Alaska Art Alliance helps get people off the street and making art [Video]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A unique program is helping Alaska Native men become skillful carvers and — in some cases — earn enough income to get them off the streets.

The Alaska Art Alliance is located on Fourth Avenue, wedged between a bar and a small grocery store. Seven days a week, 365 days a year, the buzzing of drills can be heard from a studio in the back. It’s filled with Alaska Native men carving ivory.

Leon Kinneeveauk founded the Art Alliance in 2018 after spending more than a dozen years in prison. Originally from Point Hope, Kinneeveauk said he lost his way after moving to Anchorage and didn’t really start connecting with his culture until he got to prison.

“When I was incarcerated, I started getting involved in Native culture. Sobriety was a big thing for me,” he said.

Kinneeveauk was released in 2015, and by 2018 had …