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 In this issue

  • Best Seat in House
  • Upcoming Highlights
  •  Let’s Get to Know Better
  • Current Donation Campaign
  • Into the Arts on Juneau Live!
  • Why the arts now? A call to action.
  •  Coming in the Next Issue

 

Best Seat in House

By Bradley Perkins, Executive Director

direct 907 586-2787  | cell 808 782 5795 | brad@jahc.org

The Best Seat in House column of the newsletter will be my opportunity to reflect on the JAHC from vantage point of the executive director.  Because this is the BEST and COOLEST job in Juneau!  I am so thankful to the board for this opportunity.
With the retirement of long-time Executive Director Nancy DeCherney in May, the curtain closes on her stewardship, leaving big shoes to fill.   I know that we all wish her well with whatever she endeavors to do.  I will do my best to see that the JAHC continues: to cultivate vibrant arts and cultural opportunities in our community and fosters a strong, prosperous, and inclusive environment where creativity and innovation thrive.  I am looking forward to furthering the JAHC’s new strategic goals:  collaboration, inclusion, programming, art education and development, support for the local economy, and facility management and improvement.  I believe the future of the JAHC is full of possibilities and promise.

Let me take this opportunity to introduce myself.  My spouse, Pastor Karen Perkins (Resurrection Lutheran Church), and I moved to Juneau five years ago.  I am an IP, high-tech and entertainment law attorney / electrical engineer with many years in the theatre as well as television production.  I have worked in arts management from the 1970s.  Since arriving in Juneau, I have worked for the state as a division director; GM of St. Vincent de Paul; and at Resurrection Lutheran as the producer of its Juneau Live! television studio, the manager of Safe Space for Schooling and CBJ Cold Weather Emergency Shelter.  Additionally, I was the interim development director for Perseverance Theatre.  Our two adult children and one son-in-law live together in Sacramento, CA.  We live with a cat, ad Aussie church dog and various long-term guests in the Mendenhall Valley.   My current hobby is collecting and refurbishing vintage calculators (especially HP).  I am looking forward to meeting each of you soon.

Upcoming Highlights

With the on-going COVID-19 endemic, the JAHC is committed to presenting live, in-person arts programs in both the JACC and Centennial Hall.  This continues to be challenging for the JAHC staff who had to relocate the city’s emergency facilities out of buildings.  However, both the JACC and Centennial, as well as other JAHC programs (First Fridays, galleries, classes, etc.) are back due to your support and attendance!
         The JAHC Community Calendar is constantly updated and is your best source in Juneau of what to do, where to be, and how to be in the know.  Remember the JAHC COVID-19 Policies & Information still requires masks in the JACC and Centennial Hall.

 

 

Let’s Get to Know Better

Kathleen Harper is JAHC’s Centennial Hall House Manager.  Previously, she was Production Manager & sometime theatre artist at Perseverance Theatre in Juneau for 18 years.
         Kathleen studied Theatre & Studio Art at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.  She went to Kenai Central High School.   “Phlight of the Phoenix” by Kathleen Harper and Annie Szeliski, modeled by Stacy Katasse, won the People’s Choice Award at the 2001 Wearable Art show.

Next issue, we’ll get to know better long-time JAHC member, Lucy Merrell.  If you have a JAHC staff, board, or member you would like to know better, email newsletter@jahc.org.

(photo-Juneau Empire)

Current Donation Campaign

Thank you for your continuing support of the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council through your past donation.  The arts, in whatever form, have a place in everyone’s lives.  Regardless of whether that is attending a concert or showing of your favorite artist, music, play, poem; or learning to paint, sing, act or playing an instrument; there is a place for the arts in your life.  Whether you are six or sixty, student or professor, houseless or housing manager, you can participate and share the arts with those in your family, neighborhood, and community in Juneau.  This is the mission of JAHC: to cultivate vibrant arts and cultural opportunities in our community and foster a strong, prosperous, and inclusive environment where creativity and innovation thrive.
         We need your help to do that.  We are kicking-off a donor campaign through the end of 2022 to raise at least $100,000.  I am calling it the New Executive Director Honeymoon Period Campaign (aka “Brad has not had time to mess up yet” campaign).  The JAHC Board  of Trustees will allocate the funds raised from this campaign to specific needs we have identified in student art education, staff development and the New JACC.

scan to donate

Into the Arts from Juneau Live! Studio

Into the Arts gives residents of Juneau a direct link into the arts in Juneau by providing specific and detailed information related to a particular fine art.  Each episode will cover instructors, classes, programs, instruments, materials, supplies and public sharing opportunities.
Into the Arts also gives artists, instructors, and businesses in Juneau a direct link to prospective artists by performing, demonstrating, discussing, touring, classes, and/or businesses related to their art.  Co-hosted by members of the Juneau art community, each 30 to 45-minute episode opens with a POV segment of the viewer doing the art featured in that episode (i.e., drumming in a Native Alaskan drum circle, painting a model in an art class, taking a ballroom dance class, writing poetry on a laptop, performing in a play).  The hosts then ask the viewers if they could see themselves involved with that art.  The hosts are joined on a typical talk show set by an artist, instructor or business related to the featured art of that episode.  A demonstration of the art is included in the episode on a second demonstration set.   Further information is provided about instructors, classes, programs, instruments, materials, supplies and public sharing opportunities. Additionally, each episode has a webpage on www.juneaulive.org with links.

The first episode of Into the Arts aired on November 9, 2021.  The series is sponsored by the JAHC and Alaska Music One, produced by April Dooley, and directed Jared Campbell.  This last season, Juneau Live! Studio had over twelve regular shows in production, in addition to numerous special event programs.  The Juneau Live! YouTube channel had over 10,000 views, over 150 subscribers, and produced and broadcast more than 500 hours of professional, high-quality, Juneau-community access programming, using a volunteer production staff and crew at no cost to sponsoring organizations.

 

Why the arts now? A call to action.

By Bradley Perkins, JAHC Executive Director

By most accounts, people’s lives aren’t going that well.  And, I should know.  Since moving to Alaska five years ago, I have been primarily working in the social services, including: low-income housing or houselessness; food-instability;  mental illness and addiction; disabilities and accessibility; and challenges related poverty and985 income-instability.
         The COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, and resulting economic upheaval (inflation / recession) have left all of us unsettled, exhausted and for some, in tragedy.  At times like these, some say that we need to focus our attention and resources on BASIC NEEDS for survival – housing, food, employment, basic education.  Everything else – these “luxuries” have to wait for the world to get back to “normal.”
         While housing, food, employment, and basic education feed and refresh the body, I would argue that if we ignore the mind and soul, then we are simply “surviving.”  Long ago, humans realized that it was not enough to simply survive.  Do you remember learning why the Renaissance followed the Dark Ages?  It is the activities beyond meeting basic needs that often make life worth living.  One of those pursuits is active engage in the arts.
         When we sacrifice the arts as not being needed for survival or treat them as a luxury, we are depriving the mind and soul of its subsistence as surely as we would be depriving the body of food or sleep.  Similarly, when we decide that those in need are only entitled to food and/or shelter, but not support in accessing the arts, we are still putting them at risk.
         Juneau is one of the most compassionate communities where my wife and I have worked in assisting those in need.  Both private and public entities step up when necessary to help and protect those in need of shelter, food, clothing, etc.  It is also one of the most diverse and supportive arts communities for its size.  Support and participation in the JAHC is your opportunity to meet the NEED of feeding the mind and soul of those who are struggling in our community.  You can answer the call to feed the mind and soul of those in need by taking one of the suggested  actions listed here.  Let the JAHC can help you. Your call to action:

·      Performing

·      Teaching

·      Learning

·      Attending

·      Sponsoring

·      Donating

Contact the JAHC for more information.

 
 
Coming in the Next Issue

·      Best Seat in House

·      Upcoming Highlights

Roundup of holiday festivities in Juneau

·      Let’s Get to Know Better

Long-time JAHC member, Lucy Merrell.

·      Current Donation Campaign

How are doing toward $100,000 goal?

·      Update on the New JACC

·      Subscribe to next issue

 
Copyright 2022 JAHC. All rights reserved.  “Juneau Arts & Humanities Council,” the “JAHC” and JAHC logos are trademarks of JAHC.  References to other entities and their products use trademarks owned by the respective entities and are for reference purpose only.  References to other entities and their products use trademarks owned by the respective entities and are for reference purpose only.  No portion hereof may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems, for any purpose other than the recipient’s personal use, without the express written permission of JAHC.  The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council is a nonprofit corporation under IRS section 501(c)(3). Federal income tax law requires us to inform you that no goods or services were provided to you in return for your gift.  Therefore, within the limits prescribed by law, the full amount of your gift is deductible for income tax purposes.  Please work with your tax advisor for specific tax advice for the 2021 calendar year.  There are many ways to support the Arts Council. You can call us and discuss other ways to give at (907) 586-2787.

The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council is located on the unceded territories of the Aak’w Kwan on Tlingit Aani. It is profoundly grateful for their care and stewardship over these lands and waters since time immemorial, and is deeply committed to working with Indigenous Peoples toward lasting relationships that connect and engage with shared histories and values. These shores and waterways are deeply tied to the traditional culture and ways of life of the Tlingit and JAHC honors that heritage.  It offers this statement humbly and welcomes suggestions as it continues to grow in understanding.