In 2024, the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) launched a new pilot program, Arts, Health and Well-Being in Alaska. Recognizing the beneficial relationship between the arts and improving community health outcomes, the program will award as many grants as possible to back community based creative projects that integrate the arts to enhance health…
Of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States, 228 share geography with Alaska. In the latest decennial census, 21.9% of Alaska’s population identified as American Indian or Alaska Native—the highest percentage of any state. Alaska’s Native peoples are comprised of 11 regional cultural groups and there is tremendous diversity within those regions, which…
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) supports cultural heritage education and engagement through the Youth Cultural Heritage Grant Program. Funded by the Rasmuson Foundation, the program helps school-age children and youth have meaningful interactions with culture bearers, elders and teaching artists. Students learn traditional and contemporary art forms integral to many aspects of…
ARTShops is a collaborative effort of the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) and The CIRI Foundation—with support from the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation—to catalyze Alaska Native artists’ creative leadership and community development throughout rural Alaska. Every year since the pilot program launched in 2016, a jury-selected cohort of four artists participates in…
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), with assistance from state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, recently launched an Artistic License Plate program to celebrate Alaskan identity and pride. The new plate was designed by an emerging artist selected through an inaugural statewide competition. Filmmaker and council member Pat Race designed the initiative’s website, and other…
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) recently adopted a resolution advocating that all domestic ivory bans exclude the legal use of domestic ivory by Alaska Native artists. The resolution is a response to new laws in California and New Jersey and pending legislation in several other states that, as ASCA chairman Ben Brown…
Alaska, unique in many ways, not only has the largest proportion of Native Americans in the country—with 14.8% of residents identifying as Alaska Native—but also is the largest state by land area and one of the least populated. In an effort to help Alaska Native artists thrive in the face of geographical and other challenges,…
Recognizing the growing challenges facing nonprofit arts groups, the Alaska State Council on the Arts(ASCA) is partnering with the Rasmuson Foundation and the Foraker Group (a private foundation and a statewide nonprofit association, respectively) to launch an EmcArts program to help arts organizations chart their course toward resiliency. New Pathways | Alaska will provide free…
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) is leveraging the exposure, networking and community building of its upcoming statewide meeting, Latitude: 2014 Arts Convergence, to offer two professional-development opportunities to the state’s creative class. Storm Sessions for Alaska Musicians is a seminar for helping independent Alaskan musicians expand their careers. The training will address…
In 2009, the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) adopted a special arts learning initiative: the New Visions project. This initiative was catalyzed by sobering results from a statewide assessment revealing that 73% of Alaskan districts had no arts curriculum, only six included the arts as a graduation requirement and less than 2% of…
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