Ammon Swenson, Alaska Public Media

This episode of Addressing Alaskans features the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation’s 2023 economic forecast. We hear reports on  jobs and employment, housing, consumer optimism, and business confidence. We’ll also hear about Choose Anchorage, a framework intended to revitalize the city.

This week on State of Art we're learning about the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. They're celebrating 50 years of providing immersive arts education to school-aged kids and teens from all over the state.

This week on State of Art we're discussing Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Awards. Applications are open now to a wide range of creatives looking for some financial breathing room to focus on their work.

We experience sound in different ways every day. But how often do we get to play with sound? The Anchorage Museum's new exhibit Pass the Mic is encouraging its visitors to do just that. On this episode of Hometown Alaska we’ll uncover how the Pass the Mic exhibit was created and take you on a tour of sound exploration.

Kathleen McCoy spent decades as a journalist before joining Alaska Public Media as an original host of Hometown, Alaska. After years behind the mic interviewing local leaders and community members, she’s stepping down to enjoy retirement. We look back at McCoy’s career and what comes after public radio.

Alaska Native authors have written hundreds of books ranging from children’s stories to novels to memoirs and history books. Have you read any? Do you want to? This week on Hometown Alaska we’re exploring a new project created by the Alaska Center for the Book focusing on increasing awareness and readership of Alaska Native authors and talking about why sharing these works is so important.

This week on State of Art we hear about artist Garry Kaulitz's retrospective at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art. Kaulitz worked as a professor at the University of Alaska where he taught printmaking and his works have been featured in hundreds of exhibitions. The show features a diverse range of prints, paintings and drawings spanning six decades with a concurrent exhibition in Kaulitz's adopted home of Cuenca, Ecuador.

This week on State of Art the Anchorage Folk Festival returns with in-person performances, workshops, and more. We hear from Johnse Ostman, president of the fest’s board of directors, to find out about the local and featured acts, volunteer opportunities, and what to expect.

This week on State of Art we meet artist Meg Anderson. Her show "Yellow Skies and Black Birds" will be on display at Cyrano's Art Gallery from January 6 through February 26. Originally from Wisconsin, Anderson spent 24 years as an interpretive graphic artist and illustrator for Alaska State Parks. We discuss her work for the parks, her show and her many other creative projects. We also hear from RKP Production's Audrey Weltman Kelly and Dick Reichman about the new original play "Out to Lunch: A Political Comedy."

Alaska’s statewide affordable housing crisis has many causes and many solutions. This week on hometown Alaska hear from housing experts who are working to make housing accessible for everyone and from one new homeowner who helps use understand why it matters so much.

This week on State of Art we're hearing from Juneau-based singer-songwriter Marian Call. As part of the Alaska Independent Musician Initiative and a new endeavor called MusicAlaska, Call tells us about the work being done to compile playlists of Alaska musicians to help paint a more complete picture of the state's music scene. We hear about the working musician's grind, the benefits of these playlists and plans use them.

This week on State of Art we're hearing from Dr. Mark Wolbers, director of the Anchorage Community Concert Band. Their free winter performance, "Reverence," will take place on Sunday, December 4 in the Discovery Theater in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Wolbers tells us about being in the band, managing the wide range of skill levels and what to expect from the concert.

This week on State of Art we're hearing from local artist and the mastermind behind the Alaska BookMobile, Jimmy Riordan. His current work is focused on digitizing analogue Alaska music. He got his start working in Bethel and preserving recordings found around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, but has branched out to more of a statewide focus. We hear about how he got started, what he's found along the way and what comes next.

This week on State of Art we're learning about Anchorage Museum's Seed Lab. The black building covered in murals is located across from the main museum facility on the corner of 6th and A in downtown Anchorage. In addition to supplementing other museum programming, they hold a variety of workshops on topics ranging from climate to repair and reuse and other events and conversations focusing on community and the environment. They also support artists in residence in addition to things like housing a tool library and a newly built podcast studio.

With Election Day coming up fast on November 8 and early voting already underway, we want to answer any of your last minute questions about this year's election. Gail Fenumiai, the state's head of the Division of Elections will be able to answer any of your questions about ranked choice voting, ballot security, when and where to vote, and more. Jeannette Lee, a researcher with the nonpartisan think tank Sightline Institute, can field questions about voter strategy and things to consider when voting.

This week on State of Art we're hearing from the owner of Tent City Press, Bryce Fredrick. Along with the Anchorage Public Library and the Seed Lab, Tent City Press will be hosting a zine fair and swap on Friday, November 4. We also hear from Anchorage Community Theater's Executive Director Matt Fernandez about their current production of spooky musical "Constance and Sinestra and the Cabinet of Screams."

This week on State of Art we're hearing from James Bartlett, author of true-crime book "The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America." The book examines the murder of wealthy Fairbanks businessman Cecil Wells on October 17, 1953. We'll also hear from the conductor and stage director/choreographer from Anchorage Opera's production of "The Pirates of Penzance."

This week on State of Art we're hearing from Joy Harjo. She served as poet laureate of the United States from 2019 to this year. As the first Native American to hold the position, she made it her goal to lift up the voices of indigenous poets. We discuss her relationship to Alaska, her time as poet laureate and her new work.

This week on Hometown Alaska Tiffany Hall, executive director of Recover Alaska, and Dr. Vivian Gonzales, professor of psychology at UAA, join host Justin Williams to discuss the realities of Alaskan sobriety, and what it looks like to face recovery in the harsher months of the cold, dark winter.

This week Hometown Alaska hosts three writers telling significant parts of Alaska’s story. We're joined by Alaska's writer laureate Heather Lende and authors Leigh Newman and Laureli Ivanoff.