This drawing, shown to the Assembly in February when Sealaska Heritage Institute requested financial support for the project, depicts what the area surrounding a proposed arts campus would look like following the project’s completion. Wednesday, SHI asked the Assembly to postpone deciding whether to proved $1.5 million for the campus. (Courtesy Photo | Sealaska Heritage Institute)

This drawing, shown to the Assembly in February when Sealaska Heritage Institute requested financial support for the project, depicts what the area surrounding a proposed arts campus would look like following the project’s completion. Wednesday, SHI asked the Assembly to postpone deciding whether to proved $1.5 million for the campus. (Courtesy Photo | Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Assembly puts arts campus support decision on hold

Sealaska Heritage Institute asks for delay prior to committee vote

Before the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly could decide whether it could find room to in a COVID-19-shaped budget to help fund a $12 million arts campus, the nonprofit working toward the project asked assembly members to postpone the consideration.

Previously, Sealaska Heritage Institute, a nonprofit focused on protecting and perpetuating Southeast Alaska Native cultures, asked the Assembly to provide $1.5 million in support for a downtown arts campus Before the matter was discussed in Wednesday’s CBJ Assembly Finance Committee meeting, SHI sent an email to Assembly members asking them to put the request on hold.

“Sealaska Heritage is keenly aware of the fiscal challenges facing the Assembly and the economic hardships our community and citizens are enduring,” said SHI President Rosita Worl in a statement. “In our efforts to support an economic recovery, we chose to ask the Assembly to delay action on a city contribution to SHI for the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus.”

[Arts campus project asks city for funds]

The proposed campus would be located at Front and Seward streets downtown adjacent to an area known as Heritage Square, according to SHI. It would encompass about 6,000 square feet and include both indoor and outdoor space. Plans for the campus include work space for Northwest Coast artists, Native art markets, an art library, artists-in-residence and arts education.

“In addition to providing cultural and artistic enrichment and education, the arts campus will provide sustainable economic benefits in the same way that the Walter Soboleff Building has,” Worl said. “It will also further our objectives to make Juneau the Northwest Coast arts capital.”

The Assembly obliged with SHI’s request and spoke favorably of the project, which Worl said is shovel-ready and has secured 80% of the funding needed for construction.

“I would move or support us writing a letter, whatever format Sealaska needed to keep this project moving forward,” said Deputy Mayor Maria Gladziszewski during the meeting. “I appreciate their letter from today recognizing the difficulty the Assembly would be in trying to support something like this right now.”

Mayor Beth Weldon agreed.

“This is a good project,” Weldon said. “Not only does it support the culture of the community, but it would be a good economic driver. We don’t want to vote this down, that would be a bad message for fundraising.”

A motion for Weldon and City Manager Rorie Watt to draft a letter in support of the project passed unanimously, and a contribution to the project was placed on a long-term pending list to be considered in the future.

Worl said SHI advised the mayor and Assembly that they would work with the city to seek an amendment to the CARES Act — a federal act that provides COVID-19 relief funding — or to seek further stimulus funding that would allow the city to support economic development that could lead to a contribution for the arts campus.

In the meantime, Worl said SHI is considering delaying construction of some of the external components of the campus until further funding is assured.

“This will allow us to break ground and to immediately employ 50 construction workers in order to help boost the Juneau economy in a time of great need,” Worl said. “The project is expected to have a more than $10 million economic impact on Juneau.”

• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt

More in News

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File
The Aurora Borealis glows over the Mendenhall Glacier in 2014.
Aurora Forecast

Forecasts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute for the week of March. 19

State Sen. Bert Stedman, center, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, presides over a committee hearing Thursday. The committee on Monday approved an $8.4 million fast-track supplemental budget to address staff shortages in processing food stamps, public defenders and legal advocates for vulnerable residents. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Bill with funds to address food stamps backlog goes to governor

Legislature gives near-unanimous approval to hiring extra staff to fix months-long backlog

Hoonah’s Masters Bracket team poses for a group photo on Saturday after being crowned this year’s champs for the M bracket in the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament at JDHS. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Hoonah crowned Gold Medal Masters Bracket champs

Hoonah’s Albert Hinchman named MVP.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 23, 2023, celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Recent moves by President Joe Biden to pressure TikTok over its Chinese ownership and approve oil drilling in an untapped area of Alaska are testing the loyalty of young voters, a group that’s been largely in his corner. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Biden’s moves on Willow, TikTok test young voters

A potential TikTok ban and the Alaska drilling could weigh down reelection bid.

Students dance their way toward exiting the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé gymnasium near the end of a performance held before a Gold Medal Basketball Tournament game between Juneau and Hydaburg. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Over $2,500 raised for Tlingit language and culture program during Gold Medal performance

A flurry of regionwide generosity generated the funds in a matter of minutes.

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office is seeking information about this man in relation to a Wednesday bank robbery in Anchorage, the agency announced Thursday afternoon. Anyone with information regarding the bank robbery can contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at 907-276-4441 or tips.fbi.gov. Tips can be submitted anonymously.  (FBI)
FBI seeks info in Anchorage bank robbery

The robbery took place at 1:24 p.m. on Wednesday.

Kevin Maier
Sustainable Alaska: Climate stories, climate futures

The UAS Sustainability Committee is hosting a series of public events in April…

Reps. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage, and Andi Story, D-Juneau, offering competing amendments to a bill increasing the per-student funding formula for public schools by $1,250 during a House Education Committee meeting Wednesday morning. McKay’s proposal to lower the increase to $150 was defeated. Story’s proposal to implement an increase during the next two years was approved, after her proposed amounts totalling about $1,500 were reduced to $800.
Battle lines for education funding boost get clearer

$800 increase over two years OKd by House committee, Senate proposing $1,348 two-year increase

Most Read