’Alhk’ikh Ts’ёdilh : Walking Together : Marcher Ensemble

BV Concert Association (BVCA) and Artistic Director Miriam Colvin have designed a series of three community-building arts events linked together by the themes of bringing people of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ancestry together, building relationships to carry us forward and celebrating our communities. Our goal is to bring the diverse communities of Smithers together to actively participate in learning, drumming, dancing, creating and celebrating who we are as Canadians in 2017.

Programming includes:

Dancing Together (June 18, 2017)
The Yukon-based Dakhká Khwáan Dancers and local Witsuwit’en group Ewk Hiyah Hozdli will share drumming and dancing on the Della Herman stage. 

Celebrating Together (July 22, 2017)
Aboriginal rock, folk, country and pop artists will headline this day-long community gathering at Bovill Square in downtown Smithers, which will also feature a community meal.

Growing Together with Deck Fest (August 18,2017)
Aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth musicians will be the focus of CICK Smithers Community Radio’s Deck Fest stage, featuring performances and “by-youth-for-youth” workshops.

Our intention is that each event and all workshops will be introduced in three languages: Wet’suwet’en, English and French.  We will incorporate Wet’suwet’en protocols, including acknowledging the territory, on which we live, work and play.

Our project is shaped by our conversations with community organizations and a shared belief that we build a strong community in the doing together. All out of town artists will work with a local community liaison to facilitate a participatory artistic workshop, community discussion or artist-talk. We are creating many ‘in-roads’ to our events so that Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members feel welcome to participate, try new things, grow in cultural understanding and celebrate together. By bringing talent and knowledge from greater Canada and other First Nations to Smithers, our arts events will leave a legacy of inspiration and creative development for our local artists.