‘Alaska Heart Through Student Art Auction Celebrates its 10th Year!’ by Sam Jordan

This month, the Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA) hosted the 10th Annual ‘Alaska’s Heart Through Student Art’ reception. The event, held in Juneau at the the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Museum, is an annual statewide celebration and auction of student art from Alaska’s 53 school districts. Legislators, statewide educational leaders, teachers, and student artists came together to celebrate and support student artistic expression in Alaska.

Photo by Michael Penn

This is the tenth year that Alaska Council for School Administrators has sponsored this showcase event. Schools shipped art pieces to Juneau where ACSA staff, school district staff and volunteers from the Alaska Arts Education Consortium set up displays in the exhibition hallway and main floor of the museum.

Photo by Michael Penn

The reception featured both a silent and a live auction. Representative Stapp served as the auctioneer this year as legislators and school leaders in the crowd enthusiastically bid. Performances by students from Juneau Youth Choir and a local jazz band kept the setting filled with music. By the end of the night, many attendees left with at least one new art piece for their homes and offices. Student artists who chose to participate in the auction received 60% of the proceeds of the sale with the other 40% going to the annual Student Champion Scholarship, which supports Alaskan high school students to further develop their skills as artists.