All in Inspiring Stories
Growing up, art held a special place in my heart and began with my older sister. She's the one who kick-started my artistic journey, and it's sort of a ritual of ours that she insists I acknowledge her role. “Don't forget to tell people where it started,” she playfully reminds me before speaking or writing anything art-related. It's our little inside joke.
July 25th, 2022, was a historic day. When Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a headdress onto the head of Pope Francis following the pontiff long awaited apology for the Residential School system, the response was immediate. A cacophony of cheers and applause radiated from the thousands in attendance at Ermineskin Cree Nation. Yet almost immediately, a single voice would rise to challenge the act. A Cree woman from Winnipeg by the name of Si Pi Kho, with tears in her eyes and a song on her lips, marched forward to confront the Pope.
Giant inflatable set pieces, rocking music, and an attitude to match – that’s the experience that Squonk has cultivated for the past 30 years. Now it's your chance to learn more about the unstoppable phenomenon known as Squonk.
What does community mean to you? Alanna Bluebird Onespot is a Tsuut'ina spoken word artist who curates the Mini Pow Wow as part of National Indigenous Peoples Day at ArtsXpeditions. In this first-person account, Bluebird-Onespot shares the deep connections between her work and her culture and how the arts can heal and inspire the next generation of Indigenous youth.
Can you really call yourself Canadian if you’re not familiar with the hit TV Show Kim’s Convenience? The sitcom is about a Korean Canadian shopkeeper Mr. Kim /“Appa,” his wife, Mrs. Kim/“Umma” – Korean for dad and mom - along with their daughter Janet, and estranged son Jung. It won hearts as it became a runaway hit on national television. It rose to international acclaim, aided by pickup by streaming company Netflix. Most people don’t realize that Kim's Convenience started as a stage production before it was a celebrated and award-winning television show and now you can see it live at the Martha Cohen Theatre at Arts Commons, April 13 - May 1, 2022.
Tom Jackson is on a mission to create health. The much-loved Canadian singer-songwriter, humanitarian, and activist has given a lot of thought to what that means, and how to include as many people as possible within that circle of well-being.
Tap Dance is my trade. It gives me great joy, a sense of purpose and belonging as Black woman in North America. It has brought me to the jazz bandstand, the Cotton Club and even to Broadway all while extending me the privilege of accessing depths of a culture’s history. It is an African-American art form, born through the oppression of slavery, yet miraculously thrives worldwide today. Let’s be clear, I started recreationally in the suburbs of Calgary, like most do here, and Tap Dance is often still a punch line for those who ask, “So, what is that you do for living?” I’ve learned, now, that the best way to respond is to ask the following, “When you think of Tap Dance, what is it that you think about?”
I’m sure I’m not making a huge controversial statement when I say we’re living in a hyper polarized society today. There’s lack of trust in the media, our elected officials, and one another. It’s increasingly evident that many are just not willing to listen, let alone speak to, those on the “other side”. Similarly, I don’t think it’s too controversial to say we’re all guilty in varying degrees, myself included, of propagating toxic narratives of those who we feel stand across ideological divides than us. The faceless crowd of those who oppose our completely rational beliefs, with their completely irrational beliefs of their own.
