The mission of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, is to build community in Alaska by providing opportunities in arts, culture and recreation in an inclusive, educational and inspirational environment.

Our Story

The Sitka Fine Arts Camp was founded in 1973 to provide isolated Alaskan communities with little or no youth arts programs exposure and training in the arts. Because of remoteness and low population density, Alaskan youth are at a severe disadvantage in access to high quality arts. For the majority of our students, SFAC continues to be the only opportunity they have in the State to work with and learn from professional artists. Building from its original mission, SFAC has become a nationally acclaimed program. We serve approximately 1,000 students annually from Alaska and throughout the world.

SFAC has received state and national recognition for its importance in providing access to high quality arts education to Alaskan youth including receiving the 2008 presidential Coming Up Taller Award and the 2015 Alaska Governor’s Award for Arts Organization of the Year.

In 2011, SFAC was gifted the historic Sheldon Jackson College Campus. This college campus had been closed for four years and was in a state of complete disrepair. SFAC has since overseen one of the most extraordinary grassroots volunteer stories in our country: the revitalization of this National Historic Landmark. Between 2011 and 2015 one thousand volunteers (one ninth of Sitka’s population) logged over 45,000 volunteer hours rebuilding the campus, demonstrating unprecedented community support and giving the Sitka Fine Arts Camp a permanent home. Strong volunteerism and donor support continue, demonstrating the value that Sitka Fine Arts Camp holds for our state.

Having a permanent home has allowed SFAC to grow to serve more Alaskan youth. Since 2011 the Camp has expanded from three camps to a summer-long program offering 16 different camps and workshops as well as a Teacher Training Institute for educators from around Alaska. In addition, we have expanded to provide year-round arts programs including a Young Performers Theater and performing arts series. The campus has become a valuable community resource and a statewide location for arts and education. 

The campus hosts retreats, weddings, and conferences. To make an inquiry about your rental needs Click Here.

The Team

Roger Schmidt
Executive Director

Roger Schmidt

​Roger Schmidt has been the Executive Director of Sitka Fine Arts Camp (Alaska Arts Southeast, Inc.) since 2000. During this time, the summer program has grown from a two week camp serving 40 adolescent students to a ten week program serving 1,000 students ages five to adult. In 2010, Roger negotiated the donation of the historic Sheldon Jackson School which had closed its doors in 2007. Subsequently, he has overseen the restoration of the campus by harnessing the support of thousands of volunteers and donors. Under Roger’s leadership, the Camp has grown to include a year long arts advocacy program that offers a performing arts series, a statewide teacher training institute, after school arts classes for all ages, and a vibrant young performer’s theater program. In addition, the Campus has become an important part of the economic future of Sitka as a home for many conferences and conventions.

Roger grew up in Sitka and attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp as a student from 1980-1984. The arts have been a central part of Roger’s life. He graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory with degrees in philosophy and trombone performance with additional music studies at the Aspen Music Festival, Pierre Monteux School and internationally in London and at the Bruckner Conservatory in Austria. As a musician he has worked in the San Francisco Bay area as well as toured throughout Alaska and other parts of the United States.

Roger is also an avid traveler and adventurer. His trips have included a 3-month solo kayak trip from Vancouver B.C. to Sitka, Alaska, a kayak crossing of the Bering Strait, a Patagonia Ice-Cap ski crossing, and a year-long sailing trip from Siberia to Uruguay. He is the 2004 recipient of the Governor’s Award for Arts Education and in 2007, under his direction, the Camp received the Coming Up Taller Award at the White House. In 2012, he was inducted into the Alaska Hall of Fame and received the Sitka Arts Advocate of the Year award. Roger is also a fellow of the National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program and a graduate of the Aspen Executive Seminar.
Kenley Jackson
Program Director

Kenley Jackson

Kenley Jackson has been working at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp since the Fall of 2008. She grew up in Colorado and West Virginia before earning a B.A. in Biology from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. When she was six, she surprised herself by drawing a mermaid that actually looked like the picture in her head. Since then she has dabbled in many art forms from glass bead making to printmaking to paper cutting. She loves color and texture and experimenting with new techniques, especially working on graphic design projects for SFAC. Since 2011, she has worked on the transformation of the Sheldon Jackson Campus and developed new programming to serve more students each year as well as increasing access to financial aid. In 2016, she started the Sitka Arts and Science Festival and enjoys the challenge and creativity of interdisciplinary programming. On the weekends you'll find her hiking on the Sitka trails with her husband, a former SFAC camper from 1996-2003, visiting the library, and experimenting with new recipes. 
  • If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be? My family cabin on Vancouver Island.
  • What is the most unusual place you have visited? I tracked black rhinos in Namibia when I was in college.
  • What is your favorite book or movie? My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
  • What is your favorite activity outside of work? I love cooking! It's a beautiful, edible art form.
  • Any other interesting tidbit about yourself? I grew up swimming competitively. Besides loving the water and swimming fast, I learned a lot about drive and team work which influences my work at SFAC on a regular basis.
Rhiannon Guevin
Operations Director

Rhiannon Guevin

Rhiannon Guevin is the Operations Director for the nationally recognized Sitka Fine Arts Camp (SFAC). Rhiannon attended SFAC as a camper in 2004 and 2007 and went on to be a counselor and intern during the summer. She joined the SFAC team full-time in 2013. In addition to her administrative duties with the camp, which include financial management, program logistics, and grant writing, Rhiannon teaches voice at SFAC's High School Camp and provides vocal coaching for SFAC's Musical Theater Camp. Rhiannon helped to start SFAC's Young Performers Theater program in 2013 and still serves as the program's Music Director during the year. She also teaches private voice lessons to a small studio. Rhiannon has served as an adjudicator for the classical voice sections at Alaska's State Solo and Ensemble Music Festival. 

Rhiannon graduated summa cum laude from University of Puget Sound’s School of Music, where she received a BM in Vocal Performance with Honors in Music. During her time at Puget Sound she performed in opera scenes and full-scale productions, including the roles of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Miss Titmouse in Too Many Sopranos!, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She was the fall 2011 winner of the University of Puget Sound’s  Concerto/Aria Competition. Other roles include the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the China Yunnan Opera Festival, Zerlina in Juneau Lyric Opera’s production of Don Giovanni, Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years,  Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, Woman 1 in Songs for a New World, and Judy Bernly in 9 to 5. Rhiannon has studied voice with Dr. Dawn Padula and Joseph Evans.
Drew Sherman
Facility and Event Director

Drew Sherman

Drew moved to Sitka and joined the SFAC team in 2017. Prior to that, he was driving a tour bus across the country with his band playing shows at clubs, festivals, and anywhere else people would listen. Before that, he was doing the same thing here and abroad with a US Army band.  

Coming from a diverse background of being a tour musician/manager, soldier, and general entrepreneur, Drew brings some alternative viewpoints to his work on business, events, rentals, productions, IT, or anything else SFAC needs. He’s always striving to find a creative solution to any problem; that benefits everyone. 

When he isn’t sitting at a computer pushing buttons in (hopefully) the correct order, you can see him on stage pushing buttons on a tuba or playing bass! 
​Zeke Blackwell
Theater
​Director

Zeke Blackwell

Zeke Blackwell has been involved in over 80 productions as a director, actor, writer, designer, and technician, and has had the joy of making theater in Sitka, Fort Worth, New Haven, New York, and Costa Rica, where he directed the world premiere of the Spanish-language version of Once on this Island! With over a decade of improv comedy experience, he’s performed/taught improv around the country, and most recently at the Boston Comedy Arts Festival. His original play, Still Life, was produced in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. He served two years on the board of directors for Far Corners Community Musical Theatre, a non-profit dedicated to providing arts opportunities for underserved youth in isolated regions of the world. Once, he beat-boxed for Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is his fourth season year-round at SFAC as the Young Performers Theater Director.
  • If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be?
The bottom of the ocean. There's so much we don't know.
  • What is the most unusual place you have visited?
The Spiral Jetty at the Great Salt Lake. It's a massive piece of land art on the north side of the Great Lakes. Very isolated, very beautiful, very otherworldly. 
  • What is your favorite book or movie?
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
  • What is your favorite activity outside of work?
Aerial arts - silks and trapeze
  • Any other interesting tidbit about yourself? 
When I was a child I wanted to be a train conductor, a magician, or a mathematician.
Emma Neeper
Events and Hospitality Manager

Emma Neeper

​Emma joined the SFAC team as the Events and Hospitality Manager in 2022. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she holds a B.A. in Creative Writing, Literature, and History from Ohio Wesleyan University.

While her professional background is in event management and administration, Emma enjoys putting her analytical mind to work through volunteer tasks and community projects. Her pet project is The Blanket Initiative – a summer volunteer program intended to provide handmade blankets to those in need of a little warmth and comfort.
Paige Craig
Hames Center Manager

Paige Craig

Paige was born and raised in Montana but has spent a lot of time in Sitka visiting family over the years. Paige grew up as a competitive athlete and played basketball at the college level. Her career as an athlete instilled in her a passion for health and fitness. She then wanted to pursue an occupation where she could promote the importance of exercise. She received a bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance from the University of Providence in Great Falls, Montana, and a master's degree in the same field from the University of Montana. Paige has worked with Special Olympics, Sitka Grind Fitness, and as a personal trainer/group fitness instructor at the University of Montana. Paige has worked with a variety of populations: athletes, non-athletes, special needs, youth, teens, and adults. She recognizes the value in maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle to improve quality of life and understands the social, mental, emotional, and physical benefits of exercise. She also recognizes that every individual has different exercise goals. Paige is excited to be back in Sitka joining the team at the Hames Center and serving the community!
Denush Vidanapathirana
Technical Theater Manager

​​Denush Vidanapathirana

​Denush Vidanapathirana is excited to join the Sitka Fine Arts camp as the Technical Theater Manager. 
Originally from Sri Lanka, working with local theatre companies first interested him in theatre. He then moved to Texas in 2017, to study at Midwestern State University, where he earned his bachelor's in theatre performance this summer. 
During Denush’s time at college, he was involved in all aspects of theatre production, from acting to design to technical operation, and that variety gave him a deep appreciation for the values that theatre stands for. Additionally, having no formal theatrical education prior to then allowed him to approach everything with a fresh perspective. He is excited to bring those values and that perspective to Stika and learn as much as possible while giving everything he has artistically to the camp and community. 
His identity as an artist continues to be shaped by the places he goes to and the people he meets and Denush is beyond excited for the impact that serving the Stika community will leave on him.
Harold Abellera
CUstodial Manager

Harold Abellera

Harold bought, fixed up, and sold used cars in the Philippines before moving to Sitka in 2017. He works as Sitka Fine Arts Camp's Custodial Manager and also tackles basic maintenance work on campus. 
Ernesto Abellera
CUstodial staff

Ernesto Abellera

Ernesto was a caregiver and packing service personnel in California before moving to Sitka in 2010. He works with Sitka Fine Arts Camp as a custodian. He loves eating and playing golf. ​
Gail Ferris
Grounds

Gail Ferris

Mother of ravens, keeper of gardens.

The Board

The Sitka Fine Arts Camp Board of Directors is a diverse group of individuals who share a love of the arts, empowering young people, and building community. The board meets four times a year as a whole in addition to committee work. It serves a critical role in providing leadership and vision to ensure a long future for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and it's many programs. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact Executive Director Roger Schmidt at 907-747-3085.
Marya Pillifant
PRESIDENT

Marya Pillifant

​Marya Pillifant is the owner of Milly Builders, an Anchorage based construction project management company.  She has a BA in International Studies form the University of Wyoming and a Certificate of Political Studies from the University of Aix Marseille III, Aix-en-Provence, France. Marya apprenticed with the South Central Alaska Carpenter’s Union and received her journeyman carpenter’s license in 1997.  Marya’s family has been in Alaska for 3 generations working in construction and aviation in Kodiak, Valdez and Anchorage. She was named Constructive Woman of the Year in 2011 by the National Association of Women in Construction. She loves coming to Sitka and is especially keen on the historic old buildings of the Sheldon Jackson Campus. Marya is a founder of the SFAC Anchorage based fundraiser, Raise The Roof! which has raised more than $150,000 for building restoration on campus. She is very excited to have built a "bridge of support" from Anchorage to Sitka. Marya is a founder of Winterberry Charter School, Alaska’s first public Waldorf school. She is also an artist and enjoys painting with oil and watercolor. Marya has a studio in Anchorage in Spenard’s eclectic art center, the Church of Love.
Marya is married to Tom Pillifant and they have three children. She spends her time in Anchorage, at the family cabin on Hesketh Island and Sitka. 
Mollie Kabler
Vice President

Mollie Kabler

Mollie Kabler is a non-profit media executive at CoastAlaska and Alaska Public Broadcasting Inc. who loves living in Sitka and working with Alaskans that care about arts, education, and public media. Mollie earned her bachelor’s degree at Carleton College as a biology major and a Master’s in Public Administration from University of Alaska SE.  Mollie has been active in many facets of the Sitka community including 12 years as an elected school board member. She was appointed by Governor Knowles to the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission and served as co-chair. Her leadership on the Sitka Performing Arts Center committee helped to create community support to build our beautiful facility. Her daughters spent many happy hours every summer at Sitka Fine Arts Camp and have helped in the community rebuild of the SJ Campus. We are a commercial fishing family and love spending time on the waters around Sitka. Mollie loves camping, hiking and gardening. Her seasonal radio shows about how to garden in southeast Alaska has been on the air every spring for over 25 years.
Sue Litman
Treasurer

Sue Litman

Susan Litman is the co-owner of Precision Boatworks, a boat repair and boat building business in Sitka.  She lives on an island and commutes to town by skiff. She is on the board of Friends of the Performing Arts and is treasurer of the Sitka Jazz Festival.
Her son attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and is a video editor in New York City.
She enjoys long distance walking and gardening.
Martha Pearson
Secretary

Martha Pearson

Martha Pearson is the Director of Health Promotion at SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC).  Her position is dedicated to establishing and enhancing health promotion strategies in the entire region of Southeast Alaska.  SEARHC’s model is to strengthen clinical systems to promote access to Quality Clinical Care. Martha also works with geographically diverse communities in southeast Alaska to support local organizations making policy level changes in Active Living, Tobacco Prevention and Healthy Eating.

In addition to working in health promotion, Martha serves on the Board of Alaska Arts Southeast, is an avid local performer and is mom to a talented dancer/singer/actor/almost middle schooler daughter whom she and husband Jeff are lucky to raise in Sitka.

Martha earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, a Master of Arts in English Literature from George Mason University, and a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Alaska.
 
Her other work experience includes grant management, women’s health, non-profit leadership, health education, lifestyle coaching and corporate business skills training. Martha has worked in Alaska since 1996 and for SEARHC since 2002.  Prior to her time in Alaska, Martha worked in the Washington, DC metro area.