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.
This is the nineth year that Alaska Council for School Administrators has sponsored this showcase event. Schools shipped art pieces to Juneau where ACSA staff and volunteers from the Alaska Arts Education Consortium set up displays in the exhibition hallway and main floor of the museum.
The reception featured both a silent and a live auction. Senator Jesse Bjorkman served as the auctioneer this year as legislators and school leaders in the crowd enthusiastically bid. Performances by students from Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School and a local band kept the setting filled with music. By the end of the night, many attendees left with at least one new art piece for their homes and offices. Student artists who chose to participate in the auction received 60% of the proceeds of the sale with the other 40% going to the annual Student Champion Scholarship, which supports Alaskan high school students to further develop their skills as artists.