SHI TO SPONSOR PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM
Institute recruiting for summer storytelling intensive
June 3, 2021
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a summer storytelling intensive for students entering grades 4-8.
The program, Voices on the Land, will be offered in-person in Juneau with a remote option available for students in outlying communities.
Voices on the Land is an innovative program that teaches performing arts, digital storytelling, script-writing, story-telling techniques to improve literacy skills.
At the intensive, students will learn about the elements of a story, tools of the actor and performing collaboratively. They will also create movies using apps on iPads and learn stop-motion animation. Participants who complete the three-week program will be eligible to receive a tablet of their own to continue producing stories.
“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.”
The intensive is scheduled from July 6-23 in Juneau. The deadline to apply is June 19. SHI will send packages to remote learners that will include all of the materials, devices and supplies needed to participate. Remote students must have access to the internet. SHI will also sponsor culture camps in Yakutat and Ketchikan in partnership with Yakutat Tlingit Tribe and Ketchikan Indian Community. The intensive is part of a year-long program.
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: For more info about the program, contact Jen LaRoe, Project Manager, 907.586.9173, jen.laroe@sealaska.com; for interview requests, contact Amy Fletcher, SHI Media and Publications Director, 907.586.9116, amy.fletcher@sealaska.com