

Huhndorf Receives Distinguished Grantmaker Award
Former CIRI chairman and president Roy Huhndorf received the Louis T. Delgado Distinguished Grantmaker Award from Native Americans in Philanthropy on April 29, in Philadelphia, Penn. The award was presented to Huhndorf during a reception at the annual Council on Foundations Conference. In addition to Huhndorf's recognition, CIRI non-profit organizations were also invited to set up exhibit tables during the conference to share information about their programs and services. Huhndorf was honored for his work toward the enhancement of indigenous communities; cultivating an understanding between Native indigenous communities and mainstream philanthropy; and encouraging and facilitating philanthropic investment in indigenous communities. Huhndorf serves as chair of the First Alaskans Foundation board of trustees, an emerging Native philanthropic non-profit organization. He also helped create and raise funds for The CIRI Foundation, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Koahnic Broadcast Corp., and many other non-profit organizations providing services to Alaska Natives and Native Americans living in the Cook Inlet region.
Heritage Center Shares "Furs, Feathers and Fibers" Summer Theme
Alaska Native women expressed their ideas and feelings by incorporating art into the garments and articles of clothing that they created. Dyed porcupine quills, beads, shells and elaborate embroidery are some of the decorations that women used to demonstrate their skill and ability in creating clothing for each member of their family. Traditional garments needed to be replaced frequently, so women were constantly replacing and recreating articles of clothing for themselves and their family members. And the extreme weather conditions of Alaska were a challenge to women to create functional clothing for the survival of their families.
Many Alaska Native cultural traditions, such as designing and creating functional and beautiful clothing, pass from one generation to the next by word of mouth, which makes their preservation very difficult in the modern world. For this reason, the process of creating traditional clothing, their functions, histories and legends are in jeopardy of being lost forever. From Saturday, May 12, through Labor Day weekend, the Alaska Native Heritage Center will be hosting master clothing designers who will create traditional Alaska Native articles of clothing to be permanently placed at the Heritage Center. The traditional garments will be integrated into the programming and educational and promotional activities of the Center.
Acclaimed Native American Author Sherman Alexie Visits Alaska
It was standing room only on Friday evening, April 27, at Anchorage's Z. J. Loussac Library's Wilda Marston Theater, when nationally and critically acclaimed Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian writer, Sherman Alexie, gave an humorous reading of his work to a packed audience. The following evening, on April 28th, the Alaska Native Heritage Center was even more crowded, when Alexie talked about his life and how he became a writer. Praised as an exceptional speaker, he had the audience laughing and clapping with his clever wit, humorous anecdotes and insightful analysis into contemporary culture. Both events were sponsored in part by CIRI, which also organized a special Saturday seminar for local middle and high school students interested in Alexie's writing. The students got to watch the film Smoke Signals, for which Alexie wrote the screenplay and co-produced, and listened to West High School language arts instructor Debi Bye discuss the meaning and significance of Alexie's work. The highlight of the event was actually seeing and listening to Alexie speak about his writing and his life. After an informal pizza dinner with Alexie, the students attended his talk at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Born in 1966, Alexie was raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Wash. After he graduated from Reardan High, he planned on becoming a doctor, until he stumbled into a poetry workshop at Washington State University, which ultimately launched his writing career. After writing two books of poetry, his first collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, went on to receive a PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction. He also received the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award and the Murray Morgan Prize for his first novel, Reservation Blues. His novel Indian Killer, in 1996, was named a New York Times Notable Book and his latest collection of short stories, The Toughest Indian in the World, has received much critical acclaim. In June 1999, The New Yorker acknowledged Alexie as one of the top writers of the 21st Century.
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