Musicians Quinn Christopherson and Nick Carpenter of Medium Build will perform Friday in Anchorage at a benefit for Qargi Academy Tribal School, located in Wainwright.
Two of Alaska’s most prominent and popular indie music artists, Medium Build and Quinn Christopherson, will join Ilakus Iñupiaq Dance Group this weekend to play an Anchorage concert supporting a tribal school in Wainwright., the only tribal school on the North Slope, provides students with an education grounded in the Iñupiaq culture, language and ways of being.
To spread the word about the school and help the facility cover the high costs of operations in the Arctic, the artists will play an intimate sit-down show“If you’re a fan of singer-songwriter shows and Alaskan Native dancing, then this is a show for you,” said James Dommek Jr., concert organizer and marketing coordinator at Arctic Slope Community Foundation. “I know it’s different, but I feel that it’s going to be just really good.”The idea for a fundraiser concert came naturally to Dommek.
“The fact that that school is wanting to re-teach the things that colonization has erased, to me, it just is so beautiful. It’s healing,” Medium Build’s Nick Carpenter said. “I just feel special to be able to be a part of it. If playing songs can do any sort of help or awareness — like if I can help sell tickets so people can find out about the school — that’s tight.”