Emergence aimed to provide artistic and technological learning opportunities to shíshálh Nation youth and community, while including an evolving intentional framework of de-colonization and Indigenization.
This project was driven by a core team of youth and adult artists working in many disciplines. This project shape-shifted a number of times as we worked through the pandemic. The consistent threads throughout this project were the deepening of our relationships, the inclusion of inter generational families, the development of interactive creative technology, and the shared story telling. These practises grounded us while everything was shifting.
We are immensely grateful for the guidance of Hiwus Calvin Craigan, Ximiq Dionne Paul and Xet’semit’sa Candace Campo, and for the opportunities to work alongside all of the shíshálh collaborators that have been a part of this project.
Dates: 2018-Present
Partnered with:
shíshálh Nation
shíshálh Wellness Centre
Talaysay Tours
Digi Majou
Indigenous City Media
Indigenous Matriachs 4 Lab (IM4)
relationship building
The evolution of this project has depended entirely on the direction our relationships have taken us and the guidance of our indigenous partners. Early in the project our team visited with shíshálh Protector of Culture, Steven Feschuk. We listened and learned, as he shared about past mistakes in settler – shíshálh collaborations. This informed us on our path forward in this project. We are so thankful for Steven’s time and his story telling.
When it came time to share the early stages and visions for this project with more shíshálh Nation members, we were so fortunate for the guidance of Dionne Paul. Her knowledge of protocols helped prepare us for our consultation with two groups of shíshálh Elders in the Elders Boardroom where we presented our vision for a future show that would bring interactive and Indigenized STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts & Media) presentations to Elementary schools on the Sunshine Coast and beyond.
de-colonizing agenda and pandemic realities
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the years 2020, 2021 and 2022. A classroom-sized travelling dome we had built early in the project was no longer suitable. The shíshálh Nation lost numerous Elders during this time, and lockdowns on the reservation were in place for much of 2019-2021. Pivoting with these changes, the Emergence project found new opportunities deemed appropriate for the COVID-era, and worked with project artists to develop skills of personal interest at home such as learning to produce GIFs and short animations, producing a hybrid documentary and animated film (Four Braves Story), developing the now stand-alone interactive visual & sound-based project to revitalize she shishalhem language using traditional copper (an anti-bacterial touch-friendly medium); and providing outdoor summer arts programming to shíshálh youth in 2021 and 2022. You can learn more about this continued work by visiting our page, Copper Circle.