Alaska Arts Southeast, Inc. is dedicated to making the arts accessible to residents of remote regions of Alaska. One of the organization's principal programs is the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, a nationally acclaimed summer arts program for Alaskan youth. The Our Town grant awarded to Alaska Arts Southeast will be used toward a ten-week Sitka Festival of the Arts, Humanities, and Natural Sciences, which will serve as the first step toward the transformation of the former Sheldon Jackson College campus. A National Historic Landmark site, the 19-building, 20-acre campus has been unused since 2007, but will see new life as a multidisciplinary arts education campus for residents of and visitors to Sitka, a remote town of 8,500 reached only by plane or boat. The vision for the campus has grown out of community planning conducted by Alaska Arts Southeast in partnership with local civic partners and diverse not-for-profit institutions that will occupy the site. Future campus tenants will include the Island Institute, Sitka Sound Science Center, Greater Sitka Arts Council, Sitka Summer Music Festival, Indigenous Alaska Native Artists, the Alaska State Museum, and the Alaska Native Artist Demonstrators Program.
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Ballerinas at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. Photo by Jayleen Beedle |
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