For its second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2024, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is pleased to announce more than $110 million in recommended grants in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. These grants fall under three NEA funding categories: Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, and State and Regional Partnerships.
Eleven organizations in Alaska received grants, including Chilkoot Indian Association, Bunnell Arts Center, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and Salamatof Tribal Council.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced the FY24 recipients of its Native American/Native Hawaiian (NANH) Museum Services Program. The grant program provides up to $250,000 in funding to support Native American Tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians in sustaining Indigenous heritage, culture, and knowledge. This year, 18 institutions have been awarded a total of $3,772,000.
Three organizations in Alaska received grants: Metlakatla Indian Community, Koniag, Inc. (Alutiiq Museum), and Sealaska Corporation (Sealaska Heritage Institute).
The National Park Service (NPS) today announced the award of $1.5 million for arts education and mentorship projects as part of the Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development grant program.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center was awarded $750,000 to provide free classes to the public taught by master artists from the Alaska Native community. The project will increase the number of individuals who are practicing traditional artforms within the Alaska Native community and deepen these individuals’ understandings of traditional Alaska Native arts.
Sealaska Heritage Institute received $749,282 to connect young Alaska Native adults to new community-based instructional opportunities in Northwest Coast Arts using the Mentor-Apprentice pedagogy. The project will grow the next generation of Southeast Alaska Native master carvers and align with the institute’s Core Cultural Values.
Any private, nonprofit organization or institution that primarily serves and represents the Native Hawaiian or Alaska Native communities and is recognized by the governor of Hawaii or the governor of Alaska, as appropriate, is eligible to receive such grants.
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has launched a new online dictionary that allows users to search for words and phrases in Lingít (Tlingit language), X̱aad Kíl (Haida language), Shm’algyack (Tsimshian language) or English, browse words and phrases and listen to heritage language speakers pronouncing the entries.
Notably, users may search the database using English or Native terms to reveal all related content, said SHI President Rosita Worl, Ph.D.
The platform denotes a previously missing language tool that is meant to stand alone or to complement existing materials to help perpetuate Southeast Alaska’s ancient Indigenous languages, she said.
May 8, 2024, Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release.
Episode 14: The Irene Ingle Public Library [in Wrangell] has a lot going on. Sarah Scambler, library director, talks to News Director Colette Czarnecki about the variety of programs that happen there. This includes the Summer Reading Program, collaborating with Parks & Rec and the book club.
Windy Valley Babies (Story Time) happens every Wednesday at 10:30 am inside the Library. Story Time is specially designed for ages 0-3. Bring your 0-3 year old to sing and read stories with Ms. Anna!
Music Saturdays. Come play around on our mandolin, ukulele, guitar, banjo or piano! (And you won’t even get shushed!)
Late Night Library takes place on select Friday nights at 6:00pm in the library. These evenings include crafts, game nights, special guests, and activities for young patrons in 5th grade and up!
During the Memorial Day weekend, residents of Willow came together to celebrate the re-dedication of the Willow Historical and Wildlife Museum.
The original 40-foot-by-60-foot log building was the first community center for Willow, and is now, appropriately, located next to the current Willow Community Center, in the heart of the community. It is the only building in Willow on the National Register of Historic Places.
Here's a small sampling of the many events happening in June at Kenai Public Library.
Play Nature Bingo all of June. Keep an eye out for various critters this summer and record them on our nature bingo card for a chance to win some small prizes. Available at the front desk.
4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays in June. Learn how to tie a fly or two during four step-by-step sessions led by the Kenai Peninsula Trout Unlimited Chapter. Class is designed for ages 12 and up. Space is limited. Sign up at the main desk or call (907)283-4378 to reserve a spot.
Saturdays. During sunny Saturdays in June, stop by the library and spruce up our sidewalks with family-friendly art. Chalk is available for kids at the front desk. Share photos of your artistic adventures with us on the Library’s Facebook page.
11 a.m. to noon June 3, Little Crafts: Salt Dough Charms — Session 1. Designed for kids 6 and under. This month we are making charms out of salt dough. We’ll form and design our charms in session one, and paint our creations in session two June 21. The craft will take around 15 minutes each session.
More than 50 kids waited in line Wednesday afternoon for the first week’s prize-giving for the library’s summer reading program. They included Jersey Beck, who arrived three hours early to secure first pick from the prize chest for reading 50 chapters, mostly from her favorite series, The Babysitters Club. Beck said she was hoping to grab a cute claw clip shaped like a butterfly, while friend Piper Carlson said she was after a colorful disco ball.
The prizes were purchased with a $35,000 grant from the late businesswoman Carol Waldo. “She said do something wonderful for the children of Haines,” said Holly Davis, who is running the program. Students get prizes including books, toys and stuffed animals based on how many books they’ve read. More than 130 kids showed up for the opening day celebration on Friday, which included a magic performance by Seattle magician Jeff Evans. “He did a lot of card tricks and magic tricks with the kids, lots of jokes. They were loving it,” said assistant library director Matt Jillson.
The Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved the nominations for the Library Citizens’ Advisory Committee without changes on Tuesday night. Mat-Su Borough District 7 Assemblymember Bernier nominated an individual from District 5 who will now serve as Chair. No District 7 representative sits on the Committee. Yet, three of the five Borough libraries are located in District 7.
Bernier cites disapproval of the American Library Association, or ALA, and his own religious beliefs as a reason for not selecting a District 7 candidate.
He says the District 7 applicants did not have the qualities he thought were important to serve on the Committee. He nominated Chad Scott, a pastor from the Meadow Lakes area living in District 5.
“Well, I would like to say that there are many qualified residents in District 7 that could have filled the seat for the Library Citizens’ Advisory Committee. Many with good common sense, many that do not support the American Library Association that pushes LGB agendas and woke ideology. Many that believe in the ten commandments. Many that believe in family and country, two genders, and one god.
The Noel Wien Public Library welcomed patrons to the building Saturday morning after a 13 month closure for an expansion and renovation.
Hundreds of people flooded the library to explore the renovated space, check out books, and sign up for library cards and the summer reading program: Hard Hat Summer.
June is a busy month with chess tournaments, summer reading programs, a book sale this Saturday, Pride Month activities and more. Rebecca Brown gives details.
The Wasilla Museum and Visitor Center held its annual Block Party Saturday June 1.
According to Wasilla Museum curator Bethany Buckingham, they had a nice turnout and it was all around a successful event.
“Everyone was happy,” Buckingham said.
Over 20 different booths featuring local groups and organizations such as The Children’s Place, Mat-Su College, and Wasilla Public Library were present during this year's event. Buckingham said that attendees can visit new and returning Block Party booths each year, and it's a great way to learn about local resources.
Nearly 1,600 dancers in 36 Indigenous groups will celebrate the theme “Together We Live in Balance” at Sealaska Heritage Institute’s biennial Celebration June 5-8 in Juneau.
We are seeking to partner with one or more Native cultural institutions with unprocessed collections of audiovisual materials (film, video, audio recordings) to participate in the "Community Archiving Workshop: Audiovisual Collections Care" scheduled for November 12 in Palm Springs, CA. The workshop covers processing, inventory, preservation, and managing of audiovisual collections, including addressing culturally sensitive content. Application deadline is Friday, June 14.
Cultural items hold immense significance for Indigenous communities, representing tangible symbols of identity, heritage, and continuity. Returning these items strengthens cultural bonds, supports the transmission of traditional knowledge, and fosters healing and reconciliation. To help Indigenous communities worldwide recover cultural materials, the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) launched the "Going Home Fund: Returning Material Culture to Native Communities" in 2023 with support from the Andrew Mellon Foundation. The program has now received $1.55 million in funding to ensure the preservation and continuity of cultural heritage.
Indigenous communities may request financial and technical support through the Going Home Fund to facilitate the return or long-term loan of materials. Additionally, individual donors and collecting institutions may request funds to assist in the return of items.
Author, teacher and former Alaska State Writer Laureate Nancy Lord was recently recognized by the Friends of the Homer Public Library as this year’s adult Lifelong Learner.
The author of short fiction collections as well as literary nonfiction, her books include “The Compass Inside Ourselves”; “Survival: Stories”; “Fishcamp: Life on an Alaskan Shore”; “Green Alaska: Dreams from the Far Coast”; “The Man Who Swam with Beavers: Stories”; “Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale’s Truths”; “Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life”; “Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-changed North”; and “pH: A Novel.”
Christina Whiting, May 29, 2024. Homer News.
Celebrate Pride Month with New Resources from GPO
June is Pride Month, and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) is celebrating with new content including an FDLP Resource Guide and an FDLP Academy Webinar:
Resource Guide
Then and Now Experiences of the LGBTQ+ Community is GPO’s newest FDLP Resource Guide. Check out U.S. Government information including resources relating to education, employment, health, hate crime, and housing along with timelines featuring important U.S. Government documents and notable LGBTQ+ individuals.
Webinar
On June 20, 2024, from 10:00 – 11:00 am AKT, GPO is hosting an FDLP Academy webinar on LGBTQ History through Federal Government Documents. Register to attend.
A May 24, 2024 press release from the Federal Trade Commission reports “consumers in 2023 submitted about 52,000 reports about scammers impersonating Best Buy or its Geek Squad tech support brand, followed by about 34,000 reports about scammers impersonating Amazon. PayPal was the third-most impersonated company with about 10,000 reports from consumers.” It also reported that in 2023 people lost the most money to scammers imitating Microsoft ($60 million) and Publishers Clearing House ($49 million).
May 24, 2024. FTC.gov.
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