No Borders Art Festival 2021 Streaming Performances

Carmel and Patsea would like to welcome you to the 3rd annual No Borders Art Festival on September 19 at the Shenkman Arts Centre!

Arnakuluit
Tamara and Janice have been throat singing together since the Spring of 2016. The duo began singing at local Ottawa-area venues and have since ventured into larger provincial performances. The meaning of “Arnakuluit” is very special for Janice and Tamara as both women are raising their children to be proud Inuit in their communities. Arnakuluit translates into “beautiful women” in English.

Janice Ulaaju is 30 years old and the mother of two beautiful daughters aged 10 and 7. Janice has lived in Ottawa since 2006 and began throat singing at the age of 12. As an Inuk from Nunavut, her passion to teach Inuit culture is strong. She is very proud of where she comes from and hopes to instil that emotion onto her audience!
Tamara Takpannie is a 26 year old urban Inuk who is originally from Iqaluit, Nunavut. She grew up in the Ottawa area and began throat singing at the age of 19. Tamara recently completed her bachelor’s degree at Carleton University and is a proud mom to her 9 year old son. She is very happy to have the opportunity to share Inuit culture through performance. Instagram – @arnakuluit (https://www.instagram.com/arnakuluit/)

Ana Maria Cruz-Valderrama: Presentation of New Beginnings Project for Spanish Seniors. Ana Maria is an Ottawa-based Colombian born social activist and community leader with over 20 years of experience in advancing seniors and other social issues since her retirement from the Public Service. In response to the social isolation created by COVID-19, in April 2020 she founded the non-profit organization New Beginnings to assist and offer activities to increasingly vulnerable Spanish-speaking seniors. With the support from the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, she began to host The Social Hour encouraging seniors in the community to participate in an art project coloring mandalas. This form of art therapy is proving to help seniors increase their understanding of colour combination dynamics and strengthen motor skills such as hand coordination and finger dexterity. It helps seniors relax and better deal with their fears of the unpredictable future and chaos COVID-19 and its variants continue to foster in the world’s populations. She also hosts the Wednesday Social Hour dedicated to the study of Indigenous populations of the Americas and Friday’s Poetry of the Americas. Ana Maria serves on the City of Ottawa Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) and for a second term she is serving at the Seniors Roundtable. She is also a foundingmember of the Grassroots Ethnocultural Seniors Network of Ottawa, managed by the Social Planning Council of Ottawa. She has recently completed the Creative Arts Program at Algonquin College and plans to continue using different forms of art as valuable tools for therapy with older adults.

This is River Doucette!

River will be joining us in the circle at the No Borders Art Festival at the Shenkman Arts Centres via video.

Born and raised in Calidonia Springs, Ontario, River Doucette is an inter-disciplinary artist living in the Yukon. After receiving her Master’s of Arts in Music and Culture Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, she moved to Dawson City, Yukon and works as a youth support worker at the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in youth center. She continues her multi-disciplinary arts as a synaesthetic live painter, music maker, and flowartist concentrated on poi fire spinning. However, throughout her journey she gained a companion, a ‘familiar’ as they call them. Coyote was born early November 2020 and adopted by River December 1st. Since then the adventures they have taken with tales of travel have lead to a small public following of little Coyote and both the inspiration and motivation to create this short film. “The hope, is to encourage anyone whom dreams of an animal companion that under I’d say, almost any circumstance, with love and devotion, is always possible.”

Suzanne Keeptwo – BookTalk and conversation: We All Go Back to the Land. Understand How to Do Meaningful Land Acknowledgements with New Book Have you been bothered, bored, or confused by a Land Acknowledgement? Have you been tasked to provide or organize one and not quite sure how and why it should be done? This book will answer your questions. Since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Report in 2015, Land Acknowledgments often begin conferences, cultural events, and even hockey games. But, despite becoming more common, many Land Acknowledgements feel standardized and rote, and leave audiences without impact. With her new book, We All Go Back to the Land: The Who, Why, and How of Land Acknowledgements, Métis artist and educator Suzanne Keeptwo wants to change that. She sees the Land Acknowledgement as a perfect opportunity for Indigenous peoples in Canada to communicate honest messages to non-Indigenous Canadians—informative messages founded upon Age Old Wisdom about honoring the Land we all want to call home. For Keeptwo, the Land Acknowledgement is both an educational opportunity and cultural practice. She aims to ensure Land Acknowledgements are truthful and meaningful, and includes several examples of Land Acknowledgements that could offer so much more.“Land Acknowledgements should be done to bring awareness to all, while fostering relationships between Canadians and Inuit, First Nation, and Métis peoples. Land Acknowledgements should actually motivate people to help heal the Land for all generations yet to come,” Keeptwo said. We All Go Back to the Land seeks to rejuvenate the contemporary Land Acknowledgement and bring all Canadians toward the ultimate goal of Reconciliation with the Earth and Original Peoples.

About Suzanne Keeptwo Suzanne Keeptwo, Algonkin-Métis (and Irish) of Québec is a professional writer, editor, facilitator and consultant. Her area of expertise is bridging cultural gaps of understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. As both artist and professional educator, she merges traditional Anishinaabe Teachings and artistic expression to explore Indigenous historical truths & contemporary realities for diverse audiences. She has worked across the nation state of Canada providing cultural awareness training to a variety of host clients including the Museum of Human Rights (Winnipeg); McGill University (Montréal); Full Circle: First Nations Performance (Vancouver); and, The Department of Natural Resources Canada (Ottawa). She is the author of We All Go Back To The Land: The Who, Why, and How of Land Acknowledgments (Brush Education Press, 2021) and the yet-to-be produced full length play about seven generations of Anishinaabe women entitled All My Relations. Suzanne also enjoys leading the Four Nations Exchange, an Indigenous grassroots theatre ensemble in traditional unceded Algonquin territory where she calls home.