Causes: Arts & Culture, Cultural & Ethnic Awareness

Mission: To protect, perpetuate, and enhance the cultural, social, political and economic traditions for the tlingit, haida and tsimshian tribes of southeast alaska natives. The institute encourages and promotes the preservation and maintenance of their traditional culture, tribal organization, and lifestyle for the benefit of their youth and future generations, as well as the general public, and promotes educational achievement and opportunities for the tlingit, haida and tsimshian people.

Programs: Cultural education we know for a fact that native children do better academically when they know who they are--when they are familiar with their history, language, and culture. At sealaska heritage institute, we work to integrate native culture and languages into classrooms. We also develop teaching materials, including books and curriculum, and provide professional development to train teachers to use our materials and on cultural orientation. Sealaska heritage institute provides scholarships to alaska natives who are sealaska shareholders and descendants for college, university, vocational schools and technical schools.

language and cultural arts sealaska heritage institute provides the following language and culture programs: celebration, language resources, master apprentice program, native american heritage month events, latseen leadership academy, latseen hoop camps, curriculum, repatriation, tlingit national anthem, tlingit protocols, the tlingit memorial party, walter soboleff center and haidalanguage. Org. Sealaska heritage institute produces native language curriculum and other education tools through its language and education programs. The institute encourages students and teachers to use its online resources to perpetuate and revitalize tlingit, haida and tsimshian languages.

art programs sealaska heritage institute operates numerous programs to perpetuate northwest coast art--one of the most distinctive art forms in the world. The goals are to: o provide opportunities for native artists' professional development; o expand demand for native arts through developing native arts markets; o provide native arts cross-cultural education among general public; o advocate for artists' access to traditional materials; and, o research and preserve northwest coast style art. Sustainable art program the institute is building on traditional economies and the use of natural resources that are abundant and readily available in southeast alaska to revitalize traditional arts and crafts production: we call this the "sustainable art program. " the institute is purchasing seal and sea otter hides from native hunters, training crafts people, and producing curriculum material to support continuing education. The institute is also developing marketing strategies to integrate the arts and crafts into the capital economy while respecting and retaining our traditional value of "haa aan" - honoring and utilizing our land and resources. These efforts are providing economic opportunities for alaska natives in southeast alaska and supporting traditional cultural practices.

other programs including the scholarship program, traditional celebrations and the jineit retail store