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The Juneau Arts and Culture Center hosts the Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities tonight. Ryan Conarro will emcee, and Gov. Bill Walker will present awards. Two of the winners are based  in Southeast. The Arts Organization award will go to the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and the Alaska Native Arts award will go to Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Performers will entertain the audience throughout the night. They include Juneau’s Alaska Youth Choir, the Juneau GIANT Puppet Project and a rap-jazz-funk fusion improvisational band from Anchorage called Yada Di.

Allison Warden, a.k.a. AKU-MATU, is Yada Di’s lead singer. Her stage name is an abbreviation of her two Iñupiaq names, Akootchook and Matumeak.

“Part of what I do in Yada Di is rap. We play all genres. We listen to each other. We explore the edges of what is possible in terms of music, and we take the audience on a journey in a very bold way,” Warden says.

Tickets are still available on the Alaska State Council on the Arts website. The awards will also be broadcast on 360 North beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tune into A Juneau Afternoon today for more information. Alaska State Council on the Arts Executive Director Shannon Daut will have more details on the festivities.

Frank Solivan, a musician with roots in Juneau and Alaska, leads a band called Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen. Their latest album, Cold Spell, has been nominated for a Grammy for best Bluegrass album. While the band’s sound is based in Bluegrass, it also pulls from the musicians’ diverse musical backgrounds and pushes traditional boundaries.

“For all practical purposes we are a Bluegrass band, but there is something for everybody in what we play,” Solivan says.

In a recent interview on KTOO’s A Juneau Afternoon, Solivan speaks of his time in Alaska and how it feels to get a nomination.

The Grammys will be held of Feb. 8 in Los Angeles and can be viewed online beginning at 1 p.m. Alaska Standard Time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For January’s First Friday, artist MK MacNaughton hung the first of 52 portraits at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. The year-long show is called “Grit.” Watch this video of MacNaughton as she hangs portrait number two.

 

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle recently opened an exhibit called “Here and Now: Native Artists Inspired.” Among the new works by contemporary artists are two skateboard decks that Juneau-based Tlingit artist Rico Lanáat’ Worl designed and painted. KTOO’s Scott Burton visited Worl at his store in Juneau and produced this artist profile.

“Here and Now” will be exhibited at the Burke through July 2015. Other regional Native artists in the show include Tsimshian artists David A. Boxley and David R. Boxley, Haida artists Lisa Telford, Evelyn Vanderhoop and Christian White and Tlingit artists Alison Bremner, Shgen George and Tommy Joseph.

Join Excellent Radio and honor the dead this Dia de los Muertos. We’ll be celebrating Saturday Nov. 1 in the Rockwell Ballroom. There will be live music from Playboy Spaceman, Silver Jackson and The Cloud People.

This is a 21+ event with a full bar – Doors open at at 8:30 p.m. – $15 Cover

You can buy tickets HERE!

~Face painting and costumes encouraged~

 Is there somebody you want to honor this Dia de los Muertos? Bring a photocopy of a picture, write a letter or bring some other offering to place at the foot of the altar-stage. Or you can email a picture to playboyspaceman@gmail.com and we’ll include it in our video projection. Try to get it in by noon Friday to ensure your picture makes the final edit.

We want to thank our awesome sponsors the Alaskan Brewing Co. and High Tide Tattoo!