A collage of engagement with community & collaborators in Kenny Lake, Alaska

Hi Rubics,

Here is some documentation of my engagement with the community of Kenny Lake School and Copper River School District as I'm preparing to embark on my artist-in-schools residency there and to explore my study question for our group.

I chose to share this with you as a collision of images and information, a quick collage, rather than outlining my correspondence and research in great detail. The information and inspiration I've found exist in my head more like this collage than in a clean, organized format.

The images and text here include:

• emails between me, Copper River administrators, and Kenny Lake teachers.
• Historical research about the Kenny Lake community, from web resources.
• Images from a google image search of "Kenny Lake, Alaska."
• Information from a 2012 Alaska State Council on the Arts report about the situation of arts education in three focus school districts, one of which is Copper River.
• Information from "On Thin Ice," a 2009 report from the Alaska Arts Education Consortium, outlining both successes and challenges in current arts education policy and action around the state.

My most recent correspondence from the school was from the principal yesterday (Monday 12.03). Her comments are a good reminder to me to enter with a mindset of openness and readiness to improvise!--

As you’ll soon find, our community is fairly spread out and we’ve been experiencing very cold temperatures already (-30s, -40, nearing -50’s) so seeking out interview type candidates could be challenging as to getting them here to participate.  Just something to think about and plan well in advance for.  We’ll do all we can to make it happen in encouraging those wanted to help make this the most positive time for all involved.

Thanks,
Ryan