KTOO TV Program To Highlight Juneau COVID-19 ArtWorks Grant Recipients
Twelve artists awarded grants under the City & Borough of Juneau COVID-19 ArtWorks Program will be profiled in KTOO’s “Juneau Pandemic ArtWorks” television program, documenting the creative works they produced and their reflections on the impact of COVID-19 on the Juneau community.
The television program, which was produced in partnership between KTOO and the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, will air on KTOO 360TV on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. from October 13 to November 3. It will also be available on demand on KTOO’s Roku channel and online at ktoo.org/watch.
In addition to the artists featured in each episode, City Museum Director Beth Weigel, former Juneau Arts and Humanities Council Executive Director Nancy DeCherney, and CBJ Economic Stabilization Task Force Co-Chair Max Mertz provide commentary and discussion. “This was a special opportunity for the three of us to talk about the impact of this program and the incredible work of these artists on our community,” said Weigel. “This collection of art will be a map of how we as a community navigated the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.”
Beginning Friday, October 14, individual profile videos of each artist featured in the program will be posted online to the Juneau-Douglas City Museum website. A new video will be posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through November 9. Follow the City Museum Facebook and Instagram accounts to see each video as it’s released.
The television program and online videos were funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) via a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Alaska State Libraries, Archives & Museums.
The Juneau ArtWorks Program was funded in September 2020 by a CBJ Assembly appropriation of $300,000 of federal CARES Act funding, with the goal of creating employment for artists who lost gigs, had contracts or events cancelled, were laid off, or were otherwise put in a vulnerable position due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ArtWorks, which was administered by the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, ultimately assisted 135 Juneau artists in creating 34 works of art.
Artists were asked to create works of art in any genre that would provide lasting documentation of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the Juneau community. An introductory video states, “In the spirit of the Works Project Administration of the 1930s, the Juneau ArtWorks Program reflects the zeitgeist of the public health emergency and will remind us of how our community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The following artists will be featured in “Juneau Pandemic ArtWorks”:
Thursday, October 13: Marc Mintz, Della Cheney, Constance Baltuck
Thursday, October 20: MK MacNaughton, Larisa Manewal, Deb Temple
Thursday, October 27: Robert Mills, Puanani Maunu, Lily Hope
Thursday, November 3: Marissa Truitt, Abel Ryan, Rachael Juzeler
For a complete catalogue of works created as part of the Juneau ArtWorks Program, visit jahc.org/juneau-cares-artworks.
For information about the initial call for art, visit jahc.org/artworks-grant.