Anchorage Daily News

Susan Moore, a member of the co-op art gallery, The Firefly (419 L St.), writes to bemoan an annual holiday tradition that we'd just as soon went away: an increase of thefts at arts and crafts stores."

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"People come in, sometimes just 'looking around,' and we find that art and handcrafted items have disappeared," she writes. "Through experience we are aware that these items are sold on the street, in bars and other places, represented to potential buyers as products of the actual thief."

Items purloined at Firefly are likely to wind up being hawked at a tavern on Fourth Avenue as a matter of convenience and proximity. But the problem is more widespread than just downtown.

"We put a lot into these pieces, a lot of time, care, money and hard-won expertise. It is dispiriting to make a unique piece, put our own feelings and personalities into it and then have it appropriated by some stranger who is just out for a quick buck," Moore says. Then she offers what we might call the Golden Rule of financial advice:

"If you are offered a handmade item at a place that seems a bit unlikely, and the item is cheaper than you would expect and comes complete with a sad story, there is a strong likelihood that it is stolen."

Moore thinks bartenders and other servers should be particularly alert to this practice. But patrons too should do their part; report these incidents and take your business to a store with an address.

'Home for the Hostilities' presented in Talkeetna

From the Denali Arts Commission comes an invitation to attend "a truly twisted Christmas comedy, 'Home for the Hostilities ... A Steaming Pile of Christmas Cheer!'"

The commission says "this fast-paced sketch comedy celebrates everything we love to hate about the holidays."

It will be presented at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar in downtown Talkeetna at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Admission is $10 for DAC members, $15 for the rest of us.

'Sikumi' filmmaker picked for Sundance workshop

Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, whose Inupiat language short feature "Sikumi" ("On the Ice") was among the winners at this month's Anchorage International Film Festival, is among 12 young moviemakers with projects selected for the Sundance Institute's annual January Screenwriters Lab. The five-day writers workshop pairs newcomers with established writers at the Sundance Resort in Utah. I'd spend the whole five days outside skiing, but they didn't pick me.

Full results of the Anchorage Film Festival are posted at adn.com/artsnob.

Magic Kids' holiday show features teen finalist

The Alaska Magic Kids Holiday Magic Extravaganza will take place at 2 and 6 p.m. from Thursday to Dec. 29 at the Snow Goose Theatre, 717 W. Third Ave. This year's show will feature Anchorage's Eric Giliam, a finalist in this year's Lance Burton International Teenage Stage Competition. $5 for kids, $8 for adults.

Native Arts Foundation awards enrichment grants

The Alaska Native Arts Foundation has announced the distribution of more than $17,000 through the Foundation's Cultural Arts Project Support Initiative, dedicated to "enriching Alaska Native artists and arts organizations." The grantees include:

• Artstream Cultural Resources; $5,000 to help pay for materials and supplies to make traditional regalia for 20 members of the North Tide dance group formed in 2007 in Haines.

• Alfred Gosuk; $2,500 to help the Yup'ik artist from Togiak buy materials and tools.

• Bryon Amos; $2,500 to purchase soapstone. Amos is best-known for his carvings in whalebone and ivory.

• Village of Eyak; $2,500 to cover costs of a mukluk workshop with Inupiat skin sewer Willy Topkok,

• Duke University Press; $2,250 for the North Carolina publisher to produce color plates for a large volume book titled "Alaska Native Reader: History, Politics and Art," edited by Maria Williams.

• Zoe Schneider; $2,479 to create items to be used for a beaded gown with polished quills, moose hide and beads; and polished and buffed dentalia shells, beads and hide.

Dec. 31 is the postmark deadline for the next round of grant awards. Applications are available online at alaskanativearts.org, or call toll free (in Alaska) 1-800-979-2623 or in Anchorage at 258-2623.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

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