Category: Fine Arts

‘SeeStories: Sharing Authentic Local Alaska Histories Through Film Making and Podcasting’ By Marie Acemah

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See Stories was founded as a nonprofit in 2019 by a dedicated and diverse Board on the premise that representation matters, that Alaskan youth are uniquely equipped to share authentic local histories through film making and podcasting, and that empowering youth with media literacy is a vital skill in today’s world.

See Stories leads documentary film and podcast workshops with diverse teens throughout the state to craft new stories via podcasting and filmmaking that better represent the Alaska they know at no cost to the students. In media workshops, youth choose topics they are passionate about, interview peers, family, and community members, then edit their footage into a film or podcast that they share at a celebratory community showcase. We work at Title I Schools throughout the state, and also work with adjudicated youth.

Continue reading ‘SeeStories: Sharing Authentic Local Alaska Histories Through Film Making and Podcasting’ By Marie Acemah

‘9th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ Reception Honors Student Artistic Talents Across State’ By Sam Jordan

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This month, the Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA) hosted the 9th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ reception. The event, held in Juneau at the the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Museum, is an annual statewide celebration and auction of student art from Alaska’s 53 school districts. Legislators, statewide educational leaders, teachers, and student artists came together to celebrate and support student artistic expression in Alaska. Continue reading ‘9th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ Reception Honors Student Artistic Talents Across State’ By Sam Jordan

‘Festival of Arts and Academics Showcases LKSD Student Art’ by Sara Jung

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Each Spring the Lower Kuskokwim School District hosts the annual Festival of Arts and Academics show in Bethel AK. Students from preschool through 12th grade are welcome to join. Continue reading ‘Festival of Arts and Academics Showcases LKSD Student Art’ by Sara Jung

BroadwayBoundAK: ACPA Creates Competition to Bring Alaskan Youth to Broadway’s Hamilton by ACSA Staff

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Bring Alaska students to the room where it happens!

Starting this summer, the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (ACPA) and Broadway Alaska are bringing some of Broadway’s biggest hits to an Alaskan audience with runs of four major shows in Anchorage. This first show is the smash-hit HAMILTON.

As a way to create opportunities for youth around Alaska to attend Hamilton and get to know more about Broadway productions, ACPA is partnering with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and HAMILTON on an Alaskan specific, statewide competition for students in rising grades 7-12 to submit a HAMILTON-inspired 2-minute video or 2-page written piece showcasing their original work. Continue reading BroadwayBoundAK: ACPA Creates Competition to Bring Alaskan Youth to Broadway’s Hamilton by ACSA Staff

‘8th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ Event Showcases Alaskan Student Art’ by Sam Jordan

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(Photos by Sam Jordan)

Last month, the Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA) hosted the 8th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ reception. The event, held in Juneau at the the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Museum, is an annual statewide celebration and auction of student art from Alaska’s 54 school districts. Legislators, statewide educational leaders, teachers, and student artists came together to celebrate and support student artistic achievement in Alaska. Continue reading ‘8th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ Event Showcases Alaskan Student Art’ by Sam Jordan

‘Napaskiak Student Creates Calillguteluta “Working Together” Project Logo’ by Sam Jordan

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Napaskiak student artist Kristen Maxie works across many mediums, including photography.

The Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) is in the process of converting its previous district wide Yugtun language assessment into a fully online assessment called the Yugtun Piciryaranek Qaneryaranek-lluCuqyun (YQPC) that will provide new capabilities for using data to drive curriculum revision and improve instructional practices. This project, named Calillguteluta “Working Together”, is funded through a federal Alaska Native Education (ANE) grant with the U.S Department of Education – Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Alaska Staff Development Network (ASDN) serves as a project partner. Continue reading ‘Napaskiak Student Creates Calillguteluta “Working Together” Project Logo’ by Sam Jordan

‘Passing On Knowledge and Wisdom Through the Qaspeq’ by Sew Yupik’s Nikki Corbett

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Nikki Corbett, known by many as Sew Yupik, is an artist and educator who specializes in qaspeq design and sewing.

I made my first qaspeq when I was around 10 or 11 years old with my sister/cousin/aunt. And then I didn’t pick up sewing a qaspeq again until I was in college in my mid-20s. As a kid I would watch my auntie sew qaspeqs and would just be in awe of her beautiful creations. I longed to be able to sew. The sewing skills I learned at school thanks to my amazing Yup’ik teachers. I am forever thankful for their teachings and it has been a dream of mine to be able to teach and share the knowledge that I learned from grade school, my aunt, and my college qaspeq teachers.

Continue reading ‘Passing On Knowledge and Wisdom Through the Qaspeq’ by Sew Yupik’s Nikki Corbett

‘Haa Tóo Yéi Yatee Haa Yoo X̱ʼatángi: Our Language is Inside Us – Juneau Alaska Music Matters (JAMM) Resilience Project’ by JAMM Staff

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Student participants and Athabascan songster Yuxgitsiy George Holly developing songs for the JAMM resilience project.

Juneau Alaska Music Matters‘ (JAMM) resilience project is a series of two Língit songs, Daaḵ Nadéin (“the tide is coming in”) and Yánde Kg̱waláa (“the tide is going to go out”), inspired by conversations with Língit elders and JAMM students. These songs are presented in a music video project that brought together students, staff, musicians, dancers, and elders, showing the rich diversity of Juneauʼs culture and showcasing efforts of multiple organizations in Southeast Alaska to revitalize the Língit language before it is lost forever. This project was filmed both at JAMM school sites and throughout Juneau, home of the Áak’w Kwáan  people. Continue reading ‘Haa Tóo Yéi Yatee Haa Yoo X̱ʼatángi: Our Language is Inside Us – Juneau Alaska Music Matters (JAMM) Resilience Project’ by JAMM Staff

‘Culture, Collaboration and Creativity!’ by Shelli Franckowiak, 2022 Alaska Elementary Art Teacher of the Year

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To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, 4th and 5th grade artists at Fronteras Spanish Immersion Charter School in Wasilla, AK created a 160 foot long alfombra de aserrin (sawdust carpet) on our school’s front sidewalk.

Sawdust Carpets (Alfombras de Aserrin) are one or more layers of colored sawdust laid on the ground as decoration. Sawdust carpets are traditionally created in Mexico and Guatemala and are used as part of Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebration, welcoming Good Friday and Easter processions of religious icons carried through the streets. Although sawdust carpets take days to design and create, it takes only minutes for them to be happily and reverently destroyed by the shuffling feet of participants in religious processions. Continue reading ‘Culture, Collaboration and Creativity!’ by Shelli Franckowiak, 2022 Alaska Elementary Art Teacher of the Year

Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art 2022

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Three pieces of student art on a table with silent auction bid forms in front.This spring, Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art, the statewide celebration and auction of student art from all 54 school districts, made its in-person return to the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Museum. Once again legislators, statewide educational leaders, teachers, and student artists were able to celebrate student artists together.

This is the 7th year that Alaska Council for School Administrators has sponsored the event, collecting art nominated from all over Alaska. Schools shipped pieces to Juneau where ACSA staff and volunteers from the Alaska Arts Education Consortium set up the pieces for display. To kick it all off, ACSA sponsored a reception, bringing educators, administrators and legislators together. Continue reading Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art 2022