People often wonder what folks do in Sitka during the long, gray winter months. The answer is simple – they go to the theater, they participate in theater, they listen to music, they create music, they attend lectures, they give lectures, they take classes and teach classes. Sitka transforms once the tourist season is over. It becomes a place of art. 

What do the following have in common:  A slime line, a gaggle of tourists, fireweed, bears, northern lights, mosquitos, and snow? If you guessed Alaska and the Nutcracker, you are correct. Wait, what? The Nutcracker?!?! Yes, in 2023 the Sitka Nutcracker takes on the Last Frontier.  

Roger Schmidt was just five years old when Sitka Fine Arts Camp began in 1973. No one could have known that one day he’d be at the helm of the vessel on a decades-long voyage.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? An explorer. I loved reading books about explorers and then pretending and daydreaming their adventures.