Defining Terms

“Native Alaskan”:
In the original legislation, this referred to a person with 1/4 Native blood. Since the amendments passed in 2008, a Native person is somebody who is a member of a federally recognized tribe. Membership can be proven in the eyes of the law with a tribal enrollment card or a letter from tribal elders or corporations.

An original basket labeled with Silver Hand tag.
An original basket labeled with Silver Hand tag.

“Original”:
A unique article created by one person without the use of mechanized tools that
can reproduce.  “Original” can however include “etched prints, lithographic prints, serigraphic (silk screen) prints, and prints from photographs, if the prints are made by hand by the person who created or crafted the etched plate, etched drawing, etched design, lithographic plate, lithographic stone, serigraphic (silk) screen, or photograph from which the prints were made.”

“Work of art”:
The creation of a visual item, either “a painting, a sculpture, a drawing, a mosaic, a photograph, an etching, a lithograph, and a serigraph (silk screen); calligraphy; clay, textile, fiber, wood, metal, plastic, or glass, or a combination of these materials; traditional Alaska Native materials, including ivory, bone, grass, baleen, animal skins or gut, wood or furs; or a collage or combination of two or more of the categories identified in this paragraph.” (Definition found on AKSCA Permit Application)

Alaska State Council on the Arts (AKSCA):
An organization that was started in 1966 with a $25,000 grant from the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities.  The Council consists of eleven members (pictured below) who are appointed by the Alaska Governor to support the development of the arts. Many Council members work in organization related to the arts, but some are lawyers and bankers. Exact information about the ancestry of all members is unavailable, but it would seem to be the case that a significant amount are not of Native heritage.

AKSCA council members
AKSCA council members

Traditional Native Arts Program
The Alaska State Council on the arts established the Traditional Native Arts Program (TNAP) in March 1980. The program’s major responsibility is to serve rural Alaska Natives. Participants are provided with art marketing training, technical assistance and grants to help improve Native artists’ chances of success. Alaska Native art forms in danger of disappearing are especially important to the program. Though it is no longer called TNAP, the Alaska State Council of the Arts has a Native Arts program that continues today.

By Molly Grover and Grace Magoun