« Sâkêwêwak’s Storytellers Festival is going back to its original name at the conception of the festival back in the early 1990’s, “The Distinguished Storytellers Festival 2014”. With all that this name has to live up to we have scheduled a variety of distinguished storytellers, Elders, spoken word artists, dancers, performers and musical lyrical poets. An act such as Maori singer, RnB, Hip Hop artist, Mihirangi, who sings soul over her looping rhythms who will be proceeded by Moe Clark, a Metis/Cree spoken word poet who also sings her lyrical poetry while looping rhythmic vocal textures.

Our most popular Storyteller luncheon series will be featuring two award-winning storytellers, Jack Dalton (Inupik) and Stephen Fadden (Haudenosaunee). These luncheons will both be held at the Artful Dodger downtown from 12 to 1 pm February 18th and 19th. And of course, our Regina Bus Tour is back this year, scheduled with Artist/Performer Cheryl L’Hirondelle.

We have revered Elders and cultural workers who will join us for our opening ceremonies, and for our youth/children programs. These traditional storytellers originate from all over Saskatchewan representing five Nations so far; Kahkewistahaw, File Hills Qu’Appelle, Sweetgrass, Peepeekisis and Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. These Elders, who by sharing their words and stories, act as library with volumes of knowledge to anyone that’s around them, especially the children we are inviting for 2 days of scheduled storytellers at First Nations University.

We are very pleased that the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre (SICC) and First Nations University (FNUniv) have partnered with us this year. The First Nations University Library will be hosting Thursday February 20th, and SICC with FNUniv and will be hosting a First Nations Storytelling event on Friday February 21st in the Rotunda at FNUniv. There will be two sessions with the first running from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon and the second from 1:00 PM to 3:00PM.

All registration for youth events is free, and the target audience is school-aged children.

You can get a pass for full week of events or individual tickets at the door, please check http://sakewewak.ca/storytellers-festival/ for more information. We will be updating continuously over the following weeks with more information on the festival. »

-from January 21, 2014 Sâkêwêwak press release
Read Sâkêwêwak Artist Collective’s profile on ArtBridge’s on ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map.