A performing arts studio on Nipissing First Nation has won an arts award from the Hnatyshyn Foundation.
The REVEAL Arts Awards is a $10,000 cash prize designed to fuel creativity for artistic works that leave a cultural legacy. In total, 150 Indigenous artists in all artistic disciplines were honoured across Canada. Fifty of the artists are from Ontario.
Sid Bobb, Co-Artistic Director of Big Medicine Studio is one of the recipients. Bobb says the award will help fund ongoing projects of Aanmitaagzi.
“The Hnatyshyn Foundation are hoping for feedback and updates on what the impact of it is. We’ve been continuing to develop our studio and site capacity.”
Three-season bunkies have been built for accommodating guest artists.
“We are also putting on a small addition to our tool shed. We are putting a 15’ by 24’ extension on there to have an outdoor workshop space.”The space is needed with the studio making a family birch bark canoe there within the next three or four years. The studio helped make a birch bark canoe that was donated to Nbisiing Secondary School.
“One of my focuses will be too, in an affordable manner, increase our capacity to do land-based art-making. We had hide tanning and scraping last fall.” Eva Couchie will be booked for hand tanning sometime this year. A deer was processed and tanned in a workshop in 2016."
“We did a beaver this year. We skinned it, processed the meat and canned it. We did four geese, plucked, roasted and canned.”
Bobb says he wants to provide space for cultural knowledge to be learned. “Canadore students talked about their grandparents making goose-down filled blankets.”
The other Artistic Director Penny Couchie is on the road with the award-winning play Material Witness. It is being toured with the community engaged textile installation workshop, Pulling Threads. In July, a presentation will be performed at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto for the Living Ritual Festival.
The studio’s Serpent People is readying for the Bright Nights performance in June and the Nuit Blanche festival in September.
The REVEAL Arts Awards focused on dance, music, theatre, literature, media arts, and visual arts/fine craft.
Established by Canada’s 24th Governor General Ramon (“call me Ray”) Hnatyshyn, the foundation assists emerging and established artists with training and career development with an increased focus Indigenous artists.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation hosts a May 22 event in Winnipeg to honour the REVEAL award recipients.
