My Drum’s Journey: Stories from a DAREarts Artist-Educator

Photo by Cathy Elliott / Drum painted by Cathy Elliott

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

“I have a drum that I take with me to DAREarts events, classes, circles. It’s a great way to break the ice. In a roomful of energetic kids who are making a lot of noise, the sound of a drum is like a big voice.

This is a little story about my hand drum. It’s made of moose hide from Alberta, which was shipped all the way to Lennox Island First Nation, P.E.I. A young man named Gilbert Sark made it for me. I was, at the time, the director, writer, composer for a musical which was in production at the Charlottetown Festival.

At the opening of The Talking Stick, it arrived. The newly stretched skin was still wet. I was told not to play it until it was ready. “How will I know when it’s ready?” I asked Gilbert. He said, “It’ll let you know. Trust me. You’ll know.” I sat in the audience, drum in my lap and watched my cast of young people stand and deliver their hearts to a very warm and receptive crowd. My drum was silent, heavy. When I tapped it, it sounded like cardboard.

I put it in different places, wondering when I could play it. I went about my business, hoping that I would find places to play it while I learned more about my own language and culture. One day, I was walking past it as it sat on a chair. I heard this ping as I walked by. I picked it up and it rang. It rings, still.

Gilbert told me to let the markings on the hide tell me what to paint. I followed the patterns, and what emerged was a complete surprise to me. A Marten. A woman dressed in red. A moose. A seal. Trees and water. Sea creatures. Serpents. Salmon.

Little did I know then where that drum would take me.

I carried it to Newfoundland, to play Ariel at the New World Theatre Project. I joined a drumming group in the St. John’s Friendship Centre. Their funding had just been cut in half, and they were scrambling to find a way to finance programs for youth. They knew that Urban Aboriginal, Inuk and Metis kids and youth needed a place to gather and celebrate their cultures and languages. My drum sang on a foggy stage in a forest to join Beothuk Grandmothers and Grandfathers with Shakespeare’s Tempest.

I carried it to Toronto, where DAREarts kids made Dreamcatcher-inspired works of art to raise over 4,000.00 for other kids, thousands of kilometres away. [Read more here]

I carried it to Orangeville area kids, who created DARE2draw cards to draw attention to kids who were less fortunate than they. [Read more here]

I carried it to Webequie, where kids and youth created songs, works of art, fashion, stories, black-light theatre, photography and videos as a declaration that THEY ARE STILL HERE.

I carried it to Ogoki Post (Marten Falls First Nation) where a little boy played along to a song that he and other kids wrote, for his proud grandmother.

I carried it to Sipikne’katik First Nation, (Shubenacadie) back to the Atlantic Coast, where kids made an inspirational song about courage, called Melkikno’ti, learned it and created a music video. [Read more here]

It’s going to Attawapiskat First Nation next, where J.R. Nagoki grade 8 students will create a music video for their own song about fishing and living on the land, “Muskego Land,” to be premiered at the long awaited (and well deserved) opening of their new school.

This drum has been my companion on planes, ‘copters, cars, trucks, in lodges, schools, churches and stages. Its voice has been in fog, snow, steam and bright hot sunlight. It’s been tuned by Sacred Fires, kitchen stoves, car heaters and hair dryers. It’s been played by kids, friends, strangers and family. It has an inscription in Mi’kmaq. “We speak from the heart. You are good listeners. Do not forget us.”

DAREarts understands the value of cultures, language, dreams and generations. This drum is just one of the many drums that our kids and artists play; African drums, Big Drums, water drums and heart-beats, from coast to coast.

This drum is going to continue its Journey all over Canada for DAREarts. It’s going to sing for each and every kid in this country. Every time someone asks what’s the picture on your drum? I say, “It’s my future.”“

Read Cathy’s previous posts:
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