTEM POLE TRAIL, FACES OF ALASKA CEREMONY

Event to be live streamed, everyone welcome

Jan. 25, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will hold a ceremony in April to celebrate the raising of ten totem poles along the Juneau waterfront and the installation of bronze masks on the SHI arts campus honoring the five major Native groups of Alaska.

The projects, Kootéeyaa Deiyí (Totem Pole Trail) and Faces of Alaska, have been years in the making and include work by master artists from Indigenous groups across the state.

“SHI continues its efforts to make Juneau the Northwest Coast arts capital, and I think people will be amazed to see these installations,” said SHI President Rosita Worl. “We can’t wait to unveil them to the public.”

The ceremony is scheduled April 22 at Heritage Plaza by the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus on Seward St. The event will be live streamed through SHI’s YouTube channel. The ceremony is open to everyone and the community is encouraged to attend.

Totem Pole Trail

The ceremony, scheduled for April 22, will mark the installation of the first 10 of 30 totems for Totem Pole Trail, an initiative launched in 2021 through a $2.9 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. Through the grant, SHI hired 10 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian artists, including TJ and Joe Young of Hydaburg, Jon Rowan of Klawock, David R. Boxley of Metlakatla, Nathan and Stephen Jackson of Saxman, Nicholas Galanin and Tommy Joseph of Sitka, Robert Mills of Kake and Mick Beasley of Juneau. Haida artist Warren Peele was also hired to make a totem pole for the project in 2022 through a separate grant from the Denali Commission. Peele’s pole will be among the first ten poles installed. Boxley’s pole is not yet completed and will be raised later.

The Mellon grant also funded apprentices to mentor with each of the artists.

“We discovered through this process that there aren’t a lot of master artist Northwest Coast totem pole carvers. SHI’s Native Artist Committee considers a person a master artist totem pole carver if he/she has carved at least five totem poles. With the limited number of master totem pole carvers, the mentor-apprentice arrangement became a vital component of the project,” Worl said.

The totem poles will be an entry point from the waterfront to Heritage Square, a space encompassing the intersection of Seward and Front Streets and surrounding area that was named by the city in 2018. Each totem pole will feature a corresponding story board that identifies the clan, crests and information related to the artwork. 

Faces of Alaska

The ceremony will also mark the unveiling of Faces of Alaska, a spectacular monumental art installation at the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus featuring bronze masks that represent Alaska’s five major Native groups, including the Inupiat, Yup’ik, Alutiiq and Athabascan.  The fifth group will be a combination of the Southeast tribes, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, because their cultures are very similar.

Master artists from each of Alaska’s five cultural groups were selected to create four-foot monumental bronze masks that are representative of their region’s artistic traditions. The Faces of Alaska art pieces positioned on pedestals will provide visitors to the arts campus a centerpiece for discussion and education on Alaska’s different cultural groups. The installation will serve as a gateway to Alaska, introducing other regions and the diversity of the state’s Native cultures.  

“I saw Juneau and Southeast Alaska as the gateway to the rest of Alaska, and I wanted to introduce visitors and local residents to the other Indigenous groups of the state. Additionally, other groups of Alaska Natives have settled in Juneau and Southeast Alaska, and I wanted to make them feel welcome in our region,” Worl said.

The pieces were made by artists Perry Eaton (Sugpiaq/Alutiiq), Lawrence Ahvakana (Iñupiaq), Drew Michael (Yup’ik) and Kathleen Carlo-Kendall (Koyukon Athabaskan). Tsimshian artist John Hudson made a bronze mask that represents the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.

About Totem Poles

Northwest Coast art evolved over several thousand years in the rich and complex Indigenous societies of the Pacific Northwest of North America. From the earliest contact with Westerners, wood carvings, weavings and other cultural pieces depicting Northwest Coast art were aggressively collected by museums and visitors and acclaimed as one of the most distinctive and unique art traditions in the world.

One of the most widely-known art forms within this tradition is the totem pole (kootéeyaa in Lingít, gyáa’aang in X̱aad Kíl, and p’tsaan in Sm’algya̱x). While its exact origins are unclear, scholars have traced the earliest known examples to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska, Haida Gwaii, and northern British Columbia.

The carved figures depict crests, spirits and designs that symbolize the rich history of clan origins and migrations and significant ancestors who made lasting contributions for their descendants. Carved exclusively of red cedar, totem poles are raised on important occasions such as marriages, the construction of a new clan house or the transfer of historic names and titles from one generation to the next. “Shame poles” were also carved if an individual or clan grievously offended another clan.

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: An artist puts finishing touches on a totem pole made by Nicholas Galanin and his apprentices in Sitka for Totem Pole Trail. Photo by Bethany Goodrich, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute.  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

2023 TRADITIONAL GAMES PLANNED IN JUNEAU, REGISTRATION OPEN

Games to be livestreamed

Jan. 17, 2023

(Register) (Games Website)

The 2023 Traditional Games will be held in Juneau in April, and the registration form for athletes ages 11 and older is now available online.

The games will include teams competing in 10 events over two days and be live streamed on Sealaska Heritage Institute’s YouTube and a website set up for the games. Athletes who have questions should contact Coach Kyle Worl at kworl@ccthita-nsn.gov or 907.227.4998.

The weekend event is scheduled from April 1-2 at Thunder Mountain High School. The 2022 event marks the sixth anniversary of the Traditional Games in Juneau. Athletes who register by March 1 are eligible to win a sealskin kicking ball in a drawing.

About Traditional Games

​The Traditional Games (also referred to as Native Youth Olympics or NYO) includes various events that test skills of strength, agility, balance, endurance and focus. These games are based on hunting and survival skills of the Indigenous people of Alaska and across the Arctic going back hundreds of years. Athletes strive to perform at their personal best while helping and supporting their fellow competitors, no matter what team. This is the spirit of the games, to work together toward common goals and learn from the skills and values that allowed Alaska Native people to survive and thrive in some of the harshest conditions.

Sponsors and Partners

The Traditional Games and Juneau’s NYO team are a community collaboration made possible by the following major sponsors: Sealaska Heritage, Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Sealaska, University of Alaska Southeast, Select Physical Therapy, Juneau School District and Trickster Co.

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; Coach Kyle Worl, 907.227.4998, kworl@ccthita-nsn.gov