Through a capital campaign called Raise the Roof, we're undertaking the project of saving the roof of North Pacific Hall on the SFAC campus. We need your help. So far, we have $10,700 of our $70,000 goal. To kick off the campaign, we have an amazing evening in Anchorage planned. Tickets are available here. All proceeds go toward the effort to restore this vital campus asset. If you can't make the event in Anchorage, you can still play an important role by donating here, earmarking your donation Raise the Roof.

A group of impassioned Sitka Fine Arts Camp parents and supporters in Anchorage are hard at work on Raise the Roof, a special evening at the Snow Goose Theater on April 10th, 2015 at 7PM. LB Gregory, a member of a team of SFAC parents and supporters passionate about the arts and the campus restoration effort, speaks of her deep connection with both Sitka and SFAC that is informed, in large part, by the experiences her eighth grade daughter has had at Camp: playing chess with other campers, leaving the game briefly at LB's arrival on campus to state "Mom, I found my people." This connection is generated by a shared love of the arts, and LB details the importance of fostering a community among parents and other supporters of Camp in Anchorage, as well: "I'm looking forward to being in a room full of people who care about the arts, who care about Sitka."

LB states that the night will feature "bluegrass, classical, jazz, a wide variety of musical genres performed by recent campers and alumni." In addition, there will be "thousands of dollars worth of silent auction items, including gift certificates to some of Anchorage's best restaurants, spa services, and boutique shopping." A live auction will feature "Alaska Airlines ticket vouchers to Hawaii with a one week stay in a Maui condo," and a "Superstar Package--a recording session at Mirror Studios and photoshoot with Clark James Mishler Photography."

A critical aspect of one of SFAC's crucial buildings, the North Pacific roof is one of the most pressing needs in the effort to restore the historic Sheldon Jackson campus. SFAC Director, Roger Schmidt, states the following:

"When we took over the campus four years ago, we started a massive renovation, restoration project. The campus was unusable. The first phase was to focus on life safety, passing inspections that ensured the buildings were safe to use. Virtually every roof on our campus was beyond its life expectancy. Since that time, we've tried to replace a roof every year. We started with Whitmore Hall, then we moved on to the Yaw Arts Center. With Yaw, we literally had to bail it after every storm, placing Visqueen all over the floors to catch the water that would seep through the roof. Next was the Laundry. In this case, the structural wood had rotted, requiring specialized carpentry to restore the structure."

"North Pacific Hall is a really important building to us. It's where all our artists in the summer stay. It's where some of our workshops are housed. As we do more and more summer workshops, the building becomes even more important. During the fall, winter, and spring, North Pacific houses the Sitka Service Fellows program, which a great asset to our community because it brings 12 talented young volunteers to work with nonprofits and government entities to enrich the community of Sitka."

"We've done a lot of work with tar to patch the roof, since there was an area that just oozed water, and where water enters through the roof is often impossible to trace. We had more leaks again this winter, though. They were smaller, but we were able to contain them. Still, without this restoration, we probably wouldn't be able to make it through another winter. With slow leaks, a lot of the structural wood ends up rotting so that even more extensive carpentry work has to take place when the roof is finally replaced. North Pacific is really important, next on the list in restoring the campus. There isn't anything frivolous or luxurious about the project. This is a roof that probably needed to be replaced 20 years ago. The longer we wait, the more likely we are to have a critical failure in the winter when we can't fix anything."

"The good news is that people have been incredibly supportive of the work that we've been doing on the campus, and we've been able to replace a roof every year. The other great thing about a new roof is that you have 50 years to worry about what's underneath a roof; with a leaking roof, you have no time at all. It's a fantastic investment, it's what saves the buildings."