Latest posts
Calling on our Grandparents’ Knowledge: Hundreds gather to discuss culturally responsive education in Alaska
Sealaska Heritage’s fourth culturally responsive education conference, Our Cultural Landscape, was held virtually for the second time Aug. 5-7, drawing more than 450 educators from Alaska, the Lower 48, and beyond. The event featured prominent Indigenous keynote speakers and more than two dozen breakout presentations, while providing opportunities for attendees to discuss the many complex issues [...]
Photos: Voices on the Land Storytelling Camp 2021
By Kaasteen (Katelynn Drake) Photos by: Carl Tuzroyluke Sealaska Heritage’s Voices on the Land program was first held in Juneau in 2014, with the goal of improving student literacy skills, as well as increasing Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian language use through the mediums of performing arts and digital storytelling. This educational project was launched in order to [...]
Photos: Apprentices go spruce-root gathering, prepping!
Spruce-root apprentices seeking roots. Photos by Carl Tuzroyluke. By Kaasteen (Katelynn Drake) Sealaska Heritage’s spruce-root gathering and weaving class held its first session on Saturday, June 19. Ten apprentice students in Juneau convened at the start of Boy Scout Camp Trail to learn the art of spruce-root gathering from Tlingit artist Naakil.aan (Hans Chester). Naakil.aan [...]
Q & A with Rosita Worl: Why do some of SHI’s programs give preference to Native participants?
At Sealaska Heritage, we field a lot of questions from the public, researchers and the media about Northwest Coast cultures. This question comes to us from an Alaska educator. Question: Why do some of SHI's programs give preference to Native participants? SHI President Rosita Worl: The answer is complex and long and is rooted in centuries of history. [...]
Khuteeyi Téik’ Áwé Kei Uxeexch, ‘Even the Littlest Stone is Turned’
On Wednesday, January 23, respected Elder of the T’akhdeintaan clan, Kenny Grant, shared this Tlingit proverb with SHI staff. The topic of proverbs, parables, riddles, and other old Tlingit sayings was initially raised that day by the Vice Chair of SHI’s Board of Trustees, Albert Kookesh of the Teikhweidí clan. Appropriately, Kenny, whose carries the [...]
Voices of Our Ancestors Language Summit: Fluent speakers come together for historic event
(Watch the Summit) Sealaska Heritage’s first-ever language summit brought together nearly 70 fluent speakers and more than 200 language learners in Juneau to recognize and celebrate the Elders who continued to speak their languages in the face of intense opposition. SHI President Rosita Worl giving opening remarks “The pain caused by efforts to stamp out our [...]
Eleven questions: Master artist Robert Davidson on Northwest Coast art
The renowned master artist Robert Davidson has agreed to allow Sealaska Heritage to post occasional teachings online. In this latest blog, he answers eleven questions about his evolution as an artist, an artist’s role in society and the role of critics, to name a few. Did you know from childhood or early life that you [...]
Photos: Ketchikan horn-spoon carving class, a peek inside
Sealaska Heritage sponsored a horn-spoon carving workshop in Ketchikan this month in an effort to ensure the endangered art of goat horn spoon carving is passed on to future generations. The four-day course was taught by Steve Brown and the acclaimed Tlingit artist Nathan Jackson stopped by for a visit! The course focused on developing the skills, [...]
Indigenous wisdom and the Arctic
SHI President Rosita Worl took part in the opening panel for the Arctic Frost Annual Network Meeting this morning at the Baranof Hotel, a three-day event focused on building collaboration among governments, Indigenous organizations and researchers in sustainable development in the Arctic. Worl provided attendees with an overview of the Southeast Alaska Native core cultural [...]
Photo essay: Bronze posts and a peek behind the curtain
The anatomy of making, installing and celebrating SHI's new house posts Sealaska Heritage Institute unveiled three bronze house posts on the corner of Front and Seward Streets by the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau on Aug. 26 during a public ceremony and celebration. The posts were made by three emerging master Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian [...]
Photo Essay: A summer of learning and culture
Youth from across Southeast Alaska and beyond participate in SHI's summer programs This summer provided many opportunities for our youth in the region. Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) held five camps aimed at providing cultural activities for youth of all ages throughout Southeast Alaska. Students in SHI’s camps are able to meet others and make friends [...]
Educators throughout Alaska and beyond come together to help Alaska Native students through culturally responsive education
Attendees and presenters came from across Alaska and even as far as New Zealand to attend SHI’s second annual Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) Conference held August 1-3 in Juneau. As part of SHI’s mission to promote cross-cultural understanding, the CRE conference was created to provide teachers and administrators with an understanding of issues affecting Alaska [...]
Northwest Coast Art: Connecting inmates, others to Southeast Alaska Native cultures
Lemon Creek Correctional Center inmate and Tlingit and Tsimshian artist David Guthrie was clueless about his culture and unsure about his future before he got caught up in a world of copper, creativity and camaraderie. “I feel that your class and the carving classes have saved my life, giving me purpose and helping me want [...]
Celebration 2018: Day 3
Throughout the third and fourth day of Celebration 2018, dance group leaders spoke of the biennial event as a time of renewal, using their moments at the microphone to share words of support, encouragement, and healing with the hundreds of people gathered in Centennial Hall, and thousands more viewers watching the broadcast. They urged tribal [...]
Celebration 2018: Day 2
Only a few children attended the first Celebration in 1982, and Elders worried that the culture might not survive. But in recent years the presence of youth has become one of the most visible and vibrant elements of Sealaska Heritage’s biennial dance and culture festival, a tangible reminder of educators’ and families’ success in engaging [...]
