Join K'ómoks First Nation, Kumugwe Cultural Society, I-Hos Gallery and Vancouver Island MusicFest on Tues., June 21 for the annual celebration of National Aboriginal Day and the Summer Solstice.
Join friends and neighbours from across the Comox Valley to celebrate aboriginal achievement and culture on the shores of the beautiful Courtenay Estuary.
The event also features delicious food vendors with offerings including salmon barbecue, crepes, shellfish and more. Special guests for this day-long event include Métis artisan and dancer Lisa Shepherd, Ray Peters and his Coast Salish Dancers Tzinqua from Duncan, the Kumugwe Dancers, guest artist George Littlechild and special live music presentations from Ed Peekeekoot and Janet Panic.
Lisa Shepherd is a well-known Métis artisan recognized for her traditional Metis beadwork art pieces and garments, her work as a Metis dancer and teacher, and for her storytelling through theatre. She is a nationally recognized Métis jigger and performed on the world stage at the Aboriginal Pavilion during the 2010 Olympics.
As a visual artist, Shepherd’s fabric art received international attention when she was commissioned to create beaded garments for the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics. The garments now reside at the Gabriel Dumont Institution Museum.
She is an artist who knows the impact that art has on documenting her people’s story. She is a Métis dancer who knows how the fiddle and the jig can bring people together in community and touch a place in their hearts that their bodies remember.
Lisa Shepherd and the Maple Sugar Jiggers pass on stories of the Métis people through dance, storytelling and visual art. They are a lively troupe of young dancers that get your feet tapping and your hearts pounding like the running of the buffalo.
The Kumugwe Dancers take great pride in preserving the ancient traditions of their ancestors. Through sharing the songs and dances of the K’ómoks and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, the Kumugwe Dancers feel that they are able to help facilitate respect and understanding within the local community and communities abroad.
Taking their name from the traditional Big House that sits within the heart of the K’ómoks First Nation, members of the dance troupe have been practising and performing together since 2001. The Kumugwe Dancers feel that by encouraging young members of their community to learn the ancient songs and dances of their people, they will ensure the survival of the culture for generations to come.
Ed Peekeekoot is a highly-skilled finger-style guitar player with a great ability to entertain audiences. He can play just about anything with strings – including fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and dobro. Based on Vancouver Island, Peekeekoot maintains strong connections with the Ahtahkakoop Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan where he was born and raised. Peekeekoot grew up in a musical family and began playing professionally when he was 16.
Peekeekoot has been nominated for the BC Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year award and in May 2006 was selected to appear on a compilation CD with other Aboriginal artists called Dig Your Roots - Aboriginal. Peekeekoot's CD, In the Key of Cree (released in 2006) was nominated for an Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award in 2008. His CD, Dance Tonight, released in November 2008, is a collection of traditional dance tunes. Peekeekoot is a talented contemporary British Columbia artist and musician whose Cree roots have been nurtured and have taken hold in West Coast soil.
Métis artist Janet Blythe Panic has built a reputation as a premier Canadian songwriter over the past 10 years. Her captivating solo performances have attracted much attention and the Vancouver Sun called her “a cross between Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen.” She moves between haunting ballads and up tempo melodic foot tappers with flawless dynamics and arrangement. Whether she is singing in English or French, Panic's appeal is universal and she brings magic wherever she goes.
Tuesday, June 21 Events
• All Day: Guest Artist at I-Hos Gallery - George Littlechild
• 2:30-3 p.m.: Lisa Shepherd Presentation - Band Hall
• 3-4 p.m.: Kumugwe Dancers Performance - Big House
• 4-5 p.m.: Lisa Shepherd and her Dance Troupe - Big House
• 5-5:30 p.m.: Coast Salish Dancers Performance - Big House
• 5:30-6 p.m.: Presentation from Sasamans Society
• 6-7 p.m.: VIMF Presents acclaimed Cree multi-instrumentalist Ed Peekeekoot
• 7-8 p.m.: VIMF Presents Métis singer-songwriter Janet Blythe Panic
