Last Thursday at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center, the Sitka Fine Arts Camp was named 2015 Arts Organization of the Year at the Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities. Roger Schmidt, SFAC Executive Director, and Kenley Jackson, SFAC Program Director, attended the event to accept the award. 

Pictured: Roger Schmidt with Governor Bill Walker.

Roger's acceptance speech conveys the spirit of organization-wide gratitude for the crucial support of volunteers and donors, board members and faculty, students and parents, by the individuals and organizations who represent many different combinations of those groups:

Thank you. I am extremely proud of the staff of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, our board, our families, friends, and our students who support the program. I want to thank my program director Kenley Jackson who is in attendance tonight and has worked alongside me for seven years building our program.  I want to honor our volunteers and supporters who have put in over 40 thousand volunteer hours and given several million dollars of support over the last 4 years saving the former Sheldon Jackson Campus so that it can continue as an educational institute. Last summer over 700 students participated in our summer camps. Currently over 150 students come to our campus each week to participate in our after-school arts program taking classes in the visual arts, dance, theater, music and writing. I feel an extreme sense of gratitude and humility for the support of our program and for the passion our students feel the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.

I would like to share words from one of our students who comes from a small community of less than 200 people:

"This was my first time going anywhere further than Anchorage. I arrived at camp, as a shy timid girl, who was in and out of foster care, and I didn't know anybody within a 2,000 mile radius. In reality, I was about to have the best experience in my entire living. Peers from camp came up to me and talked to me, interested in where I was from. I got to know my counselors and their stories and artistic backgrounds, which were similar to mine, and i suddenly didn't feel so alone, but welcomed, like family. All the classes were hands on learning experiences, with no judgement, a different show every night by talented performers who actually cared about the students. On the finals, I did something I never thought I'd do. I performed in front of hundreds of people my song, and I cried knowing that everything I have worked for in my whole life was noticed and appreciated. "

Being part of the Arts and using the Arts as a force to help us realize our potential as humans is the best reward of all.

Thank you.

A number of SFAC staff members gathered yesterday to commemorate the occasion with an image taken in front of Allen Hall, photo courtesy of James Poulson.

Lower row, left to right: Ira Slomski-Pritz, Service Fellow; Jessica Menary, Service Fellow; Timothy Le, Service Fellow; Marcus Gruber, Service Fellow; Monica Ague, Artist Series AmeriCorps Volunteer; Jacob Peterson, Service Fellow; Bernadette Abellera, Maintenance Staff Member.

Upper row, right to left: Gail Bagley, Volunteer; Rhiannon Guevin, Program Manager; Roger Schmidt; Zeke Blackwell, Service Fellow; Cindy Edwards, Hames Center Director, holding the award; Brant Brantman, Hames Center Facilities Manager; Mike Wild, Maintenance Supervisor; Kenley Jackson; Ernesto Abellera, Maintenance Staff Member.