Connecting Community
Lullaby Project
The Lullaby Project pairs music mentors with incarcerated parents at Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility to create lullabies for children. This inspirational project makes an impact on everyone, from those who participate, to those who attend the concert, to the children who get to hear their parents’ wishes for them in musical form. Click the button to learn much more, view videos of the concerts, and download the lullabies.
McLaughlin Youth Programs
Freedom to Dream Book: McLaughlin Youth Stories of Hope
McLaughlin Youth Center Lullaby Spin
Community Concert
The Gathering: A Cross-Cultural Immersion Camp for Adults
July 29-July 31, 2022
In Anchorage, there are few opportunities for community members to learn about the vast diversity of cultures living in our town. Keys to Life will create a culture camp where community members can engage and begin to understand the root of cultural experience from different perspectives. This camp will bring culture bearers from different ethnicities to facilitate learning and understanding. You are invited to bring your culture to the conversations.
Eyes Closed
Anchorage is one of the most diverse cities in the United States. Children speaking more than one hundred different languages call it their home. Under its sky they dream at night and tell stories during the day. Keys to Life gathered some of these stories in the exhibit and book Eyes Closed.
Community Engagement through Cooking
As a community, we gain a deeper understanding of each other and other cultures by sharing a meal. Through this Keys to Life program, we’ve travelled the world through cuisine: from Ghana and Ethiopia to the Middle East and Samoa. In addition to a delicious feast, guests learn about the cultures and countries where these foods are popular. These are fun and tasty evenings!
World Stories / Stories Matter
Keys to Life brings storytellers from all over the country to Anchorage. The storytellers share stories of history, culture, and heritage. In 2021, we enlisted ten storytellers from a variety of backgrounds including Alaska Native, Latino, African-American, and African to share their stories via Zoom.
To honor the creative ways in which Anchorage’s different communities tell their stories, Keys to Life has held two storytelling festivals. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about future opportunities!
Storytelling Festivals
Since the early days of humanity, knowledge has been bequeathed through stories. The artist who drew the chase of a bison on the walls of Lascaux was telling a story. Perhaps early humans learned from this story a new hunting technique or developed a ritual that later became a tradition. But they would have certainly learned something that pushed their lives to a new stage.
Stories engage us emotionally and help us take new steps. Stories speak to the rise of civilization and chant their collapse long after they are gone. They give our lives meaning by explaining us who we are, and they help us learn from people who are not here anymore. Stories teach deep realities in a humble way. That is why they are at the core of every culture.
However, stories take different shapes in different cultures. Chinese people tell their stories through shadow puppets. Samoans dance them; every movement of their hands has a meaning. Native Alaskans dance their stories to the rhythm of their drums. West Africans sing their stories. Hmong people embroider them in their story cloths. And Middle Eastern Arabs build poems with them.
Keys to Life has sponsored two very popular Storytelling Festivals, each featuring Anchorage community members who shared their personal lives, as well as professional storytellers from a variety of cultures.
“This was an amazing idea with so much put into it! I was really impressed with the layout. I loved the activities. I appreciate how positive you are with them. I will recommend this camp to others. It was a good experiences for them!”
Camp Kaleidoscope
Camp Kaleidoscope was a five-day camp for young people ages seven to fourteen. Thirty-one students enrolled to participate in Anchorage’s first cross-cultural immersion camp for kids. It was designed to bring understanding among emerging cultures in Anchorage. The camp provided opportunities for young people to learn about the unique qualities of our many cultures through the arts. These classes were Samoan dance and language, African-American Story Time, World Music Percussion, Cultural Expression through Photography, Alaska Native dance, African-American Drama and Music, American Folk Music and cooking classes (African, Mexican, Norwegian, French). This was a success with eleven diverse instructors sharing their culture with our students.
How do we build a meaningful cross-cultural community in Anchorage? The Cultural Summit helped participants deepen their understanding of others and Anchorage’s demographic picture as a whole, and helped integrate a cohesive voice related to diversity.
Anchorage Cultural Summit
The Anchorage Cultural Summit brought together people from all over the city to discuss how to make our community a more welcoming and caring place. The one-day Anchorage Cultural Summit focused on expanding the voice of individuals who are underrepresented in community dialogue and policy, by bringing together a cross-cultural and inter-generational group of individuals to brainstorm innovative solutions and actions towards creating a successful community for all. Deliverables from the Summit were a written evaluation report and a documentary video. These deliverables are shared with community members of Anchorage and Alaska. They continue to be used by the working and planning committees to inform a separately-funded Phase II community action plan. It is our vision to engage individuals to acknowledge and harness the power of our uniqueness to create an inclusive community.
What is the Meaning of Home Photography Exhibit
Keys to Life is exploring the question “what is the meaning of home?” through an artistic format. In our diverse culture, the word “home” can bring us all together. KTL wants to explore its meaning in a variety of contexts. The causes of homelessness are rooted across the spectrum from economic challenges, chronic health conditions, mental health, substance abuse, family violence, and family issues. The increase in homelessness can be cited to COVID-19 and the crises of families losing jobs and their homes. What do we know or what do we think we know about those who are living without the structure of a home? The Photographic Exhibit will invite individuals who are experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity to explore their lives through the lens of a camera. The goal is to give our community a new narrative on the concept of Home and its meaning. The photo exhibit will share the stories and lives beyond the physical appearance we see in the media. The exhibit will be on view in a public space coupled with a panel discussion by the authors of the photos.
Hear Our Voices Youth Summit
Hear Our Voices is a one-day youth summit. The summit will be planned by an enthusiastic group of immigrant youth in our community for their peers in Anchorage high schools. These youth ambassadors witness the challenges of being multi-cultural each day at school. As they try to navigate cultural differences, substance abuse, gangs, depression, suicide, and peer pressure, they asked the question, “What can we do?” Hear Our Voices is a one-day summit focusing on cultural awareness and building cross-cultural alliances by addressing issues of interethnic communication and understanding, depression, and suicide. The summit will invite health care professionals, youth leader panelists, parents, and students to ignite a conversation that will result in alliance support groups that directly address these issues. It is a large initiative and a necessary one. The student ambassadors will extend the conversation into the 2022-23 school year through coffee chats and social media messaging.
Do, Share, Care, Create, Join, Learn, Inspire
Bringing community together
Keys to Life programming is always engaging and diverse. You can help Keys to Life by participating in its many programs, making a tax-deductible donation, or considering a partnership between Keys to Life and your organization. We are grateful for the opportunity to do meaningful work in this community. Thanks for your support!
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