Talking Stick Festival (TSF) Full Circle: First Nations Performance continues its 20th Anniversary welcoming audiences to join in online to celebrate and keep communities connected throughout the 4 seasons of this year. The anniversary celebrations have seen The Winter Lodge: Sitting with our Ancestors in February, felt the renewal of Spring Awakening in April and now audiences are invited to Summer Sojourn.
Now online until July 1 (and beyond) the bright light of Summer Sojourn is a bountiful celebration of Indigenous performance, art and culture online. The full programme of events will continue to roll out over the month of concerts, dance performances, exhibitions, readings, theatrical presentations, powerful storytelling, discussions, film and eclectic co-presentations – as well as some unique and unexpected experiences.
Summer Sojourn includes programming that originates with Full Circle: First Nations Performance as well as with inclusive festival partnerships, co-presentations and collaborations with a wide range of preeminent Indigenous organizations, festivals and events across the country.
Squamish Nation Elder, S7aplek Bob Bake and Margo Kane started the month with a welcoming Canoe Gatherings (available for replay online).
Tomorrow, June 15 at 7pm, three Indigenous dance artists – Christine Friday, Maura García and Rebecca Sadowski – perform as part of the free Dancing With Our Ancestors series.
Tara Williamson’s new album, Enough, hits the streets June 18 with Talking Stick! hosting an online launch party that evening with everyone invited to the special concert. Tara performs with her band, The Good Liars at 7pm in a free show produced by acclaimed musician and producer, Aidan Knight.
Also on June 18 at 11am: Talking Truths: Following in Her Footsteps involves a discussion among four acclaimed Indigenous women artists, Margo Kane, Renae Morriseau, Rosemary Georgeson and Sharon Jinkerson-Brass, each having forged a path for other Indigenous women artists in the performing arts.
Other features of the Summr Sojourn programme include:
Embodying Power and Place, the powerful audio-visual performance series based on the 2019 final report from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commission is available on demand until July 1st.
The remarkable Indigenous Cities storytelling series joins the festival calendar all month-long – a co-presentation with the NAC Indigenous Theatre and Savage Society.
See new theatrical readings at Pimootayowin: A Festival of New Work, online in a partnership with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre from June 6-12.
TSF also partners with Western Gold Theatre for two presentations in June. In a June 16 podcast, acclaimed author Lee Maracle and her daughters, Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter read from their collaboratively written book of poetry, Hope Matters. On June 25 comes Hitchhikers at Home! – stories, music and laughter from Jamie Thomson (Haida) and Dennis Joseph (Squamish).
Watch performances from the Yukon’s Adäka Cultural Festival (select programming June 25-28); the Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards from Ottawa (June 12) – and other Summer Solstice Festival multi-disciplinary events throughout the month. Montreal’s Les Productions Ondinnok, the first French-speaking Indigenous theatre company in Canada, celebrates its 35th Anniversary Mawassine Gala on June 21 at 7pm.
From June 21-July 1, The Who We Are Film Series celebrates Indigenous voices in cinema in a co-presentation with the Museum of Vancouver and VIFF.
The Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival presents fabulous performing experiences, encompassing everything from stories around a campfire, dances in the woods, songs under the night sky, to standup comedy in a parking lot from the Trent U. Campus in Ontario (June 21-27).
You can also see select concerts from the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, on June 25, 28 and beyond.
For complete details and to book access to all the entertaining, informative, and compelling performances and series playing out online as part of Talking Stick Festival – Summer Sojourn visit talkingstickfest.ca