2011 Alaska Marine Gala: Bringing SeaLife to Anchorage!

The lights dim and slowly a diver (ASLC Dive Officer, Chip Arnold) descends into the audience to welcome more than 570 guests... the crowd hushes repectfully to hear his welcome while taking in the amazing underwater scenery all around them... belugas, orcas, octopii, jellyfish...

This dream script quickly became real as once again the Anchorage Dena’ina Center was magically transformed into an underwater garden for the 2011 Alaska Marine Gala on Sunday 16th January. 

Board Vice Chair, Steve Grabacki with ASLC Dive team members, Chip Arnold, Jen Curl and Jared Guthridge

This year we sought to bring the SeaLife Center to Anchorage in ways that enabled our research, education and stewardship work to be easily understood.  From the moment guests arrived in the reception area they were greeted by SeaLife on display!

Emcees Maria Downey and Dave Karp amidst some amazing sealife!

Alaska SeaLife Center staff worked closely with Alaska Destination Specialists (http://www.alaskadestinations.com/) and the ever accommodating venue staff to transform the upper level of Dena’ina into a stunning visual celebration of Alaska's oceans.   The evening featured many highlights, but the presentation by our guest speaker, Joel Sartore stood out for his ability to help us understand the diverse world we share and the challenges we face in maintaining the remarkable and little known diversity of biological life and human culture on earth...

Award winning National Geographic photographer, Joel Sartore recounting some of his amazing experiences in producing his new book "Rare" (see also http://www.joelsartore.com/)

Ocean Leadership Awards Committee Chair, Arliss Sturgulewski with Dr Clarence Pautzke, retiring NPRB Director and winner of the Walter and Ermalee Hickel Award for Lifetime Achievement

Senator Mark Begich hard at work helping our auction spotters

 

The multi talented H3 band made sure we closed the gala in style!

The evening provided a wonderful opportunity for the Center to develop many new friends and renew old friendships. I was particularly struck by a comment from our close colleague, Alaska SeaGrant Director Dr Dave Christie, who noted that this was one of the few marine gatherings he had been to in Alaska where he didn't recognize many of the participants!  We agreed that was a good thing as it helped us to better understand and acknowledge the increasing value that society at large places on our amazing oceans. 

Clearly we achieved our goal of bringing more people into the Alaska Ocean community and the feedback we received at the event and subsequently suggests that they are now advocates for our work! 

We again thank all our sponsors and guests for their support - they make these events possible and we were delighted by the enthusiastic turn out.  I'd also like to acknowledge the tremendous work done by our Gala team under the leadership of our Director of Education and Outreach Nikki Nelson; more than 40 staff were present on the evening sharing their work and helping make sure things went smoothly. 

Stephen Marquis, our Social Media specialist making sure that all the technology worked and modeling the now famous "blue tie" -- the staff of most retail clothing stores in Anchorage now know what that dress standard actually means - there will be a contest for the best blue tie at AMG3!

Overall, this evening was the most successful single fundraising event in ASLC history! We look forward to bringing you AMG3 in January 2012 - dates will be announced soon...

(Special thanks to our event photographer, Glenn Aronwits - all gala photos will be available shortly on his website - www.ga-digitalphotos.com)

2011 Alaska Ocean Leadership Awards Announced

Sunday evening, before an enthusiastic audience of nearly 600 guests at the second annual Alaska Marine Gala at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage, the Alaska Ocean Leadership Awards Committee presented awards to five organizations and individuals who have made significant contributions to awareness and sustainability of the state’s marine resources.

Alaska’s Oceans are some of the most important and productive in the world. Our marine environments supply us with year round recreation, research and revenue opportunities. Recognizing the vital importance of our oceans, these awards were created to honor the individuals, institutes and groups that strive to understand them and are dedicated to sustaining them. Committee Chair Mrs. Arliss Sturgulewski presented the awards to:

• Elizabeth Trowbridge  of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies won the award for Ocean Literacy, sponsored by COSEE (Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence, an NSF-funded program).  Elizabeth has been designing and delivering outstanding educational curriculum since 1995. Her work has influenced hundreds of thousands of students understanding of ocean literacy and has no doubt made a difference in the future of our seas. We are grateful for all of their work spreading knowledge about Alaska’s oceans.

• The Ocean Media Award, for excellence in journalism that has raised public awareness of Alaska’s oceans, went to The Marine Conservation Alliance. The UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences sponsored the award. The Marine Conservation Alliance, and their new social media campaign – “SeaAlliance” has already achieved over 15 million on-line impressions. This campaign builds an online community to promote and defend Alaska’s sustainable fisheries and coastal communities.

• Dr. Jeremy Mathis of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences was awarded the Ocean Research Award for his work conducting research in high latitude carbon cycling and ocean acidification in the Arctic. His groundbreaking contributions to marine research and communication about Ocean Acidification are remarkable. His credentials and commitment to research have greatly enhanced the profile of ocean acidification research in Alaska. This award was sponsored by Dr. Clarence Pautzke and his wife Dr. Maureen McCrae.

• Shell Alaska Venture was recognized with the Ocean Stewardship and Sustainability Award, sponsored by Mr. Jason Brune. Since returning to Alaska in 2005, Shell has engaged in an aggressive environmental studies program in the Arctic offshore. Shell has worked in a collaborative manner with stakeholders from industry, local, state and federal governments, universities and non-government organizations to share resources and facilitate the development of an understanding of the Arctic marine ecosystem. Shell’s efforts are resulting in a better understanding of the Alaskan Arctic offshore, enabling responsible management and decision making about this critical resource.

• The late Governor Walter J. Hickel and his wife Ermalee have endowed the Lifetime Achievement Award for the next 10 years, and the committee decided to recognize an individual who has made an exceptional contributions to management of Alaska’s coastal and ocean resources over a period 25 years or more. This award went to Dr. Clarence Pautze, Executive Director of the North Pacific Research Board who made landmark contributions to the management of Alaska’s coastal and ocean resources. Throughout his career he has been a champion of marine research and science-based fisheries management. His work with both the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and the North Pacific Research Board has generated an immense contribution to science, provided invaluable research data and provided mentoring for hundreds of young scientists.

These awards again demonstrate the remarkable contribution being made by Alaskan business, scientific, media and education leaders to sustaining the benefit and services that all Alaskans enjoy from our marine ecosystems,  The Alaska SeaLife Center is most appreciative of the support provided by the sponsors of these awards and thanks the Awards Committee, Arliss Sturgulewski, Molly McCammon, Nancy Lord, Dr. Doug Woodby and Jason Brune for their assistance in selecting the awardees in each category.
Nominations for the 2012 awards will be advertized in December 2011 - please keep an eye out for them and help us recognize leaders you believe are making a difference.

Pick Click Give - a Wonderful Way to Contribute to Alaska's Non Profits

For those who live in Alaska, it has been virtually impossible to ignore the buzz that has built around our newest philanthropy opportunity over the past two years - Pick.Click.Give.  While this opportunity is not available outside Alaska, this is still an inspiring story of how to promote greater support for the non profit sector...

What Is Pick. Click.Give?

In May 2008, the Alaska Legislature passed legislation that sets up the Permanent Fund Dividend Charitable Contributions Program, or Pick.Click.Give. (sometimes known as PCG).  The law allows Alaskans filing for their Permanent Fund Dividend online to donate all or part of their dividend to enrolled non profit organizations, community foundations and educational organizations. See http://www.pickclickgive.org/ for full details of the program.  The genesis and current status of the Permanent Fund is described at http://www.apfc.org/home/Content/aboutFund/aboutPermFund.cfm.


How Does PCG Work?
The program allows Alaskans to pick recipients from the list of approved organizations as they enrol online for their PFD each year and click to define which organizations they will give some portion of their PFD to.  Donations begin at $25 and can be flexibly allocated to multiple charities.  Thanks to the generous support of the Rasmuson Foundation, no administrative overhead is deducted - the full amount of each donation is sent to the designated charity!  Pretty simple, but incredibly powerful - last year the program raised nearly $1million for Alaskan non profits; the 2011 goal is $1.5million.

 

Our Goal for the 2011 PCG Program

We have been actively promoting this oportunity to Alaskans since January - see http://www.alaskasealife.org/New/documents/PCG%20at%20ASLC.pdf.

Our goal for PCG this year is $10,000.  This is equal to just 400 $25 donations or 100 $100 donations...

 

Thank You

Thank you to each of you who help spread the word about this wonderful program and a special thank you to those of you who are considering making a PCG donation to the Alaska SeaLife Center this year!

 

ASLC - one of Frommer's 500 places to make a difference globally!

I love surprises.

This week I was delighted to learn that we are in the 2010 Frommer book of 500 places globally where people can make a difference!  The Alaska SeaLife Center is featured as a place where people can contribute to globally significant scientific research and is one of only a handful of science centers featured in North America.

The discovery of our listing was made, not surprisingly, by Cindy Ecklund, our Senior HR Manager who is one of those remarkable people who constantly seeks out opportunities to make a difference in every aspect of her life.  She is a multi-talented producer of plays, an active fundraiser for local food banks, an avid community government volunteer and someone who is always available to help with great community causes! 

As she explained at our staff meeting today, by helping others make a difference here, we can perhaps "pay forward" opportunities to help others globally... and that may inspire others globally to contribute to causes that we are concerned with here locally...

It really is wonderful to be part of that virtuous "cycle of causes" that make a difference in a world where all too often the only news we hear about relates to the worst side of human nature...
Please  join us in encouraging Frommers to keep encouraging people to make a positive difference! We'll be celebrating some of those causes and the people who have been contributing to them at this weekend's Alaska Marine Gala - stay tuned for details of the 2011 Alaska Ocean Leadership Awards!

Joel Sartore to Headline Alaska Marine Gala

The Alaska SeaLife Center will welcome world famous wildlife photographer and conservation spokesperson, Joel Sartore to the 2nd Annual Alaska Marine Gala on January 16th at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. Joel Sartore, a life-long Nebraskan, has traveled the globe to capture on film everything from endangered species to the wonders of nature around the world. He has been published in National Geographic, Time, Life, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated and many others. His presentation will include wonderful stories, amazing images and is sure to inspire and entertain. For more on his amazing work go to http://www.joelsartore.com/.

We are delighted to be able to bring Joel to Anchorage. I have been privileged to previously hear his amazing stories of how he captured some of the greatest photos ever taken. I know Alaskans, and especially those of us who enjoy nature photography, will enjoy his presentation... 

...and the gala program we have prepared this year is sensational! 

The evening will include a festive and interactive reception, a gourmet dinner and then transition to the program for the evening. The Gala also hosts the Alaska Ocean Leadership Awards recognizing the leaders in Alaska marine research, ocean education, environmental media, corporate stewardship, and lifetime achievement for their contributions to the future of Alaska’s oceans. The silent and live auctions will provide guests access to exciting and unique action packages. Finally, guests will be treated to the music of H3, a popular band here in Anchorage. Additional information and a complete sponsor list can be found at www.alaskasealife.org/alaskamarinegala/.

As of Monday 10th, we have less than 60 Individual tickets still available and so I hope that anyone hoping to join us will complete their bookings by our cut off date of c.o.b. 12th January. Gala registration is available via the website or by calling Susheela Roach at (907) 224-6890.

See you there!

Happy New Year!.. and a plug for "The Kings Speech"

Seems like quite a while since I blogged and so I thought I'd simply open the new year by wishing all of you a prosperous and peaceful year ahead. 

Like most Alaskans, I was delighted to get through the shortest day of the year and am now enjoying the slow return of longer days.  During my holidays I made sure to get outside to enjoy as much daylight as much as I could.  Despite the colder than usual temperatures we experienced towards the end of the year it was great to be a "staycationer" in winter!

In addition to getting through as much as I could of my overly ambitious reading list (see December 2010 blogs) and skiiing whenever I could, I also managed to catch a couple of great movies.  One of which -- "The Kings Speech" (http://www.kingsspeech.com/) -- made an indelible impression on me.  Not only is the story absolutely compelling, there is a remarkable chemistry between the cast.  I can't recall a movie that so profoundly engaged me in the two lead characters.  I have found that I am already using the movie as a learning and motivational tool for some of our work here at the SeaLife Center as we prepare for the Alaska Marine Gala on 16th January -- there are some remarkable lessons and ideas in great stories such as this!

I encourage you all to see the movie and will be interested to learn your reaction... Oh, and rest assured in case you don't find the movie as motivating as I did - our Director of Education Nikki Nelson has already encouraged me to not practice any newly learned speech therapy techniques during my speech at the Gala!