2017 Artchange at Work

2017:
Here are some updates on what we're up to:

•  LIVE STORYTELLING
We're lining up tellers for a live storytelling event on February 9th in Sitka called "Fork in the Road."  Join us if you are in town! This is an ongoing series, called "Stika Tells Tales."

Larkspur Cafe. Thursday, February 9th, 7-8:30 PM. Hosted by Artchange Inc. and Island Institute

• TRACING ROOTS SCREENINGS AND BROADCASTS
Delores Churchill and Ellen Frankenstein are off to Vancouver Island in March to show Tracing Roots and participate in  Pieces, a two day celebration of fiber and weaving.  The film is also a nominee for an award from Royal Anthropological Institute and will screen at a the RAI Film Festival in Bristol. 
Public television broadcasts continue. The latest statistics for January-March airings: 1251 broadcasts  in 38 states with 72.7% coverage in the U.S.  That is a potential audience of  211 million people in 83 million households. 

• A NEW PROJECT
We're developing a new project called "99835," a documentary film set in one place, with three stories, shot over a year, 

• A COLLABORATION TO CELEBRATE
 “Driving on Rain in Sitka, is a newly completed short film about switching to electric vehicles in a town with hydroelectric power.  

Can an electric vehicle make it up a mountain? Find out and meet a teen learning to drive on a EV and get her tuba and dog in the car. Funded and created with Renewable Energy Alaska Project, Sitka Conservation Society and the Sustainable Southeast Partnership.

• UPRIVERS DOCUMENTARY: EDITING AND MORE PROGRESS
Check out the new trailer for Uprivers.  Uprivers is a documentary about two watersheds and the communities that depend on them in the face of a mining boom presently underway in British Columbia. It is the stories of two rivers; a wild river that has been deeply wounded, and another river, at risk of the same fate. Zach Desmond and Matthew Jackson are directing the film. We need more funds to finish it and get it out for use! Click here to learn more.

At work on Uprivers

•  LAST MAN FISHING
With a new grant from the Patagonia Foundation, JD Schulyer will continue work on his feature length film, Last Man Fishing, about small scale fishermen from Maine to Alaska, in time of consolidation of fishing fleets and the waning health of the ocean. This is the story of the remaining fishermen and the ways they are working with consumers, policy makers and community leaders to enhance the health of and well-being of players up and down the seafood chain.  See the trailer. Donations welcome. 

•  NEW TOOLS
We excited to be updating our gear!  Thanks to a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation for helping us update the technology that helps us collaborate, tell stories and generate conversation.  

Heritage, Human Rights, Land and Water

We posted this on Facebook a few days ago:

"We stand with the Standing Rock Sioux! #NoDAPL 
Posting about Tracing Roots film screenings has been on hiatus, with attention going to Standing Rock and the elections of 2016. As we paused, there are close to 900 broadcasts of Tracing Roots via the World Channel to public broadcasting stations across the country happening.

We hope each viewer will connect Delores' story to Standing Rock and the struggle to protect human rights, land and water and heritage.

Delores with students at Western Washington University. 

The World Channel describes the collection they curated to air on public television for Native American Heritage Month with the following words:

"Native American Heritage Month is celebrated in recognition of the contributions of Native Americans in the establishment and growth of the United States. Our Voices: Native American Nations shares Native stories of culture, experience and identity by both individuals and communities. WORLD Channel presents a slate of diverse programming that represents the past, present and future for Native Americans in the country, on and off the reservation. The over 30 provocative films, including WORLD's series America ReFramed and Doc World, engage viewers by looking at life in-depth" #NativeInspired" #NewDayFilms New Day Films

Words are powerful and times are tense.  Let;s together respect and protect the land and lives of Native Americans and others in this country. 

Sitka Tells Tales: First Times

We are proud and excited to announce an another of live storytelling in Sitka, Ak!

A night of live storytelling from 7 to 8:30 PM Wednesday, August 3rd at the Larkspur Café in Sitka. The theme is "First Times (not stories of sex), Stories of Stepping Out, Diving In, and Coming Up for Air." Suggested donation is $5. 

Five local storytellers will share 6-minute stories to the them and we will invite a couple audience members to put their names in a hat to be picked to tell a spontaneous 2 minute story. 

Ellen and Sarah kicking off the first Sitka Tells Tales: Floating in a Most Mysterious Way

Paul Norwood tells a story

Auriella floats in the most peculiar way

Artchange, Inc focuses on making films, mentoring artists, encouraging dialogue and stiring up stories.  Live local storytelling is part of that, because we believe stories connect us and remind us what we care about, what makes us curious and causes tears and laughter.  We've hosted and co-hosted a series of events in collaboration with  The Island Institute and KCAW Raven Radio and the Greater Sitka Arts Council. 

Stories air on local public radio too!

We we will also be posting and organizing some of the stories from the past year soon. 

And our new title for the series is: Sitka Tells Tales.

Meet our Summer Art-Changers!

Artchange is excited to welcome two new Art-Changers to Sitka for internships this summer! 

Anna Wane

Anna Wane is an Art major, in the Filmmaking concentration at Yale University. She is from Dakar, Senegal and the story of how she ended up in Sitka is not as exciting or interesting as the stories she has heard since coming here. Her story has to do with curiosity and a desire to see the world outside of her Dakar – New Haven route, but mostly of doing what she loves, which is to tell stories. When she saw the internship posting, Anna thought it was perfect: Documentary Filmmaking and Social Practice, two things she was interested in. She applied and found herself in Sitka a few months later. Anna is enjoying working with Ellen Frankenstein and watching her unusual ideas come to life. She is currently working on videos about the Community Ride, and is pleasantly surprised that making videos about buses can be so fun.

Anna is interested in the stories of marginalized communities and in giving voice to the voiceless. This is why she enjoys working in documentary filmmaking. In addition, she is interested in less traditional forms of visual storytelling, such as experimental film and video art, which she feels give her freedom to explore different narratives in unexpected ways.

You can see some of her work at vimeo.com/annaxkarima

Ellie Schmidt

Ellie is a visual artist from Denver, CO. She first came to Sitka last summer for the Island Institute’s Sitka Fellows residency program, during which she made a short film shot underwater around Sitka called I Follow Rivers. In the fall, Ellie picked up some work on a troller fishing boat after the residency and fell in love with the people and landscapes of Sitka. 

a still from Ellie's project "Northfield USA: a goldfish portrait" 2015 

A lionsmane jellyfish around sitka

Ellie is interested in the intersection of marine ecology, women’s stories, and the emotional side of living with climate change. Over the last winter she has followed projects to the factory farms of North Carolina, the mining capital of the world in British Colombia, and the Wolf Project of northern Yellowstone. She is ecstatic to be back in Sitka and excited to work with Ellen, who she admires as an amazing female filmmaker and friend. Ellie is working on several projects with ArtChange, including podcasts for Frankentweet and shooting underwater footage for the Uprivers documentary. 

Ellie swims in a traditional salmon sein in Ketchikan with the uprivers documentary

a screen grab from ellie's footage.

Ellie is also working on a zine about women and climate change. The Selkie Zine seeks to create space and community for thought about the relationship between womanhood and world stewardship. The Zine is rough, lo-fi, and process-focused. Ellie invites everyone to check out the Selkie Zine and to submit a piece of art or writing at cargocollective.com/selkiezine.