Arctic Visiting Speakers
Recent News
Our fifth tour in 2013 will begin on June 13th when musician Arto Rinne will fly from St. Petersburg, Russia to Boston, Massachusetts. Arto and his 4-person Karelian band Sattuma, will tour for six weeks throughout the Midwest and New England playing music in various festivals and lecturing on the history of traditional music and instruments from northern Finland and ancient Karelia. You can learn more about Arto's tour by downloading his schedule below. A sixth tour is also scheduled in November when biologist Craig George will be the guest speaker at the Sitka WhaleFest in Sitka, Alaska. This year's WhaleFest theme is "Arctic Sea Change: What's Ahead?".
"Change is in the air" for the Arctic Visiting Speakers Program. Starting in the 2014, we will have two application periods with corresponding deadlines for host applications. Please visit our site for updated information as it becomes available.
Were you an Arctic Visiting Speaker? If so, you can do more than tell people about the experience, you can show them! Please check out our new AVS items on the CafePress site and help spread the word about this great program!
I'm sure most teachers are thinking about the end of the 2012-2013 school year right now but I would encourage you to think about how excited your new students will be next fall with an Arctic Visiting Speaker coming into your classroom. With six tours funded, there are a limited number of spaces available for tours in 2013. Start working on your applications now if you think you want to host a tour in the fall of 2013!
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AVS Tours
Arto Rinne will fly from St. Petersburg, Russia to Boston, Massachusetts for 6 weeks of playing music, lecturing and touring in the Midwest and New England. He will be accompanied by his band Sattuma, a four-person Karelian Folk band. Sattuma will start the 2013 summer tour at the PECO Multicultural Day at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 15th then on to Hancock, Michigan as featured performers at the US FinnFest in June, and on to Sudbury, Canada to perform at the Canadian FinnFest. In addition to playing, Arto will be giving lectures in many locations along the tour. Prepared presentations include:
- "Music, Story and Instrumentation of the Kalevala”
- "Stories, Songs and Traditions of the Northlands"
- "Folk Music & Silent Film Projects in the Arctic Circles Region of Norway"
- "Finnish and Karelian Ancient Folk Instruments"
Dr. George will be flying south to Sitka, Alaska to speak and participate in the Sitka WhaleFest from October 31 to November 3, 2013. This year's WhaleFest theme is "Arctic Sea Change: What's Ahead?"
Dr. George has worked as the lead biologist for the North Slope Borough with a focus on bowhead whale population dynamics, working closely with the Inupiaq people from Barrow and other Arctic communities. Aside from his successful professional life as a renowned large whale biologist and a skilled musician, Dr. George is also a mentor and role model to the young men and women of the North, engaging them in thoughtful dialogue about the changes to come in the Arctic.
Further information on Dr. George's tour will be updated as it becomes available.
Sarah Hurst from Anchorage, Alaska traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia to work with Elena Andreeva of INTAARI. Elena and Sarah had a very busy 3-week itinerary. Sarah gave many presentations to varied audiences including: the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, INTAARI, the Russian Geographic Society, the Museum of Arctic and Antarctic of St. Petersburg, the American Corner, the Interregional public organization Society “ZNANIE”, the American Councils for International Education, the...
Read moreKirk Dombrowski traveled to Providence, RI to work with colleagues at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University from 27-28 February 2013. En-route from New York, he stopped at the Collections Research Center in Bristol, RI to tour the Museum's Arctic Collections and visit with museum staff. Following that, he continued on to campus where he gave a public lecture on "Understanding Arctic Communities on the Brink of Self-Governance". At this presentation, Dr. Dombrowski...
Read moreHenry Huntington of the Pew Environment Group traveled to the far reaches of Neryungri, Russia in early February. There he was busy interacting with many audiences including students and faculty of the Technical Institute (branch) of the North-Eastern Federal University, Neryungri state administrative authorities, the Neryungri Youth Parliament, and teaching staff and pupils of the Experimental Boarding School for indigenous peoples of Sakha Republic.
Titles of some of the...
Read moreDr. Klein traveled to Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida to work with members of the Department of Biological Sciences. He presented a talk entitled "Red and Arctic Fox Predation on Colonial Nesting Seabirds in a Changing Climate on Alaska's Bering Sea Islands" to faculty and graduate students. Dr. Klein also presented a BIOSCOPES webinar on "Climate Change Effects on the Ecology of Wildlife in the Alaskan Arctic and Sub-Arctic". This webinar serves as part of a secondary...
Read moreAnne Jensen spent five days in Valdez talking about her arctic archaeology work to audiences of all ages. During November 2—5 Anne presented programs at Prince William Sound Community College and the Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum. While at the museum, she also helped to identify some artifacts. On November 2nd, Anne was on the air to share her experiences and stories on local public radio station KCHU's "Coffee Break".
The last two days of Anne's tour were spent speaking to...
Read moreAbout the Program
The Arctic Visiting Speakers Program funds researchers and other arctic experts to travel and share their knowledge in communities where they might not otherwise connect. Speakers cover a wide range of arctic research topics and can address a variety of audiences including the general public, academics, students, community leaders, and organization members.
This year AVS is making small changes. We would like to encourage new applicants from small museums, environmental education centers, small colleges and urban schools to apply to host a speaker. Though all submitted applications will be considered, we will be looking for applications that bring speakers out of Alaska and the Arctic and into under-served populations which normally may not have exposure to arctic education from an arctic expert.
We are also interested in having AVS serve a wide variety of audiences including the general public, students, school-aged children, organizations, and community leaders. Individual tours that serve to integrate many different audiences are encouraged.
The review process is underway to fund tours in 2013. If you are interested in applying for a tour, please submit an application today!
Contact
All inquiries regarding the Arctic Visiting Speakers Series should be directed to:
Judy Fahnestock
3535 College Road, Suite 101
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709-3710
Phone: 907-474-1600, Fax: 907-474-1604
Email: avs [at] arcus [dot] org
The Arctic Visiting Speakers Program is supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Arctic Sciences and administered by ARCUS.
Check out AVS related items over at CafePress.
From AVS Participants
"Regardless of all the communication technologies we currently have at our fingertips, person-to-person contact is indispensable and by far the most powerful and lasting mode of communication. Thank you for honoring and facilitating it." - K. Heuer (speaker)
"This was one of the most interesting events in my life! All the staff of the Institute are very thankful to ARCUS for this opportunity to host such a brilliant scientist..." -A. Chepil (host)
“Absolutely this is a fantastic program... Tremendous thanks to both ARCUS and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs for funding such a worthwhile program.” - A. Eilers (host)
"It was so positive. Thank you for the opportunity. You were so easy to work with." - L. Herwald (host)
"I am very thankful for the opportunity for this sharing. We have created good cooperation for the future." - A. Lynge (speaker)
"This was a fabulous opportunity and I truly believe it will generate ongoing collaborations and efforts that can support real improvement in educational opportunities for students in Alaska and Greenland."
- D. Hirshberg (host)
