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Friday Bulletin - June 2, 2023
Alaska Department of Education & Early Development sent this bulletin at 06/02/2023 02:20 PM AKDT
“In a Time of Change” is an extended arts, humanities and science collaborative examining change in the boreal forest through narrative.
The collaborative, a large group project coordinated through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, started in 2007 as a way to bring together people in these fields and consider transitions experienced in the environment.
“Boreal Forest Stories,” which opened at the Pratt Museum on Thursday, May 25, is the sixth in a series of special exhibits sponsored by the collaborative.
The final bells for the 2022-2023 school year in Haines have rung and kids have closed their textbooks for the summer. But the Haines Public Library is intent on keeping kids reading over the summer break with their annual Summer Reading Program which kicked off Friday with a familiar magical face.
A full house of eager children and their parents greeted magician Jeff Evans as he made his return to the Haines Borough Public Library. This marks the third year the Seattle based performer has returned to Haines for the commencement of the Summer Reading Program. Evans regularly does shows at libraries as part of summer programs, as that’s where he says his career began.
Wrangell’s museum is auctioning off a few items from its collection – partly due to shifting storage space. Museum staff say they hope that collectors might want to own a piece of Wrangell history that the museum can no longer store.
The basement of Wrangell’s community gym has lived many lives – a locker room, an art space, a temporary town museum. Nowadays, it’s storage for … all sorts of Wrangell borough treasures. There’s a locked room with the local government’s archives. One corner holds a couple of boat motors from the 1940s and 50s. The main room is packed with decommissioned weight and cardio equipment, a baby grand piano, chemicals for the pool, and items from the Wrangell Museum’s collection that it couldn’t fit anywhere else.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced the Kuskokwim Consortium Library (KCL) of Bethel, AK [last Tuesday] as one of eight recipients of the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities...
“IMLS is delighted to announce the eight worthy recipients of the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, including Kuskokwim Consortium Library,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “Kuskokwim has made itself the center of the community in a way that most larger library systems would have a hard time matching.”
Homer’s Bunnell Street Arts Center opened a national tour, “Protection: Adaptation and Resistance,” at the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in Portland, Oregon, on Friday, May 19.
Several participating artists from Alaska joined curator Asia Freeman for the opening event. Artists visiting Portland included Lily Hope, Dimi Macheras, Holly Nordlum, Linda Starbard, Katelyn Stiles, Elli Tansy and Amber Webb. There are a total of 52 artists in the show...
Protection: Adaptation and Resistance will remain in Portland through the summer and then the exhibit will travel to Tulsa Living Arts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the fall; the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the winter; and will conclude at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau from May until early October 2024.
Thanks to Rachel Dewan, Library Director at Skagway Public Library for sharing this.
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the first recipients of its Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities grants, an initiative that will offer more than $7 million to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services and programs to better serve people with disabilities.
Three Alaska libraries received grants: Skagway Public Library, Big Lake Public Library, and Craig Public Library.
Dewan shares "Here at the Skagway Public Library, we are already making plans to install an accessible automated door with the funds and look forward to making our library a stronger community resource for all."
A crowd of eager fourth- and fifth-graders walked over from Haines School to the library Friday morning to meet face to face with one of their favorite authors: Stuart Gibbs.
Gibbs also had separate sessions with students in third grade and sixth grade. But, as he confessed to the fourth and fifth graders, he liked the interaction with that age group the most.
"When people get to sixth grade, they often get embarrassed to ask questions. Of course, you guys are full of questions," he said.
"Teenagers," one of the students said, disparagingly.
A little over three months after a partial roof collapse of the Palmer Public Library shut the facility down, the Palmer Public Library staff and Friends of the Palmer Library celebrated the opening of a new, temporary facility on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting.
The temporary library is now on Arctic Avenue, across from the Napa Auto Parts store, not even a mile from the original library site.
Katie Stavick, May 24, 2023. Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
It was a sunny, barely breezy day, and that seemed to bring the people out in droves for the Delta Community Library’s annual fundraiser. The event included the ever-popular basket auction with 112 baskets and gift certificates, a cornhole tournament, a raffle with 54 items, live music outdoors, homemade cookies provided by Whitestone Farms, and hot dogs, sodas, and chips for sale by donation.
“We’re going to estimate that there were about 700 people here,” said Library Director Tiki Levinson. “It was an astounding day, I must say. The wind was supposed to come up, and it didn’t, and we were so blessed.”
The turnout was a much larger number than previous years. Levinson thought maybe the weather, coupled with the expanded outdoor options such as the cornhole tournament and cookout, may have contributed to more people coming to the event.
Eligible Recipients: Tribes, Tribal organizations, ANCs, housing authorities, nonprofits, local governments, and others
This grant is for designing networks, developing engineering, coordinating partners and other activities that will bring critical infrastructure funds to Alaska. Please remember to engage your providers who have the technical expertise Alaska needs. Applications are made through Grants.gov, and you can find the overview and more information here: Broadband Technical Assistance | Rural Development (usda.gov). Proposed projects must include a component that allows for active participation and substantial involvement by the USDA Rural Development.
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