THE LELOOSKA FOUNDATION, based near Ariel, recently hosted its annual fundraiser to support its living history school programs and Native Peoples cultural museum.
To support its living history school programs and Native Peoples cultural museum, the Lelooska Foundation based near Ariel, recently hosted its annual fundraiser.
The event, held April 19, was attended by 240 people and raised more than $8,000.
“We were pleased with the turnout and the results,” said Mariah Stoll-Smith Reese, foundation executive director and Lelooska family member. “This was for sure more than last year. We were grateful for the attendance and the participation.”
A silent auction of 214 items ranging from Native American art and pottery to jewelry, metal sculpture and even big bags of dog food preceded a ceremonial mask and dance presentation in the Kwakiutl ceremonial house on site.
Since 1977, the Lelooska Family has been presenting living history programs of masks, dance and storytelling to school children from throughout the region at its location at 165 Merwin Village Road.
Typically, that’s 50 presentations a year, Stoll-Smith Reese said. The experience includes a visit to the museum next door.
“It adds up to about 10,000 children and parents a year with the more than 60 percent of kids coming from schools in Clark County,” she said. School programs are geared to children in grades three and four, however other ages can be accommodated.
The Lelooska masks and dances are hereditary property of the family that resulted from adoption agreements between Chief James Aul Sewide and Chief Lelooska, a mask-maker and scholar of Native American language and culture who died in 1996.
The family carried forward his legacy of educational and living history programs, mask-making and the museum, which features displays of many Native American peoples.
The living history programs were developed by Chief Lelooska with the advice of Chief Aul Sewide and other tribal elders of the Kwakiutl people, a Pacific Northwest Coastal people.
Now retired from dancing, Clan Chief Tsungani Fearon Smith, the younger brother of Chief Lelooska continues the legacy as family leader and mask-maker as well as storyteller and narrator in the educational programs.
In addition to its living history presentations and the museum, the foundation also offers ongoing classes for those interested in Northwest Coast woodcarving, methods of beaded earring making using natural materials and the history and creation of button blankets. Summer classes include weaving demonstrations, rope-making and rawhide painting.
To find out more visit www.lelooska.org.
The foundation operates with an annual budget of $85,000, Stoll-Smith Reese said.
Two public evening performances of song, dance and storytelling are planned this spring on May 17 and June 14 with both performances beginning at 7 p.m.
Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children under 12. Advance reservations are necessary by calling (360) 225-9522.
The museum and long house are at 165 Merwin Village Road, off the Lewis River Road (Hwy 503) northeast of Woodland.
Lelooska evening performances Two public evening performances of Lelooska song, dance and storytelling are planned this spring on May 17 and June 14 with both performances beginning at 7 p.m.
Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children under 12. Advance reservations are necessary by calling (360) 225-9522.
