Daily Sitka Sentinel

January 29, 2014 Community Happenings

Local Endowments
    Raise Funds in
    Nine Communities
    Nine affiliate community funds of the Alaska Community Foundation have raised more than $257,000 to jumpstart their local community endowments in Ketchikan, Sitka, Chilkat Valley, Seward, Petersburg, Upper Susitna, Greater Fairbanks area and Kodiak.
    Community donations were  matched by the Rasmuson Foundation, resulting in an additional contribution of $264,000 in matching funds for the local endowments in these communities.
    “Local giving is at the heart of The Alaska Community Foundation,” said Candace Winkler, president and CEO of ACF. “We celebrate the leadership of our affiliates and the collaboration with the Rasmuson Foundation to encourage local giving across Alaska to build permanent community assets that will endure for generations to come.”
    In 2008, ACF established five geographical affiliate funds in Haines, the Kenai Peninsula, Petersburg, Seward, and the Upper Susitna. In 2013, ACF added the communities Fairbanks, Ketchikan, Kodiak and Sitka.
    A key component of the program is a matching challenge offered by the Rasmuson Foundation to help “jump-start” the growth of the local affiliate funds. Following in the same model of matching support initiated for the 2008 affiliates, the new ones met their first-year challenge to raise $25,000 and will receive $5,000 for immediate local grantmaking from the Rasmuson Foundation.
    ACF said that all nine affiliates continue to make significant progress in their annual fundraising goals to grow this permanent community asset for future generations. ACF also said that it gratefully acknowledges the vision and continued partnership of the Rasmuson Foundation.
    “We are thrilled and thankful that so many people in our community helped to make the 2013 match for the Greater Sitka Legacy Fund,” said Connie Sipe, advisory board member of the Sitka community fund. “Sitkans are known for supporting each other. Their donations to us speak to our community’s belief that our success and sustainability are of the utmost importance.”
    Established in 1995, The Alaska Community Foundation cultivates, celebrates and sustains all forms of philanthropy by connecting people who care to causes that matter. For more information, visit www.alaskacf.org


    Wine-Tasting
    For Jazz Fest
    The Bayview Pub will hold a wine-tasting 7-10 p.m. Feb. 5, hosted by Specialty Imports, to benefit Sitka Jazz Fest.
    The cost is $10 per person. All of the funds raised will be given to the organization.
 
    Digital Learning
    Day at Library
    Digital Learning Day is planned Feb. 5 at  Kettleson Memorial Library. The library invites the public to view  a new digital resource recently acquired.
    Sitkans now have online access to articles with indexing many from Alaskan Newspapers, including the Sitka Daily Sentinel, Anchorage Daily News, Fairbanks Daily News Miner, Juneau Empire and Nome Nugget. Articles from a variety of national magazines are also included in the resources. The resource is available online to all Sitkans through Kettleson Memorial Library online catalogue.
    Library staff will tell about some of the resources available through the state library, particularly the OWL KnOWLedge Center, a resource loaded with links to productivity tools, e-commerce, job development and the Homework Helpline, which provides support for both students and adults.

    T’ai Chi Chih
    Practice Listed
    T’ai Chi Chih Practice by the Sea will meet 10 a.m. Feb. 1 behind Kettleson Library on the water side. All are invited to participate. It is not a class.

    On Friday, January 31, Concert Maestro of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra Fleischer, will talk about the music from “For All Seasons” from noon to 1 PM. This presentation will come via videoconference at Anchorage’s Loussac Library.
Also on Friday, January 31, there will be a videoconference originating from Barrow’s Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska. Two Inupiat elders will talk about the stories shared with them by their two fathers of mammoth hunting in Anaktuvak Pass. This will occur 7-8 pm at Kettleson Memorial Library

    On Dean’s List
    Jule Peterson, a Sitka High School graduate, was named to Fort Lewis College’s dean’s list for fall 2013 semester.
    Peterson’s major is interdisciplinary studies with a teacher education option. She is the daughter of Reginald Peterson and Gail Johanson Peterson of Sitka.
    To be eligible for dean’s list, a student must carry a semester grade point average of 3.6 or better in no fewer than 15 credit hours of graded college level work.

Eric Marienthal. (Photo provided)

    Jazz Saxophonist Joins Festival
    The Sitka Jazz Festival will include the music of jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal, who performs Feb, 6-8 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.
    In 1977, Marienthal began studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. By the time he left Berklee, Marienthal had achieved the highest possible proficiency rating given by the school and awarded the Berklee Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding achievements in contemporary music.
    He has since performed in more than 80 countries, recorded 13 solo CDs and has played on hundreds of records, films, television shows and commercial jingles.
    Marienthal launched his professional career in 1980 with famed New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt. He has gone on to perform with artists Elton John, Barbara Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Johnny Mathis, George Duke, David Benoit, Lou Rawls and Olivia Newton-John.
    Among his 13 solo CDs, his latest is titled “It’s Love,” on Peak Records. Nine of the songs that Eric has recorded have made it to the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and three have made it to number one. He was voted one of the year’s “Favorite Alto Sax Players” in the Jazziz Magazine Reader’s Poll, along with David Sanborn and Phil Woods.
    Now in its 19th year, the Sitka Jazz Festival works to bring professional jazz musicians from around the world to Sitka to teach, inspire and perform. The festival strives to teach music appreciation, skills, history, artistic expression, and cross-cultural understanding through jazz in a supportive environment.
    Visiting artists and local educators provide clinics in jazz history, jazz theory, and jazz improvisation, as well as a variety of individual instrument and section-specific workshops.
    For more information visit the Website www.sitkajazzfestival.com.

Mike Dana. (Photo provided)
   
Guitarist to Direct Jazz Band
    The Sitka Jazz Festival is pleased to announce jazz guitarist Mike Dana will perform Feb. 6-8 at the Sitka Jazz Festival at the Performing Arts Center.
    Dana will direct the All-Alaska Jazz Band.
    He is a prolific studio musician, arranger, composer and producer, having taught jazz studies at Fresno Community College since 1990.
    After graduating from California State University with a master’s degree in both music and composition, Dana went on to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he privately studied with jazz guitar legend Joe Pass.
    He has extensive experience, where he has played on hundreds of albums, produced dozens more, and has been a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for many years. He has played in the pit orchestra for the touring companies of ‘‘Fiddler On The Roof,’’ ‘‘Hello Dolly,’’ ‘‘A Chorus Line’’ and others. He has composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, musical theater, choral, TV commercials and jazz.
    Now in its 19th year, the Sitka Jazz Festival works to bring professional jazz musicians from around the world to Sitka to teach, inspire and perform. The festival strives to teach music appreciation, skills, history, artistic expression, and cross-cultural understanding through jazz in a supportive environment.
    Visiting artists and local educators provide clinics in jazz history, jazz theory and jazz improvisation, as well as a variety of individual instrument and section-specific workshops.
    For more information visit the Webisite www.sitkajazzfestival.com.


SHS DDF Auction,
Performance Friday
Sitka High School’s drama, debate and forensics team will have a performance and silent auction featuring donated items from local artists and businesses 7 p.m. Jan. 31 at the Performing Arts Center.
Proceeds and donations will help fund the team’s state travel.
For more information contact Stephanie Ask at Sitka High School.