{"id":15783,"date":"2014-05-23T06:21:34","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T10:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artbridgesblog.ca\/en\/?p=15783"},"modified":"2014-05-23T06:21:34","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T10:21:34","slug":"introducing-darearts-atlantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/introducing-darearts-atlantic\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing \u2013 DAREarts Atlantic: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_4091.JPG\"<\/a>Hunter and Son<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Cathy Elliott is an artist educator with DAREarts\u2019 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\u2019s 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!<\/em>
\n– Cora, Indigenous Community Arts Coordinator & Communications Assistant, ArtBridges<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0For the past three years, DAREarts<\/strong> has been working with the community of Sipekne’kati First Nation<\/strong> (formerly Indian Brook) in Nova Scotia by providing multi-arts workshops in L\u2019nu Sipuk Kina\u2019muokuom (LSK)<\/strong> school. Last year, the song and music video \u00ab\u00a0Melkikno\u2019ti\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong><\/em> was featured on NationTalk<\/a>, and the LSK teachers tell us the students continue to sing it all the time.<\/p>\n

This year, with the addition of another school, another community (Milford, NS<\/strong>), and two school boards, the program has expanded to its new official status as DAREarts Atlantic<\/strong>, and the excitement is building.<\/p>\n

DAREarts relished the opportunity to bridge Aboriginal Mi\u2019kmaq and non-Aboriginal children in a multi-arts program, with advice by Chief Rufus Copage<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n

In consultation with Michael Topshee<\/strong>, the principal of Riverside Education Centre<\/strong> in Millford, and Sarah Doucet<\/strong>, the principal of LSK<\/strong> in Indian Brook FN, DAREarts<\/strong> 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<\/strong>, joined the DAREarts team. He told the kids how he started painting, inspired by Kejimkujik Petroglyphs. \u00ab\u00a0We will make our own story, our own images. They will live while we\u2019re together and long after.\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> This was especially poignant since the Petroglyphs themselves are fading fast.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3941.JPG\"<\/a>Eagle Emerges<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Trish Gibbons<\/strong>, our new Atlantic DAREarts Teacher, jumped in with both feet. \u00ab\u00a0It 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.\u00a0\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2019s one thing to tell an Aboriginal kid to stand up and speak proud about culture; but it\u2019s another to give that kid the tools to communicate exactly what must be said to inform and engage others who don\u2019t know or understand the culture and history.<\/p>\n

By taking ownership of the traditional Glooscap stories, the Petroglyphs, their Elders\u2019 wisdom, and sharing these treasures, Mi\u2019kmaq young people can become stronger leaders and more effective communicators. By engaging directly with Mi\u2019kmaq kids and Elders, non-Aboriginal kids can discover a richness and beauty that has existed in their midst for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

Take away ignorance, gain confidence. Take away fear, gain understanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4079.JPG\"<\/a>Mighty Wigwam<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the youths\u2019 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\u2019s gift of Humility and Honesty was received by the Hunter; the Hunter gave the gift of Love and Courage.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Read Cathy\u2019s previous posts:
\n04\/29\/14 \u2013 DAREarts Out on the Land in Attawpiskat: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator<\/a>
\n03\/24\/14 \u2013 My Drum\u2019s Journey: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator<\/a>
\n02\/16\/14 \u2013 It Starts With a Circle: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator<\/a><\/p>\n

Read DAREarts\u2019 profile<\/a> on ArtBridges\u2019 Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map<\/a><\/em>
\nAll photos courtesy of DAREarts<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4051.JPG\"<\/a>Atlantic Shadows<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunter and Son Cathy Elliott is an artist educator with DAREarts\u2019 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\u2019s<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[536,968,73,74,75,969,508,886,970,971,117,972,174],"class_list":["post-15783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-aboriginal","tag-atlantic","tag-darearts","tag-first-nations","tag-fnmi","tag-indian-brook","tag-indigenous","tag-kids","tag-milford","tag-multi-arts","tag-nova-scotia","tag-sipeknekati-first-nation","tag-youth"],"cp_meta_data":{"_edit_last":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["0"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artbridges.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}