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Announcing arts investments

June 24, 2020

The Council is pleased to announce the 2020 awards of Fine Arts Scholarships, and Individual Artist and Arts Organizations investments by the City and Borough of Juneau, thanks to the magic of virtual auditions and interviews:

Fine Arts Scholarships: 
The Board of Trustees of the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council announces the award of 23 Fine Arts scholarships to local students and alumni:
Noatak Post was awarded an Advanced Art Achievement Award in the amount of $700.
Anastasia Ericksen, a full time student at the University of Alaska SE, received the Mac Behrends Creative Writing Award in the amount of $500.
Fine Arts Scholarships, awarded to students from grade 7 through high school who show exceptional talent and dedication to their art, were received by:

  • Elin Antaya, $700 in Dance
  •  Chloe Benc, $200 in Dance
  • Ambrose Bucy, $500 in Visual Arts
  • Bence Bury, $300 in Music
  • Gabe Cheng, $200 in Music
  • Sam Cheng, $500 in Music
  • Elizabeth Djajalie, $700 in Music
  • Gabby Ely, $200 in Dance
  • Josephine Engstrom/Claire Scott, $700 in Graphic Arts and Creative Writing
  • Tezah Haddock, $700 in Music
  • Paul King, $200 in Music
  • Megan Lujan, $500 in Dance
  • Sam Marnon, $500 in Music
  • Electra Morley, $300 in Dance
  • Georgia Post, $300 in Visual Arts
  • Shea Post, $300 in Visual Arts
  • Lila Quigley, $500 in Music
  • Grayson Riddle, $300 in Music
  • Jayda Skeek, $300 in Music
  • Alison Tingey, $200 in Music
  • Jin Yue Trousil, $500 in Music
  • Alexander Yu, $700 in Music

Students apply and then audition before a panel of judges to be selected for these awards, which are merit-based. Dance Auditions were held at Juneau Dance Theatre, with the adjudicators, Janice Hurley and Hali Duran on Zoom. Visual Art Auditions were all on Zoom, and adjudicated by SueAnn Randall and Averyl Veliz. Music auditions were a combination of Zoom and live, thanks to the Baranof Hotel for the use of the Treadwell Room, which allowed for adequate social distancing between the musicians and the adjudicators, Franz Felkl, Lisa Ibias, and Mary Watson.

Funding for the scholarships is made possible by the proceeds from the annual Wearable Art Extravaganza as well as by designated gifts from many generous local donors, including major support from a donor advised fund at the Juneau Community Foundation, and the Behrends family.

Fine Arts Scholarships are offered annually to students entering 7th through 12th grade, and Advanced Art Achievement Awards are offered for full time college students through age 25.

Individual Artist Awards: 
We announce the award of nine grants to local individual artists:

  • Patti Adkisson , $1,000 to participate in a weaving workshop with Anna Brown Ehlers planned for summer.
  • Annie Bartholomew, $1,000 to complete her first full-length album of songs inspired by narratives of women during the Klondike Gold Rush. Using historical source material, mountain clawhammer banjo styles, and modern songwriting forms, this new body of work will be steeped in the Alaska string band tradition. It will share the lesser-known stories of frontier women in Alaska and the Yukon. It highlights the entrepreneurs, dance hall queens, and lady adventurers who defied Victorian gender standards and risked their safety and “good names” reaching the far north.
  • Alison Bremner (Marks), $1,000 for the creation of new works, “What We Take”, scheduled for exhibit at Alaska State Museum in 2022 and Grunt Gallery in Vancouver, BC date TBA. “What We Take” is a look inside our own personal spirit realms that questions what we will bring forward into the world after the pandemic.
  • Page Bridges,  $450 for painting supplies and to allow her to spend her year focused on painting.
  • Crystal Cudworth, $1,000, to complete new work of large-scale oil paintings that explore the transformative properties of water. Water is a precious resource on our planet which needs to be examined and cherished now more than ever.
  • Elizabeth Djajalie, $540 to help publish her first, in a series of six, fun story books that could help kids learn math in a fun and simple way as they progressed in their textbooks at school.
  • Lily Hope, $1,000 to study under Chilkat weaver, Dorica Jackson, wife of Nathan Jackson, who has technical mastery that Lily hopes to achieve.
  • Lisa Phu, $1,000 to assist with completion of “My Mom, Her Cambodia” , a limited series podcast that tells the story of her mother’s life in Cambodia and Vietnam in the 70’s leading up to the escape, the escape itself, and her early years in America. The six-part series will also delve into her relationship with the daughter she was carrying in her womb during the escape —(Lisa)
  • Emily Wall, $600, to assist with writing a new novel about a woman pastor, of whom there are so few, and who even now face great discrimination, and even misogyny from the religious community.

Individual Artists awards are made annually, with funds from the City and Borough Of Juneau Arts funding administered by the Council. Applicants submit their proposals and portfolios, and appear before a panel that makes the recommendations for funding. The panelists this year were Stephen Blanchett and Kathy Hocker.

Arts Organizations awards
We announce the distribution of the City and Borough’s $167,500 arts budget for 2021 to 11 local non-profit arts organizations:

In addition, the Council will serve as the steward for $2000 for short project “Catalyst” Grants awarded quarterly, and $10,000 for investments in individual artists work. $11,000 is set aside to offset Juneau Arts and Culture Center rental discounts for arts organizations.

Applicant arts organizations submit their requests and present their proposals to a panel of community members who then recommend the distribution of the available fund. Panelists serve staggered 3-year terms on the panel and are selected from nominations from the field and from people who have expressed interest. This year’s panelists were Emily Ricci, Pua Maunu, Jim Simard, William Paneak, Mercedes Munoz, and Samantha Dye (unfortunately unable to participate in this year’s round).

Thank you to all of you who are members for helping us to support the artists in our community!

Nancy
PS if you are not yet a member, consider becoming one! ONLINE Thank you!