Shown clockwise from left: Kahente Horn-Miller, Sabina Sweta Sen-Podstawska and Floyd Favel who are involved in the upcoming festival. (Miyawata Culture Inc./Facebook and Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Celebrating Indigenous and multi-cultural arts

Poundmaker Indigenous Performance Festival returns

Jun 9, 2022 | 2:00 PM

After holding a virtual show last year due to the pandemic, Miyawata Culture Inc. is excited about offering an in person event again this year for the annual Indigenous Performance Festival at Poundmaker Cree Nation.

The festival is being organized by Miyawata Culture Inc. and the Chief Poundmaker Museum. The event will run July 15 to 17 near the lake at the Miyawata Culture stage and at the museum.

Director of Miyawata Culture Inc. and festival organizer Floyd Favel said there will be a variety of art forms visitors can enjoy, including music, performance art, theatre and dance.

“We are looking forward to reaching out to the local community, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and provincially, to attend our festival, which we view as an experiment of art, performance, and culture within an Indigenous community,” Favel said. “We view Indigenous performance as an artistic genre with its own techniques and use of Indigenous language that is open to all people and not be defined by colonial identities.”

He said among the highlights of the festival will be an Indigenous adaptation of the Greek tragedy The Trojan Women by Euripides, which will premiere on July 15.

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“I’m adapting it into an Indigenous context,” Favel said.

The performance will mainly be offered live in person but some excerpts of the show will be available virtually as well.

The play will include puppetry and live performances, and will be presented in a combination of the Cree language and English.

International artists Sabina Sweta Sen-Podstawska and Marika Karlsson will both be featured in the performance. Karlsson, who resides in Montreal, actually started her career in Finland. Many people in the festival come from diverse backgrounds.

Another one of the featured guests participating in the festival will be Kahente Horn-Miller, a Mohawk scholar and storyteller, who will be presenting on July 16.

The festival will also include some health sessions for attendees, with meditation and singing in the mornings.

Favel said interest in the festival keeps growing, which is great to see.

“Our festival is actually one of the more unique festivals in Canada due to its features, like multi-culturalism, Indigenous community healing, health, adaptation, and international participation,” he said.

Admittance to the festival is by donation.

New this year, people taking in the event will be able to camp during their stay as an option, so they can take in all the activities.

More details about the festival are available at the link here.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow