Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
The artist Xenia Kashevaroff Cage was born in Juneau in 1913. She was the youngest daughter of Martha Bolshanin Kashevaroff, who was Kiks.ádi from Sitka, and the Russian and Alutiiq Orthodox priest, Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff. The lecturers will present a brief overview of their research on Xenia’s life and work. Xenia was an important contributor to 20th century avant-garde music and was considered to be a major artist in the Surrealist movement.
Dave Hunsaker is an Alaskan screenwriter and playwright based in Juneau, Alaska, and Venice, California. He has written for major studios including Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight, Sony, Warner Bros, Disney and HBO, and worked with directors Robert Redford, Norman Jewison and Guillermo del Toro, among others. For ten years he was artistic director of the Juneau-based Naakahidi Theatre, an international touring company of Native Alaskan artists. He is a recipient of the Alaska Governor’s Award for the Arts and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Alaska in May 2014. He is a Fellow of the Sundance Institute, a member of the Writers Guild of America and is an adopted member of the Lukaax.ádi clan.
Jim Simard, a librarian and archivist, is retired from the Alaska State Library where he was the head of the Alaska Historical Collections. Simard’s work with the Alaska State Library included the development of Alaska’s Digital Archives. He was a contributor to Sealaska Heritage Foundation’s Naa Kahidi Theatre and produced and directed Ishmael Hope’s play Gunakadeit, which was invited to the National Museum of the American Indian in 2006. Jim is an adopted Lukaax̱ .ádi clan member.
Learn more about Sealaska Heritage here: sealaskaheritage.org
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The artist Xenia Kashevaroff Cage was born in Juneau in 1913. She was the youngest daughter of Martha Bolshanin Kashevaroff, who was Kiks.ádi from Sitka, and the Russian and Alutiiq Orthodox priest, Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff. The lecturers will present a brief overview of their research on Xenia’s life and work. Xenia was an important contributor to 20th century avant-garde music and was considered to be a major artist in the Surrealist movement.
Dave Hunsaker is an Alaskan screenwriter and playwright based in Juneau, Alaska, and Venice, California. He has written for major studios including Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight, Sony, Warner Bros, Disney and HBO, and worked with directors Robert Redford, Norman Jewison and Guillermo del Toro, among others. For ten years he was artistic director of the Juneau-based Naakahidi Theatre, an international touring company of Native Alaskan artists. He is a recipient of the Alaska Governor’s Award for the Arts and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Alaska in May 2014. He is a Fellow of the Sundance Institute, a member of the Writers Guild of America and is an adopted member of the Lukaax.ádi clan.
Jim Simard, a librarian and archivist, is retired from the Alaska State Library where he was the head of the Alaska Historical Collections. Simard’s work with the Alaska State Library included the development of Alaska’s Digital Archives. He was a contributor to Sealaska Heritage Foundation’s Naa Kahidi Theatre and produced and directed Ishmael Hope’s play Gunakadeit, which was invited to the National Museum of the American Indian in 2006. Jim is an adopted Lukaax̱ .ádi clan member.
Learn more about Sealaska Heritage here: sealaskaheritage.org
facebook.com/SHInstitute
instagram.com/shinstitute
twitter.com/SHInstitute
