EVENTS : August 14–16 | August 21–23
Woodland Cultural Centre
Woodland Cultural Centre
184 Mohawk St., Brantford, ON
519-759-2650
www.woodland-centre.on.ca
A cultural educational organization which fosters the historical and contemporary cultures of First Nations.
Saturday, August 15
Faithfully Yours: E. Pauline Johnson Exhibition Opening, 3 pm
The launch of the first-ever exhibition dedicated to the life and times of E. Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake, exploring Johnson in the context of her foundation in a matrilineal society to adventurous bohemian to larger-than-life poet laureate.
Woodland Cultural Centre Museum Gallery
Sunday, August 16
Play-Paddle Song, 2:30 and 7pm
Starring Cheri Maracle as E. Pauline Johnson
Orientation Centre
Monday, August 17
Art Workshop, 11am
With Serene Porter
Workshop Tent
Singing Workshop, 1pm
With Lorrie Gallant
Workshop Tent
Dance Workshop, 2pm
With Tesha Emarthle
Workshop Tent
Tuesday, August 18
Dance Workshop, 11am
With Tesha Emarthle
Workshop Tent
Storytelling, 1pm
With Lorrie Gallant
Workshop Tent
Art Workshop, 2pm
With Serene Porter
Workshop Tent
Is the Crown at War with Us?, 7pm
In the summer of 2000, the country watched with disbelief as federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi’gmaq fishermen of Esgenoopetitj, or Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Director Alanis Obomsawin casts her cinematic and intellectual nets into history, providing a context for the event at Miramichi Bay.
Orientation Room
Dish with One Spoon, 8pm
A documentary that provides an overview of the principles of the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace, early treaty arrangements verifying Six Nations long-standing relationships to lands in the southern Ontario region and subsequent nation to nation agreements.
Orientation Room
Wednesday, August 19
Art Workshop, 11am
With Serene Porter
Workshop Tent
Drama Workshop, 1pm
With Lorrie Gallant
Workshop Tent
Dance Workshop, 2pm
With Tesha Emarthle
Workshop Tent
Unrepentant, 7pm
A film about native residential schools by Kevin Annett, Louie Lawless and Lori O’Rorke.
Orientation Room
Eu.tha.na.sia, 7pm
Orientation Room
Thursday, August 20
Dance Workshop, 11am
With Tesha Emarthle
Workshop Tent
Puppet Performance, 1pm
With Sara Kewayosh
Workshop Tent
Art Workshop, 2pm
With Serene Porter
Workshop Tent
Lacrosse: The Creator's Game (The Canadian Collection), 7pm
A documentary on lacrosse, the oldest organized sport in North American, played by Aboriginal peoples, exploring the history of lacrosse and its spiritual significance to Aboriginals.
Orientation Room
Friday, August 21
Photography Workshop, 11am
With Serene Porter
Workshop Tent
Wampum Workshop, 1pm
Learn about the history and importance of the wampum to the Haudenosaunee with Ken Maracle. Family can also learn the technique of making wampum belts.
Workshop Tent
Puppet Performance, 12pm
With Sara Kewayosh
Workshop Tent
World’s Largest Living Wampum Belt (aerial photograph), 2pm
Come help us make the world’s largest wampum belt with the help of Daniel Dancer from Oregon. Dancer is a conceptual artist who became fascinated with sky art while traveling to South America in the '80s.
Woodland Cultural Centre Grounds
Halau I Ka Wekiu, 7–8pm
Perseverance, dedication, commitment and respect are all values that can be learned in a halau. Featuring Karl Veto Baker, one of the six original members of the Halau Na Kamalie under Robert Cazimero.
Main Stage
Corn Soup Cook Off, 5pm
We’re proud to bring you once again the famous “Corn Soup Cook Off!” Gather your favourite family recipe and bring it to Woodlands by 4:30pm. Judging will be by the public and will take place at 5pm. Register your world famous corn soup by calling Diane at 519-759-2650 ext 226 by Thursday, Aug. 20.
Orientation Centre
Saturday, August 22
Singing Workshop, 11am
With Lorrie Gallant
Workshop Tent
E. Pauline Johnson Challenge Winner’s Performance, 12pm
Musicians will set Johnson’s poetry to music. The Youth Challenge (18 and under) will be a hip hop challenge for single, duo or group. The Adult Challenge (19+) will be for any genre (pop, rock, alternative, country, etc.) for single, duo or group.
Main Stage
Sky Dancers, 2–3pm
The Sky Dancers are an international Iroquois dance troupe founded by the late Jim Sky of the Onondage nation from Six Nations of the Grand River. They perform dances of the Haudenosaunee which derive from unchanged Native American traditions.
Main Stage
Halau I Ka Wekiu Workshop with The Sky Dancers, 3pm
A workshop that includes the history of the hula and its place in Indigenous culture. The Sky Dancers will join to explain some of the Ogwehonweh dance and similarities between the two cultures.
Workshop Tent
Ijo Vudu Dance Company, 4–5pm
Led by Nigerian dance educator, performer and choreographer Sani-Abu Mohammed Allen, Toronto’s Ijo Vudu Dance International is a performing arts company of professional dancers and drummers from diverse backgrounds, sharing in the spirit and joy of traditional African music and dance.
Main Stage
Halau I Ka Wekiu, 5pm
Perseverance, dedication, commitment and respect are all values that can be learned in a halau. Featuring Karl Veto Baker, one of the six original members of the Halau Na Kamalie under Robert Cazimero.
Main Stage
Faron Johns Band, 6–7pm
The Faron Johns Band is headed by veteran blues singer, Faron Johns. Faron, originally from Six Nations and of the turtle clan of the Mohawk nation, now makes his home in Gowanda, New York.
Main Stage
Brantford Partner Events
August 14-23
Brant Museum and Archives
57 Charlotte St., Brantford, ON
519-752-2483
brantmuseum.ca
An exhibition that looks at the historical archaelogical pottery of the Ogwehawe People and the transofmration the pottery has taken today.
August 23 at 2pm
Chiefswood National Historic Site
Hwy 54, Blue Number 1037, 519-752-5005, chiefswood.com
Join us at the birthplace and childhood home of Emily Pauline Johnson for a poetry reading.
August 23, 1–5pm
Glenhyrst Art Galley
20 Ava Road, 519-756-5932, glenhyrst.ca
The gallery will highlight Australia’s Doonooch dance company at 2pm. The afternoon continues from 1−5pm with family art activities, music, and workshops. Exhibiting artist David Hind's show Reclaiming presents a community mural created by students from Brantford and Ohsweken schools, entitled The Ouse River. The Ouse (Bear) River is the Indigenous name for the Grand River which flows behind Glenhyrst Gardens, a 16 acre property that is home to Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant.
August 17–21
Myrtleville House
34 Myrtleville Dr., 519-752-3216
This arts based camp will look at the various art techniques used by today's Indegnous people. To be presented in conjunction with the regular camp programming at Myrtleville House.
Toronto City-Wide Events
Harbourfront Centre is proud to partner with the following Toronto organizations as they help us celebrate the incredible artistic contributions of Indigenous peoples.
Until August 23
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas St. West, Toronto, 416-979-6648, ago.net
This summer, the AGO offers a range of programmes that put Indigenous art and culture front and centre. Included among these offerings is the exhibition Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World (on view until Aug. 23), a panel discussion Are We Past the Age of an Aboriginal Art Show? and the Urban Sasquatch Protection Network (USPN), a collaboration between the One Nation Unity group at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and the AGO’s Youth Council.
FREE on Wednesday 6–9pm and free to highschool students Tuesday to Friday 3:30–5:30p.m.
August 20, 5:30pm
Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor St. West, Toronto, 416-979-7799, batashoemuseum.ca
Toronto-based radio host, Native music journalist and author Brian Wright-McLeod offers an interactive evening of Native music. Special guest appearances by Native dancers, singers and elders. Visitors can also see Beauty, Identity, Pride: Native North American Footwear, an exhibition featuring skilfully crafted shoes, boots and moccasins created by North America's Indigenous peoples.
FREE Thursdays 5–8pm
August 14-23
Bravo!FACT
(Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent)
299 Queen St. W, Toronto, 416-384-2738, bravofact.com
CTV's Bravo!FACT is the largest funder of shorts in Canada with over 1,400 arts shorts produced over the last 14 years. For more information, please visit bravofact.com. Bravo!FACT shorts featuring Indigenous artists are presented as part of the festival film series.
FREE
August 1 – September. 5
Artist Works
Feheley Fine Arts
14 Hazelton Ave., Toronto, 416-323-1373, feheleyfinearts.com
Featuring a group of dynamic sculptures and graphics from Cape Dorset. The drawings and sculptures are juxtaposed with photographs of the artists at work. Includes pieces by Kenojuak Ashevak, Shuvinar Ashoona, Itee Pootoogook and Tim Pitsiulak and others.
FREE
August 15–23
Fort York National Site
100 Garrison Road, Toronto, 416-392-6907, toronto.ca/fortyork
View contemporary Aboriginal art installation pieces displayed on the site of the birthplace of modern Toronto, along with buildings and displays on 19th century life. On exhibit will be a 20 panel 80-foot mural, Niinwin Dabaadjmowin (We Are Talking), created in 2005 under the leadership of First Nations artists Philip Cote and Rebecca Baird along with young people from the Tumivut Youth Shelter.
August 14−23
Gardiner Museum (with National Taiwan Craft Research Institute)
111 Queen’s Park, Toronto, 416-586-8080, gardinermuseum.on.ca
The Gardiner Museum hosts a display of Taiwanese crafts from among the 13 Indigenous tribes of Taiwan, curated by the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute and including fish traps, embroidery, ceramics, wood carving, and knives.
FREE for Taiwanese exhibit only.
Greater Toronto Airport Authority
Toronto Pearson International Airport
3111 Convair Dr., Toronto, 416-776-3603 gtaa.com
Frank Shebageget (Anishnabe) creates a new installation for the airport. He continues his exploration of the beaver float plane and its relationship to his community, as well as the tension between hand-made and mass-produced objects.
August 15, 6:30-9:30pm
Inuit Printmaking: 50 Years of Stories and Daily Life in the Arctic
Japanese Paper Place
77 Brock Avenue, Toronto, 416-538-9669, japanesepaperplace.com
Through images and the art itself, Lesley Boyd-Ryan from Dorset Fine Arts and Sheila Butler, who has spent many years in Baker Lake, take you on a historical journey of printmaking in the Arctic, from the first stone cuts printed on Japanese paper at Cape Dorset 50 years ago to the latest proofs just produced.
FREE
August 10–23
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre
www.kahawidance.org/training
We are proud to invite dancers to the ONLY Aboriginal dance training intensive in Canada. Programme features guest instructors Michael Casupang and Karl Baker of Hälau I Ka Wëkiu (Hawaii). Faculty includes Santee Smith, Michael Greyeyes, Rosa and Crystal John, Louis Laberge-Côté and Michel Faigaux. See website for full info.
August 14–16 and 21–23
Métis Artist Collective
Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queen Quay West, metisartistscollective.com
The Métis Artists' Collective (MAC) is pleased to present artist/storyteller Virginia Barter. Her story board art installation Four Directions tells the stories of three early Métis families through pictures, historical letters and original maps. MAC also hosts a children's activity based on Métis culture on August 22.
August 14 and 16, August 22 and 23
Museum of Inuit Arts
207 Queens Quay West, Toronto, 416-640-1571, miamuseum.ca
Public tours, including special curatorial tours by Museum of Inuit Art curator Ingo Hessel, are offered. Weekend tours tell the story of Inuit art, including the special exhibition tales of the fish-tailed Inuit Sea Goddess, one of the most powerful creatures in myth and legend. A compelling subject for Inuit artists of all media.
August 14–23
Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD)
100 McCaul St., Toronto, 416-977-6000, ocad.ca/progallery
Michael Parekowhai, a premier New Zealand artist of mixed Maori-European descent, uses rabbits to explore colonialism’s legacy - painful yet now unavoidable. The OCAD Professional Gallery and The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery co-present his audacious sculpture, Jim McMurtry (2004).
FREE
August 18
Studio Theatre
York Quay Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, 416-973-4949
Join us for an evening of films by Samoan-New Zealand director Sima Urale. O Tamaiti (1996, 35mm, 15 min.) offers insight into Samoan family life through the eyes of 11 year-old Tino. The playful documentary Velvet Dreams (1997, video, 47 min.) explores the kitschy genre of “exotic” velvet paintings of South Sea maidens. Still Life (2001, 35 mm, 11 min.) counters the invisibility of the elderly with its moving story of aging, lasting love and death. $4 Power Plant members, $6 non-members.
August 22 and 23
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park, Toronto, 416-586-8000, rom.on.ca
During the weekend of August 22 and 23 at 1 and 3pm in the Main Rotunda, the ROM presents Alberta First Nations Kehewin Cree dance and storytelling as follows: Trickster Trilogy (Rosa, Melvin and Buffy John from the Kehewin Dance Theatre). Storytelling and dance come together in a dynamic performance of Trickster stories and Native dancing. A colourful array of feathers and beadwork are displayed with traditional stories and dancing. The show includes the riveting Hoop Dance and traditional Round dance songs.
Toronto Public Library
Various locations, torontopubliclibrary.ca
Join Toronto Public Library in celebrating Indigenous cultures through storytelling, films and collections at select branches. For information about programme times and locations, visit the website.
FREE
Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts (ANDPVA)
