Celebration 2024 Set for June

SHI will sponsor an in-person Celebration from June 5-8, 2024, which will mark the 42nd anniversary of the event, first held in 1982.

The dance-and-culture festival in Juneau will feature dance group performances and associated events, including a Juried Art Show and Competition, a Juried Youth Exhibit, an Indigenous Fashion Show, a Native Artist Market, a Toddler Regalia Review, food contests, storytelling, and a parade through downtown Juneau.

Sealaska Heritage will livestream the event, and it will be broadcast on public television. Sealaska Heritage will hold Celebration in Juneau from June 5-8, 2024 in-person in Juneau, Alaska, and also sponsor a live television broadcast in Alaska and webcast worldwide.

Lead Dance Group:  Dakhká Khwáan Dancers (People of the Inland) have been selected as the lead dance group for Celebration 2024.  The Tlingit group — based in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada — will lead all dancers for the first time since the group initially performed at Celebration in 2008.

The honor is given to one dance group every two years. The lead dance group is responsible for leading the Grand Entrance and Grand Exit songs, during which every participating dance group dances across the stage to mark the beginning and end of Celebration. That requires the lead group to drum and sing for up to three hours straight during both processions.

Applications for the following are open now or will be posted soon:  Dance Groups, Toddler Regalia Review, Indigenous Fashion Show, Northwest Coast Juried Art Show and Competition, Juried Youth Art Exhibit, Native Artist Market, Food Contests.