Full Circle First Nations Performance is very excited to present the 16th Annual Talking Stick Festival from February 16-26, 2017. Western Canada’s premier Indigenous Performing Arts Festival features 11 days of entertainment including Film, Theatre, Dance, Celebration of Powwow Culture and Aboriginal Artisan Fair, Métis Fair, Talking Circles, Music Concert Series, Industry Series and much more! Proudly located on the traditional unceded territories of the Coast Salish People.
The Talking Stick Festival is an open invitation to explore Aboriginal culture through the Arts and is proud to showcase extraordinary Indigenous performance and art, Featuring some of the best emerging and established Indigenous artists Canada has to offer, it provides a stage for artists from a variety of artistic expressions. It celebrates the traditional performance of many communities, as well as the contemporary and interdisciplinary work of Indigenous creators.
TALKING STICK FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
Reel Reservations:Cinematic Indigenous Sovereignty Series Curated by Colin Van Loon, is three nights of short and feature films showcasing the creative work of Indigenous artists. With Angry Inuk and Colonization Road, it has some of the most exciting films screening in Western Canada, and an amazing line up of shorts from veteran and emerging Indigenous filmmakers.
Moonlodge an Urban Ink production presented in partnership with the Talking Stick Festival written by Full Circle’s Founder and Artistic Managing Director, Margo Kane, is a considered a classic in Canadian Aboriginal theatre. It is about a young Aboriginal woman named Agnes who was removed from her home by Child Welfare government services. She grows up in a series of foster homes, away from the warmth and support of her family and her cultural community. In the 1960s she joins many others hitchhiking across America, and in that journey she discovers the authentic voice inside her that had been silenced, but never lost. Margo is passing her work into the hands of two of Canada’s brightest upcoming theatre artists: Directed by Corey Payette, for the first time, Moonlodge will be performed by a new actor, Paula-Jean Prudat.
Greed/REsolve is a a collaborative evening of two dance works, created by Byron Chief-Moon and Circadia-Indigena’s Artistic Director, JP Longboat. Greed is about today’s exploitative stock market and the effects of exploitation and corporate self-indulgence. Resolve addresses de-colonization of both self and homeland through an awakening of the individual confronting an authoritarian system, and implores all peoples to take control of their own destiny by challenging economic slavery and psychological bondage.
Celebration of Powwow Culture and Aboriginal Artisan Fair is one of our most popular events, gathering hundreds of people of all ages every year at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre. Enjoy a brilliant display of traditional and contemporary dance exhibitions. The Celebration hosts the Aboriginal Artisan Fair and includes a variety of vendor exhibits and the sale of arts, crafts, music and food.
Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another – Visual Arts Exhibition. Featuring a collection of artworks from 11 multidisciplinary artists of Indigenous ancestry, the exhibition Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another creates a generative spaces for contemplation and conversation using the variety of expression found in Indigenous art today
The Talking Stick Music & Dance Series curated by Suzette Amaya, features Vancouver’s local emerging artists, Quanah Style, Bitterly Divine, Niska Napoleon, Unceded, Mamarudegyal, Status Crew and includes two special shows Brush Arbor Gurlz (Drag artists from San Francisco Drag Show) and an evening of Burlesque featuring Vancouver’s own Virago Nation.
Kwèykw`áystway Industry Series a four day forum (February 16-20) inviting artists, presenters and scholars to discuss the ways in which we can strengthen and further the development of Indigenous Arts to register email: deneh@nullfullcircle.ca
Since its inception, the festival has become a place to honour Aboriginal tradition in contemporary forms that encompasses the artistic wealth of the people, and the promise of their future in Canada. The festival theme Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another is an invitation to all nations and all cultures to come together on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Nations, in celebration of art, community and diversity. We use the language belonging to this region to recognize the traditional territory and deepen our relationship to the land around us.
For more information on the Talking Stick Festival, and complete schedule and tickets please visit the website at talkingstickfest.ca For Media Inquires and Interviews contact: Suzette Amaya – Talking Stick Festival – Publicist publicity@nullfullcircle.ca
