Alaska Native Arts & Culture

Urban life has long drawn young people out of rural Alaska. Now art is imitating Alaska life in a first-time Juneau playwright’s new play.

At the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society Conference in Juneau this week, a panel of five discussed climate change and traditional knowledge.

Craig Fleener, Gov. Bill Walker’s special assistant on Arctic policy, says Alaska communities could better adjust to climate change if hunting and fishing rules become more flexible.

The goal is for indigenous gamers, developers, and designers to recognize their own potential.

SHI Education Director Jacke Kookesh says the program creates “safe places for the language to be in the air and to be heard.”

The Sealaska Heritage Institute unveiled its new structure in downtown Juneau today. It’s called the Walter Soboleff Building after the late Tlingit scholar, elder and religious leader. Inside stands a full-sized replica of a traditional red cedar clan house