Tlingit storyteller, speaker, mentor, performer and counselor of the spirit Gene Tagaban will deliver the keynote address on Saturday, Nov. 10, during this year’s Sobriety Celebration & Memorial Potlatch, hosted by the Native Village of Eyak.
His speech is scheduled to begin 3:25 p.m. at the Cordova Jr./Sr. High School.
He will also be performing dance and storytelling Friday, Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. at Mt. Eccles Elementary School and at 10 a.m. at CHS.
Filmmaker Paul Grey of Exploring Alaska Native Voices will be documenting the Sobriety Celebration.
Tagaban is of the Takdeintaan clan, the Raven, Freshwater Sockeye clan from Hoonah, in Southeast Alaska. He has shared traditional Native stories, as well as stories from his personal experience, family and historical events, at national and international festivals.
Tagaban performed with the Dalai Lama at the “Seeds of Compassion” gathering in Seattle and the Nature Conservancy’s 50th anniversary with Jane Goodall in 2016. His passion is teaching performance, presentation, and facilitation of workshops on prevention, empowerment, leadership, relationship, communication, self-awareness, spirit, honor and healing.
Tagaban is a board member of the Native Wellness Institute and Seattle’s Native youth theater company, Red Eagle Soaring. He is a trainer of COMPASS, a men’s mentorship program with the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
Tagaban also works with the Nisqually tribe as a case worker and community outreach and is a specialty instructor and honorary uncle with the Wilderness Awareness School.
Click here to see the full schedule for the 25th Annual Sobriety Celebration & Memorial Potlatch.
