Native Culture

Author and photographer Amy Gulick discusses her book “The Salmon Way” – An inspiring look into the lives of Alaskans and salmon and how they intertwine.

Artist and canoe carver Michael Beasley and curator Steve Henrikson take us on an exploration of traditional Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian canoe design and construction.

Master carver Wayne Price discusses the in intricacies of constructing traditional canoes and the adventures of traveling in them through Southeast Alaska.

Author Dr. Emily Moore discusses her book Proud Raven, Panting Wolf and the creation of our many totem parks that came out of the Great Depression.

Weaver Kathryn Rousso discusses her amazing baskets as well as types of basket weaving.

“Aan Yátx’u Sáani: Noble People of the Land, The Juneau Histories Theater Project,” is a one-of-a-kind theatrical event in which 5 Alaska Native community members share their real stories, illuminating their deep connections with the past, present, and future of Juneau and Southeast Alaska. With music and video projections, they weave their memories with little-known…

Join Dr. Katherine Ringsmuth for a presentation and community conversation about the NN Cannery History Project, a collaborative effort to preserve the history of more than a century of cannery lives. The NN Cannery is located on the south side of the Naknek River, one of the five rivers that make up the Bristol Bay…

Visiting maritime historian Philippe Fichet-Delavault presents interesting material on Lituya Bay, including the contact between La Perouse, the French explorer, and the Tlingits in 1786 through the megatsunami of July 9, 1958.

In this NEA Big Read keynote event, playwright Vera Starbard, poet Joan Naviyuk Kane, and novelist Don Rearden discuss the power of art in a colonized, indigenous Alaska. Through an examination of their own work and the Big Read selection, Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, the panel will discuss the notion that “survival is…

On September 1, 2017 Jackson Polys (aka Stephen Paul Jackson and Stron Softi) gave an artist talk about his work on the Seward shame pole that was raised in Saxman Totem Park in April, 2017. Jackson’s Seward pole is the third iteration. The original pole was erected after Secretary of State William Seward’s 1869 visit…