“Like the autumn birds that will now begin to gather and prepare for migration, we ask you also to gather with purpose, to watch, listen and dance, to think about where we have been, where we are now and where we are going on this long journey to reconciliation under the brightness and beauty of the October full moon.” – O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective
In Ojibwe culture, the first full moon of the fall is known as “Biinaakwe Giizis” (the Falling Leaves moon) and the O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective is celebrating with “Beats and Braids”, a three-day arts festival in Peterborough from Thursday, October 13th to Saturday, October 15th.
The festival features stellar acts from across Canada and also includes music and book readings by many artists from the local community.
O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk — an aboriginal women’s multi-disciplinary arts collective formed in 2004 by Sarah DeCarlo, Sara Roque, and Patti Shaughnessy — strives to bring together artists, community organizations, and diverse audiences with a focus on indigenous programming. This festival is indeed an example of this, and will be bringing together both local and indigenous culture in an exciting festival of music, performances, and workshops.
Join in and celebrate the fall season to the fullest this October by participating in this amazing festival. Take the opportunity to meet new people from the community and from across the country, learn about reconciliation, soak up the festival atmosphere, and dance the night away!
Below is a list of festival events. For more information, visit www.publicenergy.ca.
Artist’s talk with Rae Spoon at the Market Hall
The festival begins on Thursday, October 13th from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., with an artist’s talk by musician and author Rae Spoon at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough).
Rae is an award-winning Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and author. Their musical style has varied from country to electronic-influenced indie-rock and folk punk.
To sample some of Rae’s work, visit www.raespoon.com.
Rae’s talk at Market Hall, presented in partnership with the Rainbow Youth Program at PARN, is free.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson with Nick Ferrio at the Gordon Best
Following her participation in last month’s collaborative performance and installation work “Constellation/conversation” at Artspace, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson will be releasing her debut album f(l)ight as part of the festival.
An internationally renowned activist and artist from Alderville First Nation, Simpson’s album is a collection of Nishnaabeg stories that speak to Nishnaabeg resurgence, land, and sovereignty. It features tracks from acclaimed musicians A Tribe Called Red, Tanya Tagaq, and Cris Derksen.
At the album release party, which happens at 8 p.m. at the Gordon Best Theatre (216 Hunter St. W., Peterborough), local musicians Gratia Leitch, Sean Conway and Nick Ferrio will also be playing live. Following f(l)ight, local performer Nick Ferrio will be debuting new music from his forthcoming album Soothsayer.
Tickets are $15 and are available in advance only at The Only Café, underneath the Gordon Best Theatre.
A Divine Intervention with Al Tuck and a Dance Party with DJ Bear Witness at the Gordon Best
“A Divine Intervention” takes place on Friday, October 14th at 8 p.m. at the Gordon Best Theatre (216 Hunter St. W., Peterborough). This call and response concert features Rae Spoon, Al Tuck, Charlie Glasspool, and Sean Conway, with Curtis Driedger, Patrick Lefler, Gratia Leitch, Jay Swinnerton, Missy Knott, and Evangelene Gentle.
Tickets are $15 and are available in advance only at The Only Café, underneath the Gordon Best Theatre. Al Tuck will also be giving a solo performance at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 15th at at Catalina’s (131 Hunter St. W., Peterborough). Tickets are $10, available at Catalina’s.
Later the same night at the Gordon Best, there will be an epic dance party beginning at 10 p.m. featuring DJ Bear Witness of A Tribe Called Red and multi-artist Joel Davenport. Tickets are $15 and are available in advance only at The Only Café, underneath the Gordon Best Theatre.
Artist’s talk with Ann Beam at The Art Gallery of Peterborough
Ann Beam will be giving an artist’s talk at The Art Gallery of Peterborough (250 Crescent St., Peterborough) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 15th.
Ann’s husband, the late Objibwe artist Carl Beam from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, made Canadian art history as the first artist of native ancestry to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as contemporary art. Both Ann and Carl Beam lived and worked in Peterborough.
“Germination”, an exhibition of selected works by Ann and Carl, is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Peterborough until January 2017. Their works integrate personal memory with issues related to the environment, brutality, and a rethinking of the ways histories are told. Through juxtaposition, collage, and gesture they upset colonial structures by sparking level dialogues between systems of knowledge.
Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler book launch at Catalina’s
Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler is launching his debut novel Wrist, described as an Indigenous monster story, from 6 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 15th at Catalina’s (131 Hunter St. W., Peterborough).
The launch will feature Nathan reading from his book, as well as readings by guest writers Kate Story, Janette Plantana and Ursula Pflug. This is a free event.
Pura Fé and Ryan McMahon perform at Market Hall (and give free workshops too)
The festival culminates on Saturday, October 15th at 8 p.m. at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough) with music by blues/slide guitarist and activist Pura Fé, followed by a performance by comedian Ryan McMahon of CBC’s Red Man Laughing series.
An heir to the Tuscarora Indian Nation, Pura Fé is a musician, artist and activist. Her musical style runs the gamut from folk to mainstream to blues, with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Charley Patton, and Joni Mitchell as influences. When she’s not touring or fighting for civil rights, Pura sings her Tuscarora blues songs in her from North Carolina home to the sound of her lap-steel guitar.
Ryan McMahon is an Anishinaabe comedian, writer, media maker and community activator based out of Treaty #1 territory (Winnipeg, Manitoba). Ryan’s comedic storytelling style is fast paced, loose, and irreverent as he explores the good, the bad, and the ugly between “Indian Country” and the mainstream.
Tickets are $15 and are available at the Market Hall box office, by calling 705-749-1146 or online at markethall.org.
Both Ryan and Pura will also be leading free workshops earlier at the festival.
On Friday, October 14th, Ryan will be presenting “Reconciliation 101: For Settlers” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Monocle Centre for the Arts (140 Simcoe St. Upper, Peterborough).
On Saturday, October 15th, Pura will present “Canoe Songs”, a vocal and harmony workshop where she’ll teach her family’s canoe songs. The workshop takes place from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the First People’s Gathering Space at Trent University (located at the Enweying Building on the east bank of the Otonabee River).
Following Pura and Ryan’s performances at the Market Hall, the festival wraps up with a pay-what-you-can open stage hosted by The Garnet (231 Hunter St. W., Peterborough).
