Thank you for your interest in submitting a proposal for a breakout presentation at the 2025 Our Cultural Landscape, Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Annual Culturally Responsive Education Conference, which will be held in Juneau, Alaska, 6-8 of August. Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) welcomes proposals for in person and virtual presentations that aim to advance the following vision of the conference.
The overarching objective of the conference is to serve as an uplifting, welcoming space for participants to explore learning about and contributing to academic and professional discourses essential to the generation of knowledge and the progress of Native arts, culture and languages. As one among a growing constellation of SHI activities concerned with perpetuating and enhancing Southeast Alaska cultures, it aims to foster an animated conversation among diverse participants about “integration of Indigenous culture, values and knowledge into public policy, institutions and programs serving Alaska Natives to sustain the cultural vitality of current and future generations.”
In line with this vision, we seek proposals that address the following aims, namely, presentations that —
- Share learning about how to:
- Participate in relevant discourses in the light of the Southeast traditional tribal values,
- Explicate the principles of culturally responsive education and demonstrate their applicability to the issues facing our communities,
- Develop an outward-looking culture and actively contribute to collaborative learning processes with institutions, educators, partners and community members.
- Encourage conference/session participants, to the extent possible, to consider themselves as:
- Active participants, rather than passive recipients, during the conference and session,
- Part of an ongoing learning process that is consistent with the vision of SHI.
Consideration is also given to proposals that aim to explore one or more of the following themes, namely, how to more effectively:
- Strengthen in Unity: Innovating Together for Culturally Responsive Education. Recognizing the value and importance of collaboration when our society is based on an adversarial and competitive model,
- Thrive in spaces of belonging (language, innovation, arts and education systems),
- Develop and publish educational curricula, materials, and scholarly studies of Native arts, cultures, languages, and history,
- Develop the pedagogical skills of heritage language teachers and implement heritage language programs throughout Southeast Alaska,
- Create high-quality language resources and incorporate those into schools and community activities,
- Develop scientific research and educational programs that integrate Indigenous and scientific knowledge and increases the understanding of Native arts, cultures, languages, and history and the promotion of Native individuals and community wellbeing.
Additional considerations include:
- If the proposed presentation will:
- engage with relevant discourses and literature in a given field (i.e., content that is not limited to Native sources),
- correlate Alaska Native concepts/community experience to insights and questions in a given field of study,
- offer solutions in an exploratory manner and identify questions for further inquiry
- demonstrate overall clarity of thinking.
- Diversity of content, such as, but not limited to, presentations that:
- address challenges facing present-day society,
- demonstrate original biographical or historical scholarship drawing on archival or other primary sources,
- examine under-represented issues in Alaska Native scholarship.
It is our intent to move beyond the lecture format, and we ask our speakers to plan intentional interactions as a part of the presentation. We encourage presenters to consider incorporating a variety of presentation tools, interactive strategies, and methods used to engage and inform audience participation.
Important dates
- 3/10/2025: Call for abstracts opens
- 4/13/2025: Deadline for submission
- 5/2/2025: Selected submitters are notified of acceptance; any suggested changes to presentations are communicated
- July 2025 (TBD): Speaker orientations (online, mandatory)
- 5 August afternoon: Presenters reception
- 6-8 August: CRE Conference
Proposal Format
In making your proposal, please:
- Read the CRE Conference Objectives listed above on this page
- Clearly identify and articulate your presentation’s topic and objective(s). Please note that you can choose between 45 minutes or 75 minutes of presentation time. The total session lengths are 60 and 90 minutes. The remainder of the time will be used for Q&A/discussion.
- Fill out the form
Please contact Sara Little at sara.little@sealaska.com for assistance or questions.
Gunalchéesh, Háw’aa, Nt’oyaxsn, Thank you.