Reflections on the 2024 Governor's Arts and Humanities Awards Ceremony

On October 29, 2024, we hosted the 54th Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards Ceremony in Anchorage, Alaska. Shoshi Bieler, AKHF’s Director of Stories and Grants Programs and a member of the Governor’s Awards planning team, shares about the ceremony.

If you weren’t able to attend this year, we host the ceremony each fall. We hope to see you there next time! Learn more here.

The Evening Begins 

On the evening of October 29, following the first snowy day of the season in Anchorage, over 150 Alaskans gathered at the Anchorage Museum to celebrate the power of creativity, storytelling, and community in our state. It was the 54th Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards (GAHA), an annual partnership between the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation, and the Office of the Governor to recognize and honor noteworthy contributions to the arts and humanities in Alaska.   

We were gathered this particular evening to honor 9 awardees: Mary Katzke, X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell, Robin Murphy, Jessica Peña, Alaska Theatre of Youth, Ronald Spatz, Alma Manabat Parker, See Stories, and ‘Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee. As the awardees and their guests entered the museum, the atrium filled with the sounds of people hugging, taking photos, and greeting friends they hadn’t seen in a long time – or had just seen last week. 

We mingled over drinks and appetizers provided by Crush, and peered up at the screens suspended high in the atrium, on which flashed photos of past Governor’s Awardees – Fran Ulmer, Edward K. Thomas, Marie Paul. Suddenly, our attention was drawn to the front of the room, where the Alaska Moving Arts Center (AMAC) Intermediate Hip-Hop Dancers had begun a pop-up performance. As they concluded, we moved into the auditorium to start the awards ceremony.

The Arts Awardees 

As guests found their seats, the lights dimmed, and Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer warmly welcomed us into the space as emcee. Following opening remarks by Julie Decker, Director/CEO of the Anchorage Museum, Nancy Dahlstrom, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, Benjamin Brown, Chair of the Alaska State Council on the Arts Trustees, and Renee Wardlaw, Vice Chair of Alaska Humanities Forum Board of Directors, Jackie began introducing the six Arts Awardees, who one by one came up on stage to share reflections on the joys, challenges, and deep sense of responsibility that comes with their work and with the creative process.

“I’ve learned that our work doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be polished – what it needs is to be honest. It needs to be nurtured slowly. And in a world that so often tries to flatten our experiences, into something quick or digestible, or sensationalized, this is a revolutionary way to approach it.” (Mary Katzke, Individual Artist Award) 

“My challenge to every one of you, is to say seven generations from now, will those little grandchildren of ours know your name based on what you did to avoid an unnecessary genocide of Indigenous peoples? I think they will know your name. I think they’ll say this was a moment when things shifted in a positive direction for us, they did this for us. Because Alaska Native languages don’t just benefit Alaska Native peoples, they allow us all to survive.” (X̱'unei Lance Twitchell, Alaska Native Arts Award)

“The incredible power of self-expression, in my 30 years of teaching, have taught me that every brush stroke, every line, every splash of color reflects who we are…each of you possesses a potential to express yourself in your own unique way.” (Robin Murphy, Arts Education Award) 

Although the speeches were not planned together, each seemed to build on the previous awardees’ words. In particular, awardees took up X̱'unei’s “seven generations” challenge in their speeches, shifting their words to speak not just about today’s or tomorrow’s youth, but about our responsibility to those many generations in the future.

“Impactful advocacy often comes from sharing stories…what does it look like for you, and for me, for our families, our elders, and our youth to be nourished, valued and celebrated? What does it look and feel like to be well and connected in this place, in this time? What could it look like and how can we get there? The space for me to explore these questions has been through the arts.” (Jess Peña, Arts Advocacy Award)

“We know that treasure isn’t always gold…it can be finding what makes us special, understanding what is important in life, or even discovering hidden talents or the power and potential within ourselves. Through theater, young people have the opportunity to uncover what makes them special. The arts create a space where everyone can belong.” (Christine Cooke, representing the Alaska Theatre of Youth, Outstanding Arts Organization)

“For me, creating art is essentially a moral act, and an imperative one. The artist is the mirror, the conscience, the provocateur, the translator, the individual demanding attention to the hard questions.” (Ronald Spatz, Lifetime Achievement in the Arts)

The Announcement of the Incoming Alaska State Writer Laureate 

After the Arts Awards had been presented, we paused for a performance by Pipeline Vocal Project, who regaled us with a set of 1950s songs as well as a “Diva” medley. As Pipeline Vocal Project left the stage, Jackie brought up current Alaska State Writer Laureate Heather Lende, who shared some reflections on her time in this role and then introduced the new Laureate, Vera Starbard. The Alaska State Writer Laureate Program is a partnership between the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Humanities Forum. This honorary appointment recognizes the contributions of an Alaska writer to the quality of life in Alaska and includes funds to support a unique project of the Laureate’s design during their two-year term. In both their speeches, Heather and Vera echoed the sense of deep responsibility to their Alaska communities that we heard from the Governor’s Awardees. 

“There is a lot of pain in Alaska…When you write things down, it makes you feel better. Whether it’s a journal to get things off your chest, whether it’s a to do list, or a gratitude list, or even just writing a note to someone, some sort of reconciliation, or forgiveness, or even just ‘I want to tell you that I appreciate you,’ that to me was the power of writing…as I went across the state [as the Alaska State Writer Laureate]” (Heather Lende, outgoing Alaska State Writer Laureate, 2021-2024) 

“In the past couple of years, I’ve been in a lot of meetings with executives from a lot of networks…and in every single one of those meetings, they want to know about you…the things you think of as daily, commonplace…Our warmth fascinates them. And our warmth is not usually what they hear about, they hear about the cold...I see much of my job now as translator, taking this state and this land and these people that I love so much and figuring out how to turn that into bite sized pieces for an outside world that can learn from us. Your stories are not only valid, they are needed.” (Vera Starbard, incoming Alaska State Writer Laureate, 2024-2026) 

The Humanities Awardees

The ceremony ended with the presentation of the three Humanities Awardees, who together reflected on culture, identity, and our shared responsibility to each other and our communities. 

“We are doing this together…using culture as a way to be our medicine. It is our food to nourish, it is our medicine to heal. Culture is our story to uplift and share. It is also our spirit to live on.” (Alma Manabat Parker, Distinguished Service to the Humanities in Community) 

“All of us together are working to inspire the next generation with the power of their own story…and that’s what I want for all of you here present tonight: The power of your own story, which is ever evolving, and it’s yours, and you’re discovering it.”  (Marie Acemah, representing See Stories, Distinguished Service to the Humanities in Education) 

“We have a responsibility to one another that surpasses minor divisions in our humanity. We have a responsibility to these places that we decide to call home, or that we have the privilege of being born to as Indigenous peoples. We have a responsibility together as Alaskans to cherish this place. And the way that you cherish something is not on its surface…but it’s really getting to the heart of the matter and having the conversations that shape and transform lives, that connect our hearts and minds. These are not comfortable conversations, they’re the hardest ones to have.” (‘Láaganaay Tsiits Git’anee, Distinguished Service to the Humanities in Leadership)

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After the ceremony, guests lingered in the museum atrium, congratulating the awardees and saying last goodbyes. Then it was back into the snowy night, feeling a deep sense of gratitude for the incredible people doing such meaningful arts and humanities work in Alaska, and for the calls to action and responsibility they left us with.