Downtown arts campus gets a funding boost
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has pledged $400,000 toward construction of the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus being built by Sealaska Heritage Institute, the nonprofit that protects and promotes Southeast Alaska Native arts and culture announced.
The donation, which will be given when the institute raises the remaining balance needed to finish construction, would put SHI a step closer to its fundraising goal of $13 million, SHI said in a news release. The institute still needs to raise about $2 million.
“We are deeply grateful to the Murdock Trust for earmarking this donation for the arts campus. The Murdock family has been a great friend of SHI,” said SHI President Rosita Worl in a news release, noting the trust was also a major contributor to the construction of the Walter Soboleff Building.
[Work begins on SHI’s arts campus]
Although the pandemic put a damper on the fundraising campaign earlier this year, staff has been moved by the number of people who have given since construction began in August, Worl said, noting more than 1,000 donors have contributed so far. That’s over 40% higher than the number of donors who gave to build the Walter Soboleff Building, according to SHI. The names of people who give $25 or more will be permanently engraved at the campus.
“We are grateful to support organizations like Sealaska Heritage that continue to promote cross-cultural diversity, relationships and understanding of Alaskan Native cultures,” said Steve Moore, executive director of M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in the release. “By providing training and work space for artists and art students, organizations like Sealaska Heritage help keep the rich, diverse history of the Native Alaska community alive to educate and inspire generations to come.”
Power & Privilege Symposium adds second day
University of Alaska Southeast’s conference designed to give people a chance to explore soicetal changes has added a second day, UAS announced.
[Symposium asks everyone to make the world a better place]
The 2020 UAS Power & Privilege Symposium will include live, virtual sessons on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and Wednesday, Nov. 11. Registration, which is free, is open now and can be done online by clicking through https://www.uas.alaska.edu/chancellor/power-and-privilege-symposium.html.
Keynote speakers Haley Moss and Hina Wong-Kalu will speak at 9 and 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, respectively.
Pre-record sessions include: Welcome to the Symposium with Campus & Community Leaders; Decolonizing the Ocean Sciences; and Creative Nonfiction and Lived Experiences of Power. The schedule for live discussions is as follows:
Tuesday, Nov. 10
10 a.m. – Red Cross: Confronting Power and Privilege When Preparing for, Responding to, and Recovering from Disasters
11 a.m. – “The Walkers” A renaissance of indigenous culture in Peru
2 p.m. – Picture a Scientist
3 p.m. – Adding Indigenous Content and Protecting Cultural Safety
4 p.m. – The Privilege to be Free from Addiction: How LGBTQ+ and African Americans are being targeted by Big Tobacco
5 p.m. – Stepping into the future, looking into the past (Suicide in Indigenous communities)
Wednesday, Nov. 11
9 a.m. – “When the Salmon Spoke” Storytellers’ Panel Discussion
10 a.m. – Echoes of War: The power of voice in museum design
11 a.m. – Avoiding Echo Chambers, Confirmation Bias, and Mis/Disinformation Online
Noon – Stories of Resilience: Alaska Native Student Transition and First Year Persistence in Higher Ed
2 p.m. – Power of Sexuality
3 p.m. – Understanding Disaster & Resilience through the Lens of Power & Privilege
4 p.m. – Addressing Systemic Racism Together
5 p.m. – Rivers Through Green
Sealaska Heritage Institute sponsors lectures for Native American Heritage Month
Throughout the month of November, a series of lectures will be livestreamed on Sealaska Heritage Institute’s YouTube channel. The series focuses on Alaska Native tribal citizens and shareholders in Alaska Native corporations and tribes.
Scheduled lectures are as follows:
— Tuesday, Nov. 3: ANCSA Selection of Corporate Model & Its Business/Non-Business Investments by Greg Razo.
— Thursday, Nov. 5: A Review of Tribal Governments by Dr. Edward Thomas, president emeritus of Tlingit Haida Central Council.
— Tuesday, Nov. 10: ANCSA and the Alaska Native Federally Recognized Tribes and Their Respective Constitutional Relationships With Congress by Chris McNeil, the owner of Native Strategy Group and former president and CEO of Sealaska.
— Thursday, Nov. 12: Values, Tenure, and Organization: Critical Dimensions of Sustainable Development in Indigenous Southeast Alaska by Thomas Thornton, dean of arts and sciences and vice-provost of research and sponsored programs at the University of Alaska Southeast and affiliate professor at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute.
— Saturday, Nov. 14: Walter Soboleff Day: A Virtual Retrospective in Honor of Dr. Walter Soboleff.
—Tuesday, Nov. 17: The Federal Indian Law Legal Framework for Native Nations in the Lower 48 States by Walter Echo-Hawk, an author, attorney and legal scholar.
— Thursday, Nov. 19: The Paradigm of Tribal Membership based on Blood Quantum Should Be Changed to a Paradigm of Tribal Citizenship by Chippewa Cree Tribal Nation citizen Alan Parker, the former director of the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at The Evergreen State College.
— Friday, Nov. 20: The Great Vanishing Act: Blood and the Future of Native Nations by Norbert Hill Jr. of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Hill was the executive director of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the American Indian Graduate Center. Blood quantum, imposed from within and without, has shaped Native identity and has been the primary determinant in deciding “who is an Indian” for more than a century. The conversation about Native identity-sometimes civil, sometimes violent-has been going on in Indian Country far longer than that. This will continue whether blood quantum laws are changed or not. We are living in challenging circumstances when it comes to navigating what it means to be Native.
— Tuesday, Nov. 24: Native Americans/Alaska Natives: Racial Crises and Racial Equity by Michael Roberts, who is Tlingit and has served as president of the First Nations Development Institute and previously served as chief operating officer for the organization.
— Capital City Weekly
