Alaska Arts Southeast: thriving Sitka cultural community.

• Author: Swagel, Will
• Position: ARTS & CULTURE

When Sheldon Jackson College shut its doors permanently in 2007, people wondered what would happen to its centrally located, 20-acre core campus and its dozen or so historic buildings. People also wondered what would be the effect on the economy of Sitka (population 9,000) from losing 120 jobs and the spending power of the 300 full- and part-time students.

After a period of public unease and financial restructuring, the Sheldon Jackson trustees in February transferred the core property to Alaska Arts Southeast. Arts Southeast is an organization with its roots going back even before the oil-rich "Arts on the Ferries" programs of the early 1980s. Since 1972, Arts Southeast has run the Sitka Fine Arts Camp (June-July), which in the last few years--under its current director Roger Schmidt--has been nationally recognized, recently by First Lady Michelle Obama, and is growing steadily in size. The group also operates the Sitka Performing Arts Center and runs various outreach programs, primarily in the schools.

Last year's camp was attended by 500 students from 34 communities in 18 states and six countries. The Fine Arts Camp budget was $500,000 last year and is poised to reach $1 million, Schmidt said. They have five year-round employees, and hire another 80 people seasonally. Schmidt said 80 percent of the camp's purchases of services and goods are made in Sitka.

"Local business supports us, so we support them," Schmidt said.

SEED MONEY SPROUTS BIG

Schmidt, himself, is as local as they get. He grew up in Sitka and attended the Sitka Fine Arts camp as a camper, which he often says in speeches. Schmidt returned to Sitka after receiving music and philosophy degrees from Oberlin College and spending a few years in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He took the reins of the Fine Arts Camp in 2000.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Schmidt is bullish on Sitka, and said National Geographic has ranked his hometown, "Number 49 of the most distinctive historical communities in the world. 'Right up there with Venice and Machu Picchu.'"

Schmidt says he thinks his group's efforts, along with those of the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the elevation of local Native artists to national status have all led to "a tipping point" for the art world's recognition of Sitka as an artistic hub.

"Musicians and artists from all over the country know about this place," he said.

His vision is to develop a year-round national retreat center for the arts and humanities. "You...