Hunter and Son
Cathy Elliott is an artist educator with DAREarts’ First Roots program. Once a month, Cathy shares her stories and experiences working with our First Nations youth in remote northern communities such as Webequie (ON), Marten Falls (ON), Sioux Lookout (ON), Attawapiskat (ON) and Indian Brook (NS). It’s an honour to be able to share these stories with the ArtBridges community and I want to thank Cathy and Marilyn (the founder of DAREarts) not just for their amazing work, but also for their willingness to share. I hope you enjoy!
– Cora, Indigenous Community Arts Coordinator & Communications Assistant, ArtBridges
« For the past three years, DAREarts has been working with the community of Sipekne’kati First Nation (formerly Indian Brook) in Nova Scotia by providing multi-arts workshops in L’nu Sipuk Kina’muokuom (LSK) school. Last year, the song and music video « Melkikno’ti » was featured on NationTalk, and the LSK teachers tell us the students continue to sing it all the time.
This year, with the addition of another school, another community (Milford, NS), and two school boards, the program has expanded to its new official status as DAREarts Atlantic, and the excitement is building.
DAREarts relished the opportunity to bridge Aboriginal Mi’kmaq and non-Aboriginal children in a multi-arts program, with advice by Chief Rufus Copage. He had stated that about half of the Indian Brook students who go on to high school go outside the community; approximately forty percent of the student population in Riverside are from Indian Brook FN.
In consultation with Michael Topshee, the principal of Riverside Education Centre in Millford, and Sarah Doucet, the principal of LSK in Indian Brook FN, DAREarts created a week of workshops that incorporated puppetry, painting, story making, spoken word and hip-hop music. Again this year, acclaimed local artist-as-teacher, Alan Syliboy, joined the DAREarts team. He told the kids how he started painting, inspired by Kejimkujik Petroglyphs. « We will make our own story, our own images. They will live while we’re together and long after. » This was especially poignant since the Petroglyphs themselves are fading fast.
Eagle Emerges
Trish Gibbons, our new Atlantic DAREarts Teacher, jumped in with both feet. « It was very enjoyable watching collaborative projects unfold between the students and the two groups. There was a student named Trinity (from Riverside) who seemed to fall naturally into a leadership role, and who would show her competence again later in the week as a role model and great helper for the LSK students. »
This DAREarts Atlantic program goes far beyond kids having a blast on stage or in the classroom creating art. This is about eradicating racism in their communities and the communities next to them. It’s one thing to tell an Aboriginal kid to stand up and speak proud about culture; but it’s another to give that kid the tools to communicate exactly what must be said to inform and engage others who don’t know or understand the culture and history.
By taking ownership of the traditional Glooscap stories, the Petroglyphs, their Elders’ wisdom, and sharing these treasures, Mi’kmaq young people can become stronger leaders and more effective communicators. By engaging directly with Mi’kmaq kids and Elders, non-Aboriginal kids can discover a richness and beauty that has existed in their midst for hundreds of years.
Take away ignorance, gain confidence. Take away fear, gain understanding.
Mighty Wigwam
Each of the youths’ four stories, representing the Four Corners, folded on each other beautifully. The empathy, the sharing of gifts, the Teachings, all of these things blossomed forth from each team. The youths first had to tell their story in five sentences. From those sentences, they fleshed out their characters and locations and movement and music. The stories were beautiful, funny, and succinct: the Eagle’s gift of Humility and Honesty was received by the Hunter; the Hunter gave the gift of Love and Courage.
But beyond the stories lay the power of sustaining power of these workshops. It was a wonderful thing to witness the growth of understanding and empathy in the young people: to see an older student asking a younger one if they needed help; to see a younger child ask for help, not from a teacher, but from another student. These avenues of communication, through the power of creative expression, are making pathways for these kids to harness in coming years. Maybe generations. »
Read Cathy’s previous posts:
04/29/14 – DAREarts Out on the Land in Attawpiskat: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator
03/24/14 – My Drum’s Journey: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator
02/16/14 – It Starts With a Circle: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator
Read DAREarts’ profile on ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map
All photos courtesy of DAREarts
Atlantic Shadows
