Alaska Native Arts & Culture

Alaska lawmakers passed a resolution that brings concerns of state ivory carvers to a national level. The resolution, passed by the Senate in February and the House in April, urges the U.S. Congress to pass legislation exempting legally acquired walrus, mammoth, and mastodon ivory from ivory bans.

Toward the end of each school year, Hoonah City Schools celebrates Tlingit culture with the ḵu.éex’, or potlatch. Nearly the entire community is invited to the see the youngest generation carry forward their ancestors’ traditions.

A Metlakatla-based nonprofit organization worked with the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center to develop a series of instructional videos that teach the community’s unique form of basket weaving. It comes with an accompanying bilingual guide in English and the Tsimshian language.

Juneau athletes set new personal records and placed in one event at the Native Youth Olympics that wrapped in Anchorage. It was Juneau’s first team in almost 30 years.

The idea was to help reconnect kids to their culture, teach about the effects of alcohol and drugs, and prevent suicide. And it has worked – but not with every kid.

Gil Truitt spent more than three decades teaching, coaching and leading teens at a government-run boarding high school. He’s been called a legend. Now, he’s received the highest form of recognition given by the state’s largest tribal government.