Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SHI TO SPONSOR SUMMER LECTURE SERIES ON SOUTHEAST NATIVE LANGUAGES, STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY

Free event to be offered in-person, virtually

July 24, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a free summer lecture series on the challenges faced by language students learning Lingít (Tlingit), X̱aad Kíl (Haida) and Sm’algyax (Tsimshian). 

The series, Strengthening our Community, is part of an effort to offer tools to students to work through issues they might encounter while studying languages.

“We have learned through our ongoing language scholars program for Lingít, X̱aad Kíl and Sm’algyax students that the journey has its challenges. We want to support our students and ease their way, as the work they are doing is so important to revitalizing our ancient languages,” said Dr. Rosita Worl, president of SHI.

All lectures will be held in-person at noon (Alaska time) at the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau. SHI will also live stream the series on its YouTube and save the talks on its channel immediately after. Viewers are encouraged to pose questions in-person and online.

The three-part series is scheduled as follows:

Wednesday, Aug. 2

•         Marilyn A. Jensen
  Marilyn A. Jensen will do a lecture on the topic of lateral kindness, a subject in which she has conducted research and provided workshops on for the past several years. Yadultin and Dūsts’ā̀dle is Inland Tlingit/Tagish Ḵwáan from the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. She belongs to the Daḵl’aweidí clan under the Tagish Keét Hít (Killerwhale House) in the Southern Yukon Territory. She has taught First Nation Governance at Yukon College and collaborates closely with many Indigenous communities as a consultant focusing on Indigenous self-determination. For the past 20 years, she has taught engaging workshops on government on Indigenous history, land claims and self-government for numerous First Nation governments and organizations.

Wednesday, Aug. 9

•         Lyle James
  As one of the leaders of the Woosh.ji.een Dance Group and his work, along with his wife, Kolene James, with Southeast Alaska Native youth, Lyle James has long been recognized for his efforts in using culture to heal. He has been an inspiration to language learners for many years. He learned Lingít from Florence Sheakley through the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). James has served as a teacher at UAS and for the past six years worked as a language and cultural specialist at the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. He says the role of fatherhood in Tlingit culture is shared by men in an extended family.

Wednesday, Aug. 23

•         Doug Modig
  Doug Modig is a Tsimshian Indian of the Eagle clan, born and raised in Ketchikan. His stepfather worked as a fisherman, logger and longshoreman. His mother was an Alaska Native weaver, producing museum quality work. His life growing up has been focused on a subsistence lifestyle. For over 40 years, Modig worked with a number of programs involving Alaska Native communities and traveled to 180 of them. His experience centers on collaborating with Alaska Native communities to improve services, and he helped foster the development of the Alaska Native Sobriety Movement.  Modig helped develop formative strategies on a statewide response to adverse childhood experiences through trauma-informed initiatives. 

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

TEN EDUCATORS RECOGNIZED FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE IN SCHOOLS, COMMUNITIES

Honors given during SHI’s 2023 Culturally Responsive Education Conference

June 14, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) awarded 10 educators from Alaska and Washington for their distinguished service today at its 2023 Culturally Responsive Education Conference.

Seven educators were given SHI’s Distinguished Educator Award, which recognizes educators who intentionally weave cultural knowledge throughout their lessons and classroom and use approaches that reflect Native students’ identity and values through place-based and culturally relevant practices, while reinforcing students’ capabilities of extraordinary academic achievements.

Two people were given SHI’s Community Educator Award, which recognizes that production of knowledge is not limited to the classroom but can occur anywhere. The award celebrates achievements in teaching that honor SHI’s values of cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through community outreach or as public service.

One person won SHI’s Distinguished Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership at a school, district or community level that exemplifies collaboration, and co-creation of environments that are safe, yet challenging, where success is defined through learning and meaningful mentorship.

The awards are a way to recognize educators who are outstanding in their field and who are making an extraordinary difference in people’s lives, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“We know excellent teachers are indispensable to our society, but how often do we tell them so? These awards are our way of saying that we see and appreciate the difference they are making in people’s lives,” Worl said.

Distinguished Educator Awardees

The following educators won SHI’s 2023 Distinguished Educator Award:

•         Marnita Coenraad of Juneau: Coenraad is a writing project specialist with the Juneau School District who is leading the way to incorporate the latest culturally responsive curriculum aimed at improving elementary student writing skills and spearheading culturally responsive professional development for three instructional coaches and 12 teachers.
•         Naomi Leask of Metlakatla: Leask is a teacher of Tsimshian Native Studies and Sm’algya̱x at Metlakatla High School who has an outstanding talent for teaching culture, harvesting and cedar bark weaving and sharing the way of her ancestors as she was taught by her grandmother, Ruth Booth. She cares about her students, and what she teaches makes people happy.
•         Jennifer McCarty of Metlakatla: McCarty is a preschool teacher at Annette Island School District who has taught many students during her 19-year tenure as an educator in Metlakatla. She is actively involved in learning Sm’algya̱x so she can teach her students. She is active in the community by leading the children’s dance group and is a leader in the 4th Generation Tsimshian Dancers group.
•         Jill Meserve of Juneau: Meserve is a teacher at Haa Yoo X’átangi Kúdi, a Lingit language immersion nest at the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida). She has been instrumental in cultivating a school-wide culture of collaboration, where teachers work together to share ideas and best practices. She is a Tlingit artist who has also made a significant impact on the broader community.
•         Virginia Oliver of Wrangell: Oliver is a Tlingit language instructor with the Wrangell Public School District with a wealth of knowledge about Tlingit culture in Wrangell. She is a beacon for youth in Wrangell looking to learn more about their culture.
•         Donna May Roberts of Shelton, Washington: Roberts has been promoting and teaching the Tsimshian language for many years. She has produced dictionaries and other resources and never passes up an opportunity to help anyone learn the language and customs of the Tsimshian.
•         Charlie Skultka Jr. of Sitka: Skultka is a Haida artist and educator. He is valued for his traditional knowledge and is an enthusiastic educator specializing in teaching art and culture to students from preschool through to high school and beyond. He has tirelessly and consistently dedicated his time to education, including in the areas of Northwest Coast formline design, carving, engraving, weaving, carpentry, harvesting and processing. He is driven and motivated to direct his knowledge toward educating and contributing to the community.

Community Educator Awardees

The following educators won SHI’s 2023 Community Educator Award:

•         Naomi Michalsen of Ketchikan: Michalsen is a Tlingit plant expert who shares her Indigenous plant knowledge with others. She has worked with teachers to support field trips where students learn to harvest and process plants.  She has extended professional development via Zoom, supported teachers’ curriculum development and modeled and shared knowledge. 
•         Darren Snyder of Juneau: Snyder teaches through the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Juneau District. He has worked on many different projects with the community and in many diverse organizations. His input on the South Douglas West Juneau Area Plan Steering Committee exemplifies values in protecting land inclusive of recognition of traditional­ ownership for Mayflower Island and promoting community gardening for local food independence. He has worked on many educational projects, including through Tlingit & Haida and SHI’s STEAM projects.

Distinguished Leadership Awardee

SHI gave its Distinguished Leadership Award to Dr. X’unei Lance Twitchell of Juneau. Twitchell is a professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast who has worked tirelessly to revitalize the Tlingit language. He also has been instrumental in teaching the language and in developing materials to learn Lingít.

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: Group photo of the awardees who attended SHI’s 2023 Culturally Responsive Education Conference. From left: Naomi Leask; Jennifer McCarty; Donna May Roberts’ granddaughter, Megan Roberts, accepting on Donna’s behalf; Charlie Skultka Jr. and Naomi Michalsen. Photo by Stacy Unzicker, courtesy of SHI. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2016

Video series shows eighteenth Celebration, all events now available online

June 13, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2016, bringing an end to a three-year project to post all 40 years of the event online.

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 2016 event featured nearly 50 dance groups.

That year, SHI sponsored its first Native Fashion Show at Celebration in an effort to showcase and encourage the integration of Alaska Native art into high-fashion pieces.

“We are seeing an evolution in high-fashion Native clothing that draws from our regalia,” said SHI President Rosita Worl, who credited the longtime Haida designer Dorothy Grant as one of the first to incorporate Northwest Coast designs into fashion. “It is not regalia—it’s clothing. However, like regalia, it identifies us. It tells the world who we are, and we want to encourage these designers.”

Nearly 20 designers from across the state representing numerous Alaska Native cultures were featured at the show, which was such a hit that SHI has continued to sponsor the event at subsequent Celebrations and moved it to Centennial Hall to accommodate the large crowds of spectators it attracts.

The theme for Celebration 2016 was “Haa Shuká: Weaving Traditional Knowledge into our Future.”

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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

Caption: Cover art on Celebration program by David R. Boxley. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2014

Video series shows seventeenth Celebration, more years to follow

June 5, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2014.

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 2014 event featured 50 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

The 2014 theme was Envisioning the Future Through the Reflections of Our Past, which was chosen to honor the vision of our ancestors and historical Native leaders, wrote SHI President Rosita Worl at the time.

“They were truly visionaries as they saw that we must protect and maintain our traditional culture, but at the same time embrace the benefits that the Western society offered to us. Initially they battled to protect our land ownership in the face of Westerners who arrived on our shores seeking the wealth of our land,” Worl wrote in the Celebration 2014 program.

“Although they knew that we had ancient laws that governed our traditional society, our historical leaders almost instinctually understood that they must enshrine our rights in the new Western legal regimes that would govern our lives. They also knew that we must be part of the new society and therefore sought citizenship and the right to vote. They worked through the legislative system to secure the same rights as those enjoyed by other citizens. To their credit, they also worked to ensure that we maintained our traditional culture.”

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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 

Caption: Cover art on Celebration program by Robert Davis Hoffmann. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2012

Video series shows sixteenth Celebration, more years to follow

May 31, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2012.

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 2012 event featured 55 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

Celebration 2012 marked the 30th year since the inception of the event, which is largely credited with sparking a renaissance of Native cultures in Southeast Alaska.

The theme of Celebration 2012—Strengthen Yourself—was inspired by our core cultural values, Haa Latseení or “Strength of Body Mind and Spirit” in Tlingit (Haida: Íitl’ Dagwiigáay; Tsimshian: Na Gatlleedm), said SHI President Rosita Worl.

The theme was selected to remind our community of the traditional cultural practice of rigorous physical training Native youth endured to protect and live up to the expectations of their clans and villages. The teachings and codes were designed to give rise to a rich and viable society, which ultimately contributes to cultural survival, Worl said.

Along with dance performances, it featured associated events, including a Juried Art Show and Competition, Native Artist Market, Native Artist Gathering, seaweed and soapberry contests, Toddler Regalia Review, film screenings, workshops, lectures and parade—with the addition of eight canoes—through downtown Juneau.

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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

Caption: Cover art on Celebration program by Robert Davis Hoffmann. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

ELDRI WESTMORELAND SELECTED TO LEAD TCLL

Tlingit educational leader will serve as the program’s first principal

May 26, 2023

(TCLL Website)

The Juneau School District (JSD) has selected Eldri Westmoreland to lead the Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy (TCLL) Program, a groundbreaking elementary school program established by Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and the JSD in 2000. Westmoreland will be TCLL’s first permanent principal, replacing interim principal Molly Box.

Westmoreland holds a master’s degree in mathematics education and is pursuing her doctorate in Indigenous Studies with a focus on education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2021, SHI awarded her its Judson L. Brown Leadership Award in recognition of her demonstrated academic achievement and leadership skills.

“We are ecstatic to have Eldri leading the charge, especially at a time when we are expanding the TCLL program to middle school,” said SHI President Dr. Rosita Worl. “To have someone of her caliber, professional experience and commitment to education in command of TCLL is like Raven aligned all of the stars, moon and planets! That she is Tlingit and carries our cultural values in her heart is the icing on the cake.”

Westmoreland began her professional journey in 1993 as a preschool teacher before moving into elementary and middle school as a lead teacher. She began working for the JSD as an elementary classroom teacher in 2009 and since 2019 has served both JSD and SHI as a middle school mentor teacher, instructional coach, and curriculum developer for SHI’s Opening the Box-STEAM program. She also owns and directs her own Indigenous education research and curriculum firm, Math Raven. She is Yeíl, Kaach.ádi (Raven, Frog), and a mother of four sons.

The TCLL program 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 K-5 program currently serves 72 students and 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 TCLL 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.

About TCLL

The Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program 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 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. 

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: Ricardo Worl, SHI Media and Publications Director, ricardo.worl@sealaska.com; Kristy Dillingham, SHI Education Director, kristy.dillingham@sealaska.com

Caption: Photo courtesy of Eldri Waid Westmoreland. Note: Media outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher resolution version, contact ricardo.worl@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2010

Video series shows fifteenth Celebration, more years to follow

May 25, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2010.

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 2010 event featured 51 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

The theme for Celebration 2010, Our Land—Haa Aaní in Tlingit, Íitl’ Tlagáa in Haida and Na Yuubm in Sm’algya̱x (Tsimshian), was chosen in light of Sealaska’s struggle to secure its land entitlement through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. That battle was still ongoing during Celebration 2010.

“We wanted to emphasize to our own people and remind others that this is our land, we’ve lived here for ten thousand years, and we intend to live here for another ten thousand years,” SHI President Rosita Worl said at the time.

Sealaska spent millions of dollars over many years trying to claim the rest of the land it was promised under ANCSA. The regional Native corporation worked with Congress and held more than 300 meetings across Southeast Alaska to reach compromises with residents, local governments, industry representatives and others to claim the remaining 70,075 acres from the Tongass National Forest that it was owed.

Southeast Alaska is the ancient homeland of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian and spans 22 million acres. With the final transfer in 2015 to Sealaska, the corporation’s land base totaled 360,000 acres, a small fraction of their ancestral land.

Celebration also included contests for best soapberries and seaweed, a parade through Juneau, a Native Artist Market, a Toddler Regalia Review and lectures—including one from Molecular Anthropologist Dr. Brian Kemp of Washington State University, who summarized the results of a DNA study conducted at Celebration 2008. 

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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

Caption: Cover art on Celebration program by Robert Davis Hoffmann. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2008

Video series shows fourteenth Celebration, more years to follow

May 17, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2008.

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 2008 event featured 52 dance groups from Alaska, the Lower 48 and Canada.

At Celebration 2008, SHI sponsored voluntary DNA testing of tribal members to determine if a young Native man who lived 10,300 years ago had living descendants in Southeast Alaska.

Information from the DNA samples was compared to DNA extracted from the young man’s remains, which were discovered by a paleontologist in 1996 in a cave on Prince of Wales Island. The young man was given the name Shuká Káa (Tlingit for “Man Before Us”).

The DNA sampling ultimately lead to a study that found that Indigenous groups living today in Southeast Alaska and the western coast of British Columbia are descendants of the first humans to make their home in northwest North America more than 11,000 years ago.

“We supported DNA testing of Shuká Káa because we believed science ultimately would agree with what our oral traditions have always said – that we have lived in Southeast Alaska since time immemorial,” said SHI President Rosita Worl. “Science is corroborating our oral histories.”

SHI also for the first time held a soapberry contest during Celebration. Soapberries, a rare treat among Native people, are tiny, bitter berries usually found near glaciers. People whip them into a froth and often add sweeteners. After whipping the berries for a long period of time, the froth resembles a dense cloud of soapy suds. 

In addition, the festival featured lectures by artists and authors, including one by Nora and Dr. Richard Dauenhauer on their just-published book “Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká: Russians in Tlingit America, The Battles of Sitka 1802 and 1804.”

Other events included a black seaweed contest, a Toddler Regalia Review, a parade through downtown, language workshops, a Juried Art Show and a Native Artist Market.

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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

Caption: Cover art on Celebration program by Robert Davis Hoffmann. Note: Media outlets are permitted to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher-res image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com

Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release

SEALASKA HERITAGE DIGITIZES, POSTS CELEBRATION 2006

Video series shows thirteenth Celebration, more years to follow

May 15, 2023

(Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and posted on YouTube the video of Celebration 2006.

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 2006 event featured 43 dance groups from Alaska and Canada.

The theme was “Reflections of Our Ancestors in the Faces of Our Children.”

“The board of trustees selected our theme to focus on the survival of our culture through our children,” said Rosita Worl, SHI president. “It goes back to one of our traditional concepts that we have of Haa Shuká where we respect our Elders but we also recognize that we have an obligation to our children.”

In honor of the theme, SHI sponsored its first Baby Regalia Review during the event.

“The event goes right along with our theme. We wanted to highlight our children and show that even at a young age they’re already being introduced and immersed in our culture,” Worl said.

The event, now called the Toddler Regalia Review, has been a feature of Celebration since 2006. The Toddler Regalia Review has become one of the most popular Celebration events as it engages multiple generations of parents, grandparents and other family or clan members who come together to fabricate blankets, vests, headdresses, drums, rattles, leggings or jewelry. The pride of that family and clan is represented on stage during this event.

In addition to the review, the festival featured a Native Artists Market, a parade through downtown, a black seaweed contest, canoe races, a Juried Art Show, artist lectures and repatriation and language workshops.

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. Another goal was to use the footage to learn about traditional oratory, a skill mastered by Southeast Alaska Natives.

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 TO HOST LECTURE SERIES ON RAVEN THE TRICKSTER, CULTURAL HERO

Free events to be offered in-person, virtually

May 3, 2023

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a lecture series on Raven as Trickster and Cultural Hero by traditional Tlingit and Tsimshian storytellers this month.

The series will end with an academic review of Raven stories by a scholar of Northwest Coast culture and history.  

All lectures will be held in-person at noon (Alaska time) at the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau. SHI will also live stream the series on its YouTube and save the talks on its channel immediately after.

The talks are scheduled as follows:

•         Tuesday, May 9: Johon Atkinson, Tsimshian
•         Tuesday, May 16: Fred White, Tlingit, Shangukeidí
•         Thursday, May 18: William (Joey) Bolton, Tsimshian
•         Tuesday, May 23: David Kanosh, Tlingit, Deisheetaan
•         Friday, May 26: Dan Brown, Tlingit, Teikweidí
•         Tuesday, May 30: David Nelson III, Tsimshian
•         Thursday, June 1: Thomas Thornton, Ph.D., Kaagwaantaan

SHI is finalizing a manuscript on Raven stories, which will be published by the institute through the University of Washington Press. The book will feature 50 episodes of Raven’s adventures as told by Tlingit storytellers who were documented over many years by the late Richard and Nora Dauenhauer and others. The book will include Lingít transcriptions of the stories with facing English translations.

About Raven

Trickster is found in oral traditions throughout North America and elsewhere in the world. Among many Native Americans, the Trickster takes the form of Coyote or Raven. Among Alaska’s Indigenous population, he is Raven. Among the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska, he is especially prominent as segments of these societies identify themselves as Raven through their moiety or clan affiliation. These Raven individuals recognize an affinity with the natural Raven. The non-Raven Natives joke about Raven and his antics as if the Raven individuals are responsible for his naughty behavior.

Evidence of the antiquity of Raven’s stories may be reflected in archaeological artifacts. A few pointed-beak birds appear among stone or bone archaeological artifacts dating between 4,000 and 1,000 years ago. In Northwest Coast art design, Raven is depicted with a pointed beak while Eagles have a curved beak. Raven stories were well developed among the Southeast Alaska Natives when the earliest visitors to the region some two hundred years ago heard these oral narratives being shared. The significance of Raven is evident not only in Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian oral traditions, but in their visual and performing arts as well.

Natives are quick to point out that Raven is not a God, although he is credited with bringing many benefits to humanity through his deeds and more often his mischievous misdeeds. This inconsistency in behavior between benevolent and malevolent is reflected in the dual personality of Raven as a Cultural Hero and Raven as a Trickster. Raven enters a world that was already in existence, but through his actions he rearranges or transforms the created world. Raven as Culture Hero and Trickster change the physical features of animals and the landscape, but Raven as Trickster satisfies his desires at the expense of others. (Excerpted from foreword by SHI President Rosita Worl for SHI’s Baby Raven Reads children’s book series.)

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: “Raven” by David A. Boxley, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute.  Note: Media outlets are welcome to use this image for coverage of this story. For a higher resolution file, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com