Juneau Jazz & Classics among Alaskan beneficiaries of NEA grants
The National Endowment for the Arts announced project grants for all 50 states on Wednesday.
Some of those grants will benefit efforts in Southeast Alaska, according to the NEA’s list of grants. Juneau Jazz & Classics was awarded a $15,000 grant to support its annual festival. It was the lone Juneau-specific entry on the list.
A pair of grants will go to Sitka-based organizations, according to NEA. Alaska Arts Southeast, Inc. will receive a $40,000 grant to support the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, a residential, multidisciplinary summer camp. Sitka Summer Music Festival will receive a $15,000 grant to support a touring and community engagement project in cities and rural towns in Alaska.
Hydaburg Cooperative Association will also receive a $40,000 grant, according to NEA. The grant will support a traditional canoe-carving project.
Hop on the Poetry Omnibus
Juneau Arts & Humanities Council’s annual Poetry Omnibus competition is now open.
In the local, juried contest, selected poems are displayed on city buses for one year.
Adults or youth — ages 8 to 17 — can participate. A total of 20 adult and 16 youth poems will be selected. The submission period ends Feb. 29, and it concludes with a celebration ceremony in April.
All entries must be submitted via the online entry form, 10 lines or fewer, original poems and appropriate for public display.
Poems can be submitted at https://juneaupoets.wordpress.com.
Sealaska Heritage Institute offers sea otter machine skin sewing workshop
Registration is open for a skin sewing workshops planned for Jan. 23-26 and Feb. 20-23 in Juneau.
The workshop is offered by Sealaska Heritage Institute, and it will be led by Robert Miller. Participants can sign up for either workshop. Each class is limited to four participants, and SHI will provide each participant with a sea otter hide, patterns, supplies and instruction.
Applicants must have previously taken a hand sewing course, have an interest in building a business around their skin sewing products or already be selling products.
Use of sea otter hide is limited to people with a 1/4 Native blood quantum by the the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
There is a $100 fee to participate.
Registration can be done online at https://sealaskaheritage.wufoo.com/forms/zzx63670uht7bq/.
A poem by Hali Denton is displayed on a Capital Transit bus as part of the Poetry Omnibus contest in January 2018. The contest is now accepting submissions. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute, holds up sea otter fur during a presentation about Tlingit relationships with sea otters in August. SHI is sponsoring a machine sewing class that will include sea otter hide. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
