December 23, 2011
 Issue 33

Sitka Fine Arts Camp Newsletter

We Can Do It, If We all Work Together!
 
Greetings!
Look back to February of this year.  Can you believe all that has happened? In this season, I can't help but think about what an amazing gift this campus is-- to Sitka and to Alaska.  And it's only going to get better!

So many people have given to the campus throughout this first whirlwind year. All of the contributions of money, time, materials and expertise are building on each other to create a much larger gift for the community.

This month, a group of Sitkans came together to preserve Cresent Harbor park as community green space by purchasing the piece of land. (An incredible example of what we can come together and do!  See story below.)

Just this month we received a $100,000 contribution from the estate of a woman in... She had wanted the money to go toward "..." The family and Trustees of the estate followed our story and contacted us about the donation.

The gift will help with repairs to Whitmore Hall- a building that we would otherwise be at risk of losing to deterioration.

Looking toward future work in Allen Auditorium, one of our supporters has made a $50,000 pledge. This contribution will be dedicated to the memory of a dear loved one and used to complete the upstairs lobby.

We are now within $80,000 of our $500,000 goal! Please consider making a significant year-end contribution. You can, of course deduct your from your taxes and it will do a huge amount toward kick-starting a new year on the campus!

Have a great holiday!
Camp registration begins January 1, 2012.
The Gift of Preserved Green Space
written by Thad Poulson

When title to an 8,119 square-foot piece of Sitka real estate is signed over to Alaska Arts Southeast on Dec. 22, its history will come full circle.

 

This lot is the half-moon shaped piece of lawn between the tennis courts and Lincoln Street in front of the SJ campus.

With the transfer of the deed, the parcel (Lot 2, Sheldon Jackson Subdivision) will be reunited with the SJ campus, of which it was a part since missionary John Brady claimed the surrounding 160 acres of land for a Presbyterian mission school in 1881.

 

Of equal if not greater importance, the transaction will reaffirm the role of this small plot of ground in the creation, and the continued existence, of Sitka's Crescent Harbor Park.*

The $37,000 purchase price was raised in contributions from the general public and the Juneau-based Southeast Alaska Land Trust. A local historic preservation nonprofit, the Allen Memorial Preservation Project, Inc., sponsored the fund drive.

 

The public appeal was the result of the very real possibility that the land would be sold for private commercial use, despite the covenants and easements dedicating its use to parks and playgrounds managed by the city. When SJ put the lot up for sale the city, for whatever reason, refused to make an offer. In July SJC took out newspaper ads seeking bids from private buyers, and showing the outline of a structure that could be built on the property without the need for any variances under the zoning code.

 

That's when AMPPI came forward. The nonprofit was founded in the 1990s to save and renovate Allen Auditorium after persuading the SJ trustees to rescind their decision to have the historic building torn down. That campaign was successful, and AMPPI went on to work to save other historic buildings and to have the Sheldon Jackson campus recognized as a National Historic Landmark.

 

Raising money for preservation of a public park was well within AMPPI's mission, but outright ownership of property was not. Not wishing to put the land back into the arena of city politics, AMPPI looked for a nonprofit institution that shared its goal of public service, and would agree to accept ownership of Lot 2 after the purchase price was raised. The obvious choice was Alaska Arts Southeast, owner of the adjacent SJ campus.

 

Alaska Arts Southeast executive director Roger Schmidt took the proposal to his board and they accepted.

 

When AMPPI publicized the campaign to raise money to buy the SJ land in Crescent Park the response was immediate. Contributors were told that their pledges would not be called in until commitments were in hand for the entire $37,000 price prior to the Oct. 25 expiration of the purchase option.

The fund drive was successful. Contributors made their checks payable to Alaska Arts Southeast, with the notation "for park land acquisition." (The park land campaign took place at the same time that AASE was running its unrelated major capital fund drive)

 

The Southeast Alaska Land Trust, which earlier this year played a major role in securing conservation easements on the beachfront off eastern Lincoln Street, provided essential help in the acquisition and protection of Lot 2 as park land. SEAL Trust contributed $11,500 to the purchase price, and drafted deed restrictions reinforcing the the existing land use covenants that are on file at the Sitka Recorder's office.

To sum up, the project was successful on many levels, not least in demonstrating the value that Sitkans place on their parks and green space, and the resources that can be brought to bear with coordinated action by like-minded people when these values are threatened.

 

*That story is told elsewhere, part of what historian Bob DeArmond called "the longest running soap opera in Sitka's history," the creation of Crescent Harbor.
It all adds up!
The amount of support that we've seen pouring into this project has absolutely blown us away.

Donate

Donate now and support a new year of revitalization!

This is a sum of equipment, materials and skilled labor that have been contributed. Wow!

Are you in town? Join us for a holiday work party. It will be a lot of fun!
Holiday Work Party!
December 27, 2011

Celebrate the season with a work party surrounded with friends and holiday cheer! Starting 9am in Allen Auditorium.
Indigo Trio, featuring one of Sitka's own
The Indigo Trio will conclude a five-town Southeast Alaska Tour with a concert at the Sitka Performing Arts Center Jan 7, 7 p.m.

Featuring Yale College students Matthew Griffith on clarinet, Richard Kahn on cello, and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins on cello, the Indigo Trio will present a lively, varied, and narrated program for clarinet-piano-cello trio featuring standard classical fare, including Brahms and several English romantic composers, but also a solo piano adaptation of a Radiohead single, an Alberto Ginastera tango, a klezmer selection, the Artie Shaw jazz clarinet concerto, and a Lady Gaga medley arrangement commissioned by the trio.

Tour Dates (all shows at 7pm:)
12.29 Haines, Chilkat Center- Arts
12.31 Skagway, Skagway City School,    1.3    Petersburg
1.4    Kake, Kake Presbyterian Church
1.8   Sitka, Performing Arts Center
Camp website

Facebook

Sitka Fine Arts Camp/Sheldon Jackson Revitalization
Revitalization Video

    
Thank you for all of the generous donations this year!

Nancy and Robert Adams, Julie Adkins, Sheila Agne, Alaska Airlines, Alaska Computer Center, Alaska Marine Lines, Inc. Alaska Ocean View Bed and Breakfast, Alaska Raptor Center, Alaska State Library, Wendy Alderson and Jason Gjertsen, Selina Alexander, David and Lauren Allen, Allen Marine, Inc. Rob Allen and Robin Sherman, Robert Allen, Jr., Robert E. and Betty M. Allen, Theodore and Donna Allio, ALPS Federal, Credit Union, G. Andrews Smith, Angling Unlimited, Inc. Anthony's, Peter Apathy and Carole Knuth, Ralph Ash, Charles Ask, Association of Alaska School Boards, Bob and Julie Athayde, Kyle Athayde, Jerry Atkin and Lee Schore, Gail Bagley and Garry McCrary, Sandy Baird, Suzanne Baker, Baranof Chiropractic, Ms. Barbara Barbee-Pelzel, Candi Barger, Eileen and Jay Beedle, Linda Behnken, Susan Bein, Sarah Bell, Suzanne Benson, Suzzane and Terry Blake, Sarah Blue, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Bolar, Charles and Edyth Bovee, Russ Bowman, John and Benee Braden, Harvey and Kathleen Brandt, Susan Brandt-Ferguson and Randy Ferguson, Dr. and, Mrs. Bob Brawley, Lisa and Nick Brest, Grace Brooks and Charles P. Morgan, Sean and Elizabeth Brooks, Ms. Shirley Brooks, Mr. Benjamin Brown, Tom and Susan Brown, Sara and Elliot Bruhl, Katherine Buchanan and Morris Whitney, Jeff Budd, Will and Andrea Burck, Mrs. Iris Busch, Lisa Busch and Davey Lubin, James Cabeen, Jamey and Melinda Cagle, Larry and Maryann Calvin, Ms. Marlene Campbell, Norm and Toby Campbell, Sally Campbell, Ms. Brenda Campen, Frances Cannizzaro, Robert and Susan Carlson, Ms. Rosemary Carlton, Sally Cary, Terry and Nancy Cavanaugh, Anne and Bob Chadwick, Christine Chen, Mr. John B. Chenoweth, Chocolate Moose/Sitka Flowers, Barry and Judy Christensen, Cheryl and Jeff Christopher, Clark James Mishler Photography, Jessica Clark, Jim and Susan Clark, Coast Guard Spouses' and Women's Association of Sitka, Tom and Marylyn Conley, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. Raymond Copes, Ethan Crawford, Jr., Amy Crews, Ms. Helen Cunningham, Dale Curtis, Marco D'Ambrosio, Ms. Ann Dagnillo, Rob and Colleen Dahlquist, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Matthew Dalton, Davis Realty, William and Nancy Yaw Davis, Mr. William Scott Davis, Mr. William DeArmond, Ms. Elizabeth Demaree, Emily and Casey Demmert, Wade and Jo Ann Demmert, Laraine Derr, Joanna DiGennaro, Karen Dillman, Melissa and Ken Dinsmore, Mary and Mary Ann Dispenza, David and Rita Docter, Kari Jane Docter, Jonathan Drachman and Paula Lozano-Drachman, Amber and Toby Drake, Robert and April Dryden, Shelby Edwards, Valerie and Brent Edwards, Ida Eliason, Robert J. Ellis and Joan Vanderwerp, Rebecca Engen, F. R. Bell and associates, Inc., F/V Coral Lee, Christian Fabian, Fairweather Prints, Inc., Sheila Finkenbinder, First Bank, First National Bank Alaska, Sharon Fisher, Fishermen's Eye, Fishing for Cats, Marilee S. Fitzpatrick, Laura Fleming, Susan Fleming, Foreign Automotive, Patrick Fort, Pauline Fredrickson, Kristine and John Fulton, Steve and Amelia Gage, Sandra Gelber and Tim Riley, Katrina Gilberts, Robert Ginn, David and Leslie Gordon, Peter Gorman, Mr. H Martin Grasmeder, III, Greater Sitka Arts Council, Inc, Ben and Karen Grussendorf, Evening and Fabian Grutter, Neland and Joyce Haavig, Phyllis and Mark Hackett, R. Dennis Haldane, Gordon Hall, Barth and Mary Alice Hamberg, Hames Corp, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Hames, Roger and Mary Hames, Linda Hamilton, Carolyn and O. Ray Hammack, Kjelsty Hanson, Tracie and Trevor Harang, Ms. Paulla Hardy, Kealoha and Michael Harmon, Tom Hart and Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Mary and Tom Hartrich, Marcia Hartsock, Robert Hattle, Shannon Haugland, Randy and Catherine Hawk, Eric and Amy Heath, Alene Henning, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Henning, Eleanor Hesse, Roger and Ce Higley, Hill Enterprises, Holland America Line, Inc., John and Lana Holst, Janine Holzman, Home Plus, Kristen Homer and James Poulson, Horan and Co., LLC, Charles and Christine Horan, Kay Houghton, Ms. Mary E. Hughes, Bob and Kim Hunter, Henry and Kathy Huntington, Bob and Glenda Hutton, Mary Louise and Bill Hutton, Kathleen Iler, Mark Inouye, Kenley Jackson, Larry Jackson and Kathleen Kreiss, Clarice Johnson and Robert Reid, Gail Johnson, Karen Johnson, Nancy and Wayne Johnson, Tracey and David Johnson, Chuck and Alice Johnstone, Judy Johnstone, Kristina Jonas, Colleen and Lindy Jones, Dan and Karen Jones, Eric and Sarah Jordan Susan and Marc June, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, Mollie Kabler and Charlie Wilber, Kevin and Mary Kambak, Emily Kane and Bret Schmiege, Dan and Betty Keck, Holly Keen, Pat Kehoe and Howard Pendell, Carol Kelly, Mike Kelly, Emily and Martin Kelly Peterson, Colin Kempton, Heather Kendall and Lloyd Miller, Mike Kernin and Pam Stahla Kernin, Stephanie Klappenbach, Dave and Marilyn Knapp, Tammy Knitter, MaryAnne Knoll, Karl Koch, Ruth Koffman, Chris Kowalczewski, Rich Kraft, Lisa Kramer and Glen Wright, Shelley Krehbiel, Joan Kreiss and Roger Perlmutter, Sheryl Lantz, Ted Laufenberg and Bridget Kauffman, Shelly Laws and Duane Hippe, Klaudia and Michael Leccese, Nancy LeClerc-Davidson and Bill Davidson, Don and Penny Lehmann, Ms. Judi Lehmann, Robert Lewis, Liston Music, L.L.C., Mike and Susan Litman, Linda Litten, Suzanne Little, Edward Littlefield, John and Roby Littlefield, Log Cache Gifts, Kay and Tim Long, Terry and Jan Lovett, Davey Lubin and Lisa Busch, Karen Lucas, Ludvig's Bistro, Lynn Canal Community Players, Inc., Ron and Kathy Maas, Richard and Rose MacIntyre, Massey and Peel, Ernestine Massey, Noah Mayo, Ms. Sheryl Mayo, Scott and Romee McAdams, Robert McBrayer, Virginia McCarty, Ron and Harriet McClain, Rich and Suzi McClear, David Meekhof, James Mellema and Catherine Allgood-Mellema, MERIA, Richard and Joan Merritt, Millard and Associates Architects, LLC, Dr. David A. Miller, Grant Miller, Michael and Kathy Miller, Modus, LLC., Charlotte Monagas, Jeannie Monk and Tim Blust, Barbara and Stephen Morse, Ryan Moulton, Mary Anne and Jack Navitsky, Karen and Brian Neal, Daniel Nelson, Bob Nisbet, Beth and Jim Nordlund, Mary Norton, Tom and Lynn Novotney, John and Lisa O'Brian, Elaine O'Neill, Pat O'Neill, Ocean Wave Quilters, Mary Odenheimer, Tom Ohaus and Linda Mae Kristofik, Justin Olbrych, Grace and Eben Olrun, Cassandra Olson, David and Janet Olson, Doug Olson and Charlene McEvoy, Jack Opgenorth and Mary Lindon, Dorothy and Dean Orbison, Rollie and Mary Ostermick, Dion and Jennie Oxman, Jack and Judy Ozment, Katherine and Mark Parmalee, Gretchen Parrish, Megan and Walter Pasternak, Steve Paustian and Mary Beth Nelson, Gary and Deb Paxton, Lucy and Rich Phillips, Dana and Howie Pitts, Sara and George Poor, Catherine Poulson, Precision Boatworks, Kristin Price, Mr Bob Purvis, Ted and Kate Quinn, R Fehlberg Architects, Heidi Raffaele and Karla Horner, Ron Ranheim, Rasmuson Foundation, Ms. Judy Rasmuson, Mike and Melanie Reif, Steve Reifenstuhl, Reuben, E. Crossett Endowed Alaskan Fund, Ms. Lois Rhodes, Barbara and Norman Richards, Chan and Jennifer Richards, Ms. Nancy Ricketts, Roberta Rinehart and Michael A. Erb, Patricia Rodrigues, Mike and Linda Rodriguez, Ms. Bonita Rohla, Amy Romanoff, Edward Ronco, Mary Sue Rose, Melvin and Miriam Rosenthal, Frank and Ruth Roth, Carol and Maxwell Rule, Russell's, Russian American Co. (Sovak International Inc.), Tim Ryan, Kari Sagel, Mary and Brandon Saiz, Heather and Scott Saline, Grace Berg Schaible, Sally Schlichting and Bob King, Anja Schmidt, Laura Schmidt and Mark Guillory, Lee Schmidt, Linda Schmidt, Roger Schmidt, Schmolck Mechanical, Cathie Schumacher and K.C. Kaltenborn, Gary and Judith Schwab, Sealaska, Carolyn Servid and Dorik Mechau, Shaffer & CO. CPAS, LLC, Shee Atika Totem Square Inn, Shelter Cove Publishing, Gary and Nancy Short, Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust, Sitka Emblem Club #142, Sitka Monthly Grind, Sitka Moose Lodge #1350, Sitka Ready - Mix, Sitka Rose Gallery, Sitka Sue Annual 5K Walk, Sitka Vision Clinic, SJ Child Care, Susan and Jeff Sloss, Joshua and Jodi Smith, Richard Smith, Jerry and Kathryn Snelling, Southeast Fire Protection, Southeast Glass Company, John Stein, Reber Stein and Holly Keen, Larry and Martha Stevens, Mary Stevens, Patrick and Evon Stevens, David and Margaret Steward, Heidi Steward, Jeanne Stolberg, William and Libby Stortz, Ruth Stough, Marcia Strand, Debby and Sam Struempler, Ms. Arliss Sturgulewski, Edward Sullivan, Mike and Iko Sullivan, Sharon Sullivan, Donald, Surgeon and Galen Paine, Kathleen and Axel Svenson, Jodi Talcott and Mark Charlton, Paul and Mary Tarell, Brenda Taylor and Joseph Roth, The Gladyce L. Foster Revocable Trust, The Skaggs Foundation, The Smith Rev. Living Trust, Robert Thom, Andrea Thomas and Steve Reifenstuhl, Tisher Construction, Tlingit-Haida Central Council, Floyd Tomkins and Connie Kreiss, Mary Traxler, Treehouse Corporation, Ann Trimble, Rick and Chris Trostel, Ken and Charlotte Truitt, Shirley and Gilbert Truitt, David Turcott, Mat and Tracy Turner, Carl Uchytil, Shannon and Aaron Udland, Kay Underwood, Joseph Usibelli and Peggy Shumaker, Herbert Valentine, Eric and Aurelia Van Cise, Mrs. and Mr. Jan Van Slyke, Ingrid Vandenhoogen, Ellen Varosi and Lou Packer, David and Cheryl Vastola, Robert and Linda Vaughn, Venneberg Insurance, Inc., Mike and Tonya Venneberg, Anne Volmer and Josh Carpenter, Amy Volz, Susan Vosburg, Marjorie Ward and Marlys E. Tedin, Susan Warner and Ken Leghorn, Erik and Susan Weaver, Edward and Cynthia Weber, Wells Fargo, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Welsh, West-Hardwick Marine, LLC, Mardelle and Cheryl Westover, Dirk and Trish White, White Elephant Shop, Inc., White's & Harry Race Pharmacies, Kelley Whitson, Jetta Whittaker and Rob Steedle, Lauren Wild, Rochelle and Marc Wilhelm, Paul and Mabel Williams, Carol Williamson, Christi Wuerker, Stephanie Yard, Yellow Jersey Bicycle Shop

Thanks for the ongoing support,
Cassi Olson, Development Coordinator
Laura Schmidt and Wendy Alderson, Volunteer Coordinators