SHI TO SPONSOR PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM
Institute recruiting for summer arts intensives in Juneau
March 28, 2019
(Apply: Juneau Arts Intensives) (Flyer)
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has expanded its performing arts program for youth, Voices on the Land, to Yakutat and Ketchikan.
Voices on the Land is an innovative program that teaches performing arts, digital storytelling, script-writing, story-telling techniques and the tools of the actor to improve literacy skills of students in grades 4-8.
“For Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, the arts—storytelling, dance, song, drama—are essential to who we are and our history. Schools tend to overlook the arts and offer few opportunities for inclusion of the traditional, cultural knowledge of the indigenous people of Southeast Alaska,” said SHI President Rosita Worl.
“This program uses the power of the performing and media arts to engage Alaska Native students.”
Through the program, students will produce and perform plays based on traditional knowledge and stories; produce digital stories and sets of illustrated storybooks based on traditional knowledge, and produce a digital storytelling handbook for use in language arts classes for K-8 students. The program also provides training for elementary and secondary teachers on ways to integrate visual and performing arts into classrooms on a regular basis.
SHI also is currently recruiting Juneau School District students for summer day camps in digital storytelling and performing arts. The Voices on the Land project will also be supporting local youth camps in Ketchikan and Yakutat, and register will occur through those communities.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.
CONTACT: Amy Fletcher, SHI Media and Publications Director, 907.586.9116, amy.fletcher@sealaska.com
