GHF Hosts Áakʼw Rock Youth Jam

GHF was pleased to be a part of the historic Áakʼw Rock Indigenous music festival held Sept. 21-23, in Juneau. The festival was presented by the Tlingit & Haida Tribe and Juneau Arts & Humanities Council.

To help launch the festivities, GHF hosted a youth jam concert on Wednesday, featuring performers Albino Mbie, Ya Tseen, and DJ Theres More. The event was mc'd by AKU-MATU.

GHF's Inaugural Online Cultural Class a Success!

GHF was pleased to offer our first online class this September. Beginning basket weaving was held over four online sessions and led by Instructor Pam Credo-Hayes. In the class, fourteen participants who joined the class from different locations throughout the United States learned how to weave a small cedar basket.

"We are thrilled with the success of this class," said GHF's Executive Administrator Nicole Anderson. "We received excellent feedback from participants and look forward to offering additional online classes in the future to continue providing cultural learning opportunities to those who live outside of Juneau."

In October, GHF will next host an online beginning Northwest Coast formline class led by Instructor Abel Ryan.

GHF Staff Join Together for Beginning Tlingit Class

Starting in late September, GHF staff will come together twice per week to participate in a beginning Tlingit language class. The class will be held from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday in classroom space donated by Sealaska Corporation in the Sealaska Plaza.

"I believe in Alaska there are fewer than ten high fluency speakers of Lingít, X̱aad Kíl, and Smʼalgyax combined," said Alaska Native Language Professor X̱'unei Lance Twitchell. "So, we need a seismic shift in how we approach language learning and use in our organizations."

The class is being offered through the University of Alaska Southeast and will focus on the foundations of comprehension and speaking by Introducing the Tlingit sound system and alphabet as well as building vocabulary and learning phrases and basic grammatical structures.

"Recently, GHF staff participated in an 'Indiginize Your Workplace' training provided by the First Alaskans Institute. One of the major outcomes of that training was GHF staff's commitment to live our traditional language and incorporate it into the way we work, think, talk, and act," said GHF Executive Director Desiree Jackson. "GHF staff's participation in this class reaffirms that organizational-wide commitment to language learning and professional development."