Ever wanted to write a play?

Just stumbled on this very cool opportunity for Native artists of all kinds.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is starting an Alaska Native Playwrights Project, in which artists will go through a 5-day writing intensive and 7-month mentoring process to see the story they want to tell put into script form. From the site:

Alaska Native Playwrights Project (ANPP) seeks to identify, teach and nurture Alaska Native playwrights and to establish a repertoire of uniquely Alaska Native plays derived from the rich oral tradition of Alaska’s eleven indigenous cultures and the artists’ own personal narratives.

Ten Alaska Native artists from across the state will be selected for mentorships with recognized professional indigenous playwrights from Alaska and the Lower 48. Each selected Alaska Native writer will participate in a 5-day writing workshop with the professionals, or Teaching Artists, who will also mentor them through the 7-month process of creating a “first draft” play.

The FAQ's also say you don't have to be a writer or performer - they're looking for Native artists of all types to tell a story of their culture. Deadline is October 5th!!

Alaska Real turns 1!

A year ago today I began this blog - and so sorry to be cliche, but oh - what a year! I coudn't have dreamt up half of what happened this last year.



I learned a lot from this little experiment, and will continue it further. The last several weeks have been a flurry of activity for me personally, and I hope to be gone for a sizeable chunk of the summer. Some of my focus needs to go to exciting new things happening in my own life (okay, a whole heaping bunch of my focus.) But I do want to tweek the blog a bit, and really define what should go into it - and not neglect it so poorly as I have lately (though I might add, I've also neglected sleep and healthy stress levels as well.)



I got into this to get an Alaskan Native voice out there, a perspective on things both mundane and elevated. Some of my goal for this year is to get MORE. I would love for Alaska Native guest bloggers to post on here, and hope a whole lot more Alaska Native blogs will get notice, and begin.

Happy Birthday to me! And here's to another year...

Native news around the state, country, world

From HispanicBusiness.com:

Robert Redford to aid Hispanic, Native American Filmakers

Actor Robert Redford is partnering the state of New Mexico to produce "Sundance in New Mexico," a hands-on filmmaking program that will work with and train aspiring Hispanic and Native American filmmakers.

New competition will award $60,000 to Native writers

I posted a flier on this several days ago, but it's worth reading about! Six Native writers - three Alaska Native and three Native Hawaiian/American Indian - will win $10,000 each! It's an expansion of some great things the Alaska Federation of Natives has been doing for the last few years:

Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity is a writing competition crafted to tap the wisdom and ingenuity of Native communities, and to encourage Native thinkers to go public with their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in the current economic and political landscape.

U.S. may begin new Native policy, including U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Rights

Much needed shifts in U.S. Native policy beginning? There are signs... from Indian Country Today:

Out of 144 nations expressing support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, only three “no” voters remain: the United States, Canada and New Zealand.