About

OUR MISSION /  WHO WE ARE / ABOUT THE DIRECTOR / OUR STAFF

OUR MISSION

To Cultivate Global Connections through the Arts

Who We Are

Alaska World Arts is a meeting place for worldwide artists and audiences of all ages to share culture and ideas with Alaskans and the rest of the world through a variety of art forms reminding all of us of our capacity for love and generosity.

We offer live and virtual performances, workshops, classes, films, and discussions by artists from Alaska and around the world.
Thank you for being a part of our 2021 Alaska World Arts Festival.

About the Producer

Long-time Alaska resident Sally Oberstein has worked as a performer in dance, music, and theater. She studied and taught art, worked as a professional musician and recording artist, and is a published novelist. She has organized special events across America including the Alaska’s Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival and Salmonfest.
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In 1997, Sally founded Generous Adventures, a fundraising organization through which she has organized thousands of travel experiences and personally led 30+ cultural, ​educational, and environmental tours on all seven continents. Sally has traveled to over 100 countries and raised funds for 100+ worldwide nonprofit ​organizations.

​​Today, Sally writes fiction and stage plays, directs community theater, leads worldwide tours, and produces Alaska World Arts events. She has a quirky, however effective management style and is intensely passionate about illuminating affinity in world cultures.

The Alaska World Arts Festival has been an exciting addition to the Homer tourism season. Homer has been recognized nationally as Alaska's best Art Community and this Festival produced by Sally Oberstein, has quickly become one of the community's favorite events.

Sally has extensive connections to artists from around the world and she has very effectively combined her love for the Arts and love for Alaska, to create an event that promotes an important business segment for Homer.

​The Homer Chamber of Commerce fully supports Sally's efforts with the World Arts Festival and looks forward to being a sponsor of it for years to come.

Brad Anderson, Executive Director
Homer Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center

The fickle and ever-changing relationships between artist and audience has always shaped my views of what is expansive and accessible to what is self-absorbed and elitist. Rap music, for example, once occupied a very small segment of the world music scene until someone came along and used it as the medium to teach American history.
 
A festival organizer must accomplish through diversity that which cannot be gauged by yesterday’s popularity. Sally Oberstein’s World Arts Festival has kept the pilot light lit as an audience-shattering global epidemic closed the income-producing outlets and venues. Her quest to connect the words, riffs, strokes, and language of the artists into a shared experience is unchecked. History records the winners of wars, but history celebrates the advancement of its artistic culture. Revival following a pandemic is history to be part of.

Ken Castner, JaRG
Mayor of Homer, Alaska

Stay in Touch

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Our Staff

Producer
​Sally Oberstein

​Zoom Technician
Cathy Stingley
​Andrew Lentini ​

Marketing 
David Stearns

​Sound Engineer and Security
Cathy Stingley

​International Exhibit Curator 
Sharlene Cline

​​​Art Galleries Liaison
Karin Marks

Finance Manager, Ticketing, Special Events
Linda Gorman
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Assistant to the Producer
Adeline Gloor
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Literature Coordinator
Nancy Lord
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Film Consultant
Koala Vandruff

​Web and Print Editor
Betsie Brennand 

External Projects
Jake Bevis
​Simon Marijsse
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Festival ​Volunteers
Delane Blackstock
Marcia Boone
Ken Castner
Jesse Cleary
Carol Dee
Melanie Dufour
Derrick Eason
Desislava Peneva Eason
Mary Katzke
Maggie Larue
Bobby Copeland McKinney
Michael McKinney 
Michael Murray
Jane Rohr
Sherry Stead
Cathy Stingley


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Collaborating Venues
Homer Chamber of Commerce, Land's End Resort, KBBI Public Radio, Alice's Champagne Palace, the Pratt
Museum, the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, Station Twelve, Homer Theater, and the Dean Gallery Farm

Board of Directors

Linda Gorman
​Jeffrey Dean

Adeline Gloor
​​Roger Lusby

Desislava Peneva Eason
Sally Oberstein

Your Stay