Laura Bliss Spaan

Eyak Language Project Director, Contract Consultant

Anchorage, AK

Laura Bliss Spaan is an EMMY-nominated director, producer and writer who has spent the past 18 years documenting the Eyak culture as both a personal and professional passion.  She began working with Dr. Michael Krauss and Marie Smith Jones in 1992  which led to the creation of the first and only audio/visual records of this language.  Between 2002 and 2005, Laura was the Project and Production Director of  the EPC administered ANA grant project. With EPC's support, and with the full assistance of Dr. Michael Krauss, she assisted in the organizing, documenting and archiving all that is known about the Eyak and their language. She also produced created a series of interactive lessons for learning Eyak. Laura has directed and produced a number of award-winning documentaries that have been honored at film festivals across the country.  Her first film about the Eyaks, More Than Words... (60 minutes, 1995) is currently being re-authored for  DVD release in February 2011. Laura graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah with a BS Broadcast Communications with an emphasis in Journalism and was inducted Kappa Tau Alpha National Honor Society for Journalists.