Aanmitaagzi
Read our post about Aanmitaagzi. Located in North Bay, it is a multi-disciplinary professional artist-run company serving artists and community members from Nipissing First Nation and the surrounding area, and linked to provincial and national networks.
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Status:
Non-profit
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Main Communities Served:
Adults, All Ages, Children, FNMI, Seniors, Youth, Community members of the Nipissing First Nation, North Bay and the surrounding area.
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Main Catchment Area:
Ontario, Nipissing First Nation, North Bay and the surrounding areas.
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Languages:
English
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Arts Focus:
Multi-arts: dance, theatre, visual arts, song, videography and interdisciplinary collaboration
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Mandate/Mission:
Aanmitaagzi is a multi-disciplinary professional artist-run company serving artists and community members from Nipissing First Nation and the surrounding area, and linked to provincial and national networks. We are committed to fostering a vibrant arts community in Nipissing, nurturing traditional Aboriginal arts practices which span a middle ground between professional and community arts, and exploring how we can carry forward our traditional practices in a meaningful contemporary context. Aanmitaagzi combines art making, education, professional development & social activism.
Vision: We believe that through the arts we can...
- transcend everyday communication
- impact our community in a powerful and meaningful way
- share, celebrate, express and recover our culture
- provide a forum for elders to tell their stories
- engage youth with their communities and traditions
- assist people to discover, explore and express their voices
- foster greater dialogue amongst people of all ages and backgrounds
- imagine and create the community in which we want to live
- forge a healthier relationship with our Canadian neighbours
Values: Our art
- includes all ages: children, families, youth, elders, adults
- is comfortable in dedicated arts spaces and around the kitchen table
- happens indoors and outdoors and responds to the cycle of seasons
- is rooted in collaboration, tradition and exploration
- respects and nurtures artistic skills, abilities and expertise
- welcomes all abilities, experience and confidence levels and interests. -
Additional Info:
Community members of the Nipissing First Nation, North Bay and the surrounding area. Of special focus are Aboriginal and intergenerational participants. First Nation: Anishinabe, Mohawk, Sto:lo
Brief History:
Aanmitaagzi has grown from a convergence of the personal and professional histories of its core members, while remaining true to the initial vision of its co-founders, Penny Couchie and Sid Bobb. When Penny and Sid moved to Penny's ancestral home of Nipissing First Nation in 2006, they welcomed the possibility of living and working as professional artists to support a thriving arts community in Nipissing and the surrounding communities. They recognized the benefits of developing and maintaining relationships and partnerships with like-minded groups, and the potential for Nipissing to become a home for research, development, and the creation of new works in dance, theatre, and cross-disciplinary arts with both professional and community artists.
Following the success of their first community engaged arts project, Stories of Nipissing, and with positive feedback and support from the community, Penny and Sid formed the Aanmitaagzi Collective with Carol Guppy and Perry McLeod Shabogeesic in 2008. In 2009, after conducting strategic outreach in Bear Island / Temagami, Sherry Guppy and Bonnie Couchie also joined the company. Identifying the need for a strong organizational foundation for the future of the company, Aanmitaagzi sought out capacity building initiatives, including a mentorship in organizational development with Ruth Howard of Jumblies Theatre funded through the OAC Compass program and Canada Council for the Arts' Capacity Building program. Aanmitaagzi incorporated as a provincial, not-for-profit organization in October 2010, and continues to engage the local community through multi-disciplinary and multi-generational arts activities and cultural events. -
Main Contact Name:
Penny Couchie, Co-Artistic Director
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Secondary Contact:
Sid Bobb, Co-Artistic Director
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Phone:
(705) 474-2227
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Main Contact Email:
aanmitaagzi@gmail.com
- Website:
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Address:
161 Couchie Memorial Drive
North Bay, ON P1B 8G5
Last updated on 2014-09-12 09:58:25. Photos credit of: Aanmitaagzi. All photos from Dances of Resistance programming - Submitted by: Sid Bobb, Aanmitaagzi
