Photos: 2024 Elders & Youth Conference opens in Anchorage with dancing, drumming and more

The theme of this year’s conference is “Our Land Our Food - We Are Living Our Indigenous Ways of Life.”

By Bill Roth
Updated: October 16, 2024 Published: October 14, 2024

Shyann Bartley, 16, performed with the Yup'ik dance group Ingrimiut Yuragtait during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference, which is hosted by First Alaskans Institute. The conference kicked off on Sunday and continues through Wednesday at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

The 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference, hosted by First Alaskans Institute, kicked off on Sunday and continues through Wednesday at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Our Land Our Food - We Are Living Our Indigenous Ways of Life.” The Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention is Oct. 17-19. Monday is Indigenous Peoples Day.

Dene" Eslaanh, an intertribal Interior drum and dance group, performed as the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference hosted by First Alaskans Institute kicked off on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Racquel Slim and Sophie Swope of Bethel participate in an invitational dance during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference's kickoff Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Sakkaaluk Panningona performed with the Yup'ik dance group Ingrimiut Yuragtait during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Aloysius Unok, 72, center, drums with the Yup'ik dance group Ingrimiut Yuragtait during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Siblings Chael, 5, Leverett, 1, and Royal, 4, sat with Ida Nelson of Igiugig as the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference, hosted by First Alaskans Institute, kicked off on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Four-year-old Estelle Evans, center, danced with the Aanchich'x Kwaan dancers -- comprising Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures -- during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Snow on the Chugach Mountains was visible during the 41st annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Gabe Sjoberg with the Tlingit & Haida Traditions Foods Security program distributes salmon during a cutting and pickling workshop during the First Alaskans Institute's Elders & Youth Conference at the Dena'ina Center on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN)

A youth cuts the head off while filleting a salmon during a cutting and pickling workshop presented by Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Traditional Foods Security, during the Elders & Youth Conference at the Dena'ina Center on Monday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Friends Kathleen Evon and Cataleya Johnson, both 12, fillet salmon during a fish cutting and pickling workshop during the First Alaskans Institute's Elders & Youth Conference at the Dena'ina Center on Monday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

From left, Myra Davis, 15, Jake Neketa, 15, and Kahlen Savo, 15, from Dillingham, add ingredients to jars of salmon they cut and are in the process of pickling during a workshop at the Elders & Youth Conference hosted by First Alaskans Institute at the Dena'ina Center on Monday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Myra Davis, 15, holds jars of salmon that she pickled during a workshop at the Elders & Youth Conference in the Dena'ina Center on Monday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Lena Layland, 18, etches a piece of baleen during a workshop at the Elders & Youth Conference in the Dena'ina Center on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Lena Layland, 18, etches a piece of baleen during a workshop at the Elders & Youth Conference in the Dena'ina Center on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Claude Young, center, with the Tlingit & Haida Traditional Food Security program helped youth skin a Sitka Black-tailed Deer during a workshop at the Elders & Youth Conference in the Dena'ina Center on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Bill Roth

Bill Roth is a staff photojournalist at the Anchorage Daily News.