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

In 2017, BV Concert Association (BVCA) and Artistic Director Miriam Colvin designed a series of three community-building arts events linked together by the themes of bringing people of Indigenous and non-Indigenous 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 as people living together at this moment in time.

Programming included:

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

Celebrating Together (July 22, 2017)
Aboriginal rock, folk, country and pop artists headlined this day-long community gathering at Bovill Square in downtown Smithers.

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

Each event and all workshops were introduced in three languages: Wet’suwet’en, English and French.  We incorporated 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.