International Indigenous Art Program at NAIG 2014

At the closing ceremonies of the North American Indigenous Games, youth from across North America, in collaboration with senior artists and emerging artists, presented a 15-minute performance that they created in 5 days as part of the International Indigenous Art Program (IIAP).

The senior artists were Cheryl L’Hirondelle (interdisciplinary), Jason Baerg (visual art), Ramses Calderon (music), Erroll Kinistino (theatre and dance) and Lyndon Tootoosis (sculpture, traditional carving). Each senior artist mentored one of the emerging artists, Nicole Akan (theatre), Jules Beudin-Herney (visual art), Candy Fox (film/video), Lacy Morin-Desjarlais (dance) and Garnett “Misfit” Tootoosis (music).

I had the honour of making a digital story (shown above), which documents the participants’ creative process in 5 days. Congratulations to everyone involved on an incredible final performance!

The IIAP is funded through the Creative Partnerships Raising the Bar program. Creative Partnerships is a joint initiative of the Saskatchewan Arts Board and SaskCulture with funding from the Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund for Sport, Culture and Recreation. The Regina 2014 NAIG entered into a partnership with Sâkêwêwak First Nations Artists’ Collective to deliver the program and administer the residency.