Juneau’s picturesque streets and scenic waterfront were alive with the sights and sounds of vibrant cultural expression during Celebration 2024. Held from June 5th to June 8th, this biannual gathering brought together thousands of participants and spectators to honor and celebrate the rich traditions of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. This year’s Celebration was a resounding success, marked by high attendance, captivating performances, and a deep sense of community.

Celebration 2024 kicked off with a grand opening ceremony at Centennial Hall, setting the tone for four days of cultural immersion and festivity. Elders, community leaders, and distinguished guests delivered inspiring speeches, highlighting the importance of preserving and celebrating Native heritage. The ceremony was punctuated by a powerful performance from a mass dance group, whose synchronized movements and vibrant regalia drew enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Dance, the heart of Celebration, was showcased in spectacular fashion. Groups from various clans and communities took the stage, each performance a unique blend of traditional songs, dances, and storytelling. The intricate regalia, adorned with beadwork, feathers, and cedar, told their own stories of heritage and artistry. Highlights included a mesmerizing performance by the Mount St. Elias Dancers and the electrifying rhythms of the Ketchikan-based Haida group, which had the crowd on its feet.

A diverse array of workshops and panel discussions provided attendees with opportunities to delve deeper into Native arts, crafts, and contemporary issues. Hands-on workshops on weaving, carving, and beadwork were especially popular, offering participants the chance to learn directly from master artisans. Panels on language revitalization and cultural preservation drew large crowds, fostering important conversations about the future of Native traditions and identities.

The Grand Parade, a highlight of Celebration, transformed downtown Juneau into a moving tapestry of cultural pride. Dance groups, artists, and community members marched in vibrant regalia, accompanied by the rhythmic beat of drums and the harmonious sounds of traditional songs. Spectators lined the streets, cheering and celebrating the diverse expressions of Native identity on display. The parade was a powerful visual and auditory spectacle, leaving a lasting impression on all who witnessed it.

The canoe events, a tribute to the maritime heritage of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, were another standout feature of Celebration 2024. Traditional canoes, expertly crafted and paddled by teams from various communities, glided through the waters around Juneau. The canoe events not only showcased impressive paddling skills, but also highlighted the deep connection between Indigenous peoples and their coastal environment.

The Art and Craft Market was a bustling hub of activity, featuring an impressive array of handmade items by Native artists. From intricate jewelry and textiles to stunning carvings and prints, the market offered visitors a unique opportunity to purchase authentic Native art. Many artists reported brisk sales, and the market served as an important platform for showcasing and preserving traditional craftsmanship.

Celebration 2024 was marked by a strong sense of community and inclusivity. People of all backgrounds came together to participate in and learn about Southeast Alaska Native cultures. The event fostered greater understanding and appreciation of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian traditions, creating a welcoming environment where everyone could experience the richness of Native heritage.

As the final day of Celebration 2024 came to a close, attendees left with a renewed sense of pride and connection to their cultural roots. The event not only honored the past but also looked forward to a future where Indigenous traditions continue to thrive and inspire.

Celebration 2024 in Juneau was a remarkable success, a testament to the resilience, creativity, and unity of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. As the echoes of drums and songs linger in the hearts of those who attended, there is already anticipation for the next Celebration in 2026, promising yet another opportunity to honor and celebrate the enduring legacy of Southeast Alaska’s Native cultures.

For Sarah Whalen, MMIWG2 Month is not just a fleeting moment of recognition but a daily, heartfelt struggle. Whalen, an artist and activist, created a powerful logo featuring a woman in a handprint with her hair blowing in the wind and the northern star, to visually convey the beauty and importance of those taken from Indigenous communities. Initially drawn for a rally in October 2019, the logo has since resonated deeply, spreading rapidly through the community. Whalen’s work, deeply influenced by her traditional Inuit tattooing practices, aims to humanize the ongoing struggles of her people and provide a sense of visibility and validation. Despite the profound impact of her art, Whalen remains humbled and grateful for the opportunity to make a difference.

What does MMIWG2’s day mean to you?

The day in particular is a hard one for me to wrap my mind around, it doesn’t boil down to a day, it is something that is on my heart every day. So honestly I think I get worried that the day is a bandaid of appeasement to try to show a token moment of caring as we wait for action to be taken to ensure our people are safe.

Can you describe the inspiration behind the MMIWG2 logo you created, and what specific elements did you incorporate to reflect the themes of the movement?

I drew the woman in the handprint with her hair blowing in the wind and the northern star in October 2019 before AFN to give support for a rally hosted by Native movement as a way to try to offer something visual to convey the beauty and importance of the people being taken away from our communities. To humanize us and our struggles to simply exist

As an artist and activist, what message did you hope to convey through the MMIWG2 logo, and how has it been received by communities and organizations? 

I feel like it moved like wildfire through the community. It seemed to resonate on a level I didn’t even know it would.

What were some challenges you faced in the process of creating the logo and how did you navigate them? 

I didn’t face any challenges in creating it, I had it on my heart and drew from that.

How do your skills as a tattoo hand-poke and skin stitch artist influence your other forms of artistic expression, such as the creation of the MMIWG2 logo?

I think that being a traditional practitioner has deepened my connections to my community and that touches everything I do in the world. 

What has been the most impactful or memorable response to your work, both as a logo designer for MMIWG2 and as a practitioner of traditional Inuit tattooing?

I think there are too many moments to put words to. I am always in awe of, humbled by, and grateful that my work is able to have any impact or help anyone. I always want to help give people a place to feel seen, emotions reflected, and validated with the work I do so we all know we are not alone in this world. So my response I hope I show to everyone is one of gratefulness. 

In honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Awareness Month and MMIIP Awareness Day (MMIP), Rising Indigenous Voices Radio interviewed Charlene Apok (Iñupiaq), the Director of Gender Justice and Healing at Native Movement. She unveiled the layers of significance embedded within MMIGS Day, shedding light on why this annual observance is crucial for igniting awareness and catalyzing action.

Can you share with us the significance of National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) and why it’s essential for raising awareness?

Raising awareness is such an important part and a foundational part that translates awareness into action, right? So, without people knowing you have no people doing anything and so without that recognition, people also don’t, aren’t being held responsible for any pieces of this work and any of the causes and so awareness raising is really important. It often starts with the communities and the people who are most impacted by this. And again, it becomes our collective story. That’s another part of raising awareness is that so many people on this issue of missing and murdered indigenous peoples for a long time, we just thought it was just happening to us or it was only in our family, and as people share their story, it becomes our collective story and we raise awareness and say, hey, this is really happening to us. This is what’s going on, this is our truth and this is the change that needs to happen. But without that recognition and without raising awareness, there’s no accountability and responsibility, so it’s an important part for, you know, people switching from not knowing, to having awareness, to wanting to take actions.

As the Director of Gender Justice and Healing at Native Movement, how does your organization contribute to addressing the issues faced by MMIWG2S individuals and communities?

Native Movement does incredible work in supporting grassroots organizing across the state. And this issue of MMIWG two s really falls within the area of work of gender justice, right? We see disproportionate rates of feminine, identifying people being impacted by violence experiencing violence over time and so we support grassroots organizing families and people coming together and organizing to address this issue and the other part that is important is the intersectionality of this, right? So the things that happen to the land happen to our bodies, the things that happen to the water happened to our bodies and we know that we have to protect the sacred right? Defend all things sacred, including our lands, our waters and our bodies. We know that the same values of extraction, the practices of non-consent.Those are the things that permeate into lands, being stolen and bodies being harmed and so we work to undo that work and we see the intersectionality of protecting our lands our waters and our bodies and specifically at Native Movement. Again, there’s grassroots organizing across the state. We train up people to learn how to organize and how to take action on the issues that they’re facing in their communities.

What are some of the challenges faced by Indigenous communities in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit individuals?

The first thing that comes to mind is just the heavy grief, right? As communities as indigenous peoples, we have faced and gone through intergenerational, many forms of grief and loss through the impacts and from the impacts of colonization, both historically and ongoing and those that are most impacted are often people of color and feminine identifying people, so that would be indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. So the heaviness of grief and processing grief I think is one of the most challenging parts, but I think the most important part of this work is also intergenerational healing. We’re learning to come together, we’re learning and passing on our ways of healing. We’re reclaiming ways that are that things that were stolen from our peoples. And we’re using that to heal and come together and we’re becoming stronger together and we’re recreating our systems of care. That’s another piece of this work. There were so many ways that are families and communities were woven together in a way where it kept us safe. And through the impacts of colonization, those things were stolen or they were banned or they were criminalized, right? And we’re starting to reclaim those things, our language, our crafts, our arts, our so many things being on the land, our plant knowledge, and those are the things that keep us well and bring us back together.

So there are many many hard challenges being faced by indigenous communities and the issue of addressing MMIWTS, but also I think the biggest thing is that we should also acknowledge and talk about the ways that we are intergenerationally healing together collectively through this work. And I think that that’s a important piece that we should be sharing more and saying what we’re doing. What is our strategies for healing, not just for addressing injustice, right? But what are the ways that we are caring for one another and becoming stronger through this work? Right.

In what ways does the intersectionality of gender, race, and culture impact the experiences of Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit individuals in the context of violence and injustice?

We know that intersectionality is really important to talk about in many framings of injustices because we are not singular mono people, no one is right. We are multifaceted. We have intersectional identities. And when it comes to violence, we know that people of color and feminine-identifying people, women, girls and two spirit, people are the ones who face the highest impact because we’re targeted, right? Those are the identities in a dominant society in Western society that are targeted and whose power have been taken. And so when we talk about intersectionality of gender, race and culture and violence, we know that we need to acknowledge that these things come together in our lived experiences, we embody these differences. And then we also see unfortunately that these identities are the ones that face higher injustices. And that the root causes of these issues are because Western society colonization targeted these powerful identities being feminine and being too spirit.

And you know, those were not areas or identities that were less than anyone else in our indigenous communities. And that became a threat to outside, into white supremacy and outsiders, right? And so those are the groups that we know were then targeted and broken apart in efforts of colonization. But as we all know, we are still here, we are still here. And so indigenous women, girls and two spirit individuals and in our communities, those are the ones who are often still carrying this work. We still exist. And these are the people who also should be on the front lines of doing this work and leading to solutions because we are the most impacted. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need allies, right? We need everybody. It doesn’t mean that they should brunt the burden of the work. But that, that is the leadership that should be supported when addressing this work. And I think intersectionality and talking about that is so important so that we can see the many lenses and the many ways that we are impacted by this. I think the other part besides intersectionality of identity is also that this issue is not singular, right? The violences that we face are not just gender-based violences, they are related to climate justice, and environmental justice, right? Overmilitarization in our communities. So we can also use the word intersectionality to not just understand issues that impact different identities and that intersectionality of who we are as human beings. But also on a societal level of seeing these as intersectional issues that are being disproportionately faced also by indigenous communities and often feminine identifying people.

What actions can individuals and communities take to support MMIWG2S awareness and justice?

There are so many, you know, a lot of people often ask, well, I’m not in a working group or I don’t work at an org that does this and there is still room for everybody to be a part of the solution. When we talk about systemic issues, that means that we need systemic solutions and that means we need everyone in every sector doing their part, right? So one of the things I let people know is what are your skills and talents is, you know, what are your skills and talents? Can you donate those skills and talents to an event? You know, can you raise funds and donate them using your arts and crafts, you know, or maybe, you know, you have legal background, how can you help with the analysis of this and give that to the movement as well. And so there’s lots of different ways that people can come together. We also really encourage people. We try to share out the work that we do so that communities can do it too. You know, maybe they’re at the place where they wanna do an awareness walk or maybe they want to do a city resolution or some kind of recognition initiative. You know, we’re more than happy to share what that look like in other communities so that they can pick up where their community is at and support them where they’re at and even doing things like crafting circles where people can come together and just have a good healthy healing event. So there’s so many ideas and really the the thing is is that we need everyone to be a part of the solution. We need to support local efforts and tribal initiatives, whether that’s things happening in your specific tribe or in your region and voting, right? We need people, we need to be voting people into elected positions, who will take a strong stance on this, who will stand up against violence, who are going to make sure that there’s protections in place, right? So there’s many things that can be done from voting to community organizing to donations. So yeah, there’s lots of ways that people can be involved and take action on this issue.

Looking ahead, what are some of the key initiatives or actions needed to create meaningful change and address the systemic issues contributing to the disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people?

There has been so much initiative being taken from Turtle Island from Canada to the Lower 48 to here in Alaska, and we’re really starting to connect that issue and raise awareness and take action. And yes, there is so much more that needs to be done Here in Alaska, one of the big is, is having noncompetitive annual, renewed funding for our tribal justice systems, right? Those are not, that’s not guaranteed and secured year to year. So that’s a big one, you know, to also just increase knowledge and awareness of gender-expansive people. What does gender-based violence mean? Why does it disproportionately impact women, girls, two-spirit people, gender expansive people and making sure that that’s known, you know, so we need and how do we protect that group of people as well, right? So there’s some narrative pieces and better understanding at a societal level of gender justice and then of course, like a huge one. We need more direct services for survivor families. Plain and simple. There’s some amazing work being done out there. There’s lots of,, service providers that are being overworked that they simply cannot meet the high amount of cases that continue to happen. This is not just a historical issue, it’s ongoing and our systems are being over flooded. Right. So we need more direct services and more funding, to ensure that we’re supporting survivor families as well. Of course, I can’t not mention data. You know, there’s lots of room for data sovereignty and supporting tribal da data sovereignty with where they’re at so that we have the information needed to self determine change, right? That’s gonna look different community to community, tribe, to tribe. but plain and simple, we’re always going to need the inform, accurate information to inform and self determine the change that we want to see. And then of course, you know, we can’t do this work, we can’t keep demanding action and lead with fire all the time, right? We need to do it in a healing-centered way. We need to pause and take care of one another. We need to keep gathering in good spaces and doing healing activities, meet each other with compassion, humility, work together and really just start recreating collective healing spaces where we’re recreating systems of care. Those are some of the reasons we have. This is we’ve become so many things are independent or siloed or torn apart. Right. And we’re coming back together and creating those ceremonies, caring for one another. And I think that that is we can’t do any of this work unless we continue to be on our healing path and uplift one another. And just care for one another in a good way as we do this. And so there’s many strategic things, there’s policy things, there’s research things. But none of that is going to be sustainable unless we pause and care for each other and that we reinstate healing justice and that we’re creating systems of care in our communities, so lots to be done. But I think we’re on the right pathway.