Tickets on sale for world’s first Indigenous Fringe Festival in Peterborough-Nogojiwanong

Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival from June 23-27 at Trent University features 35 live outdoor shows by six Indigenous performers

By kawarthaNOW -
Published
D.B. Mcleod is an Anishnaabe Kwe comedian whose home territory is Sagamok Anishnaabek First Nation on the north shore of Lake Huron. One of six acts at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University, she will be performing her stand-up show 'Denis with an E'. (Photo via Ontario Performing Arts Presenting Network)
D.B. Mcleod is an Anishnaabe Kwe comedian whose home territory is Sagamok Anishnaabek First Nation on the north shore of Lake Huron. One of six acts at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University, she will be performing her stand-up show 'Denis with an E'. (Photo via Ontario Performing Arts Presenting Network)

Live performance is returning to Peterborough-Nogojiwanong this summer at the world’s first Indigenous Fringe Festival, taking place in June at Trent University, and tickets are now available online at tickets.showplace.org.

The inaugural Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival (NIFF), originally scheduled for 2020, is going ahead this year despite the pandemic because organizers have ensured the festival is COVID-safe.

“We all miss performance,” says festival founder Joeann Argue in a media release. “We miss pow wows. We just miss being in the company of others; being in community. That’s why we decided to move ahead with NIFF this year as a fully outdoor festival.”

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Indigenous Fringe Festival shifts into cars

Originally scheduled to be performed to small audiences at several outdoor locations on Trent University’s East Bank campus, the festival will now be taking place as a drive-in event in parking lot X to comply with the performing arts restrictions of step one of the Ontario government’s reopening plan.

For details, including an updated performance schedule, visit indigenousfringefest.ca/news.html.

From Wednesday, June 23rd to Sunday, June 27th, six Indigenous performing artists will present 35 shows at four outdoor venues at Trent University, with a maximum of 10 tickets available for each show.

Tickets for all performances are $10 each, with all proceeds from ticket sales going directly to the performing artists.

The outdoor performance spaces at Trent University include the East Bank campus, around the Enwayaang building (home of the Chanie Wenjack School of Indigenous Studies), and outside of Gzowski College.

As is fringe festival tradition, the six performers were chosen by lottery and include D.B. McLeod (comedy), Jennifer Alicia Murrin (theatre), Stephanie Pangowish (comedy), “Tiger” Will Mason (music and stories), Vanguardia Dance Projects (dance), and Zaagi’idwin Collective (theatre). A schedule of all the performances is provided below.

"Tiger" Will Mason is an Upper Cayuga Mohawk actor and musician who has been onstage for more than half his life as an underground folk, rock, native rock, and country rock musician. One of six acts at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University, he will perform 'The Music and Stories of a Modern Mohawk'. (Photo: Tiger" Will Mason)
“Tiger” Will Mason is an Upper Cayuga Mohawk actor and musician who has been onstage for more than half his life as an underground folk, rock, native rock, and country rock musician. One of six acts at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University, he will perform ‘The Music and Stories of a Modern Mohawk’. (Photo: Tiger” Will Mason)

“Think of it as practice for those golden days ahead when we can gather in larger groups and hugs our friends and family tight,” Argue says. “Think of it as a taste of NIFF to come, when Indigenous artists from all over Turtle Island can converge here is Nogojiwanong.”

“Most of all, think of just how excited this year’s NIFF artists are to be able to perform live, for you, with no screens in between. We’re so excited too and we can’t wait to welcome you.”

For more information about the festival, including the shows and the performers, visit www.indigenousfringefest.ca. To order tickets for individual performances, visit tickets.showplace.org.

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Performance schedule

Wednesday, June 23

Bagnani Gardens

  • Vanguardia Dance Projects: Hybrid Women at 8 p.m.

Fire Pit

  • Jennifer Alicia: Restor(Y)ing Identity at 8 p.m.

Gzowski Stairs

  • Zaagi’Idiwin Collective: Streetheart at 7 p.m.

Stone Circle

  • Tiger Will Mason: The Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 6 p.m.
  • Stephanie Pangowish: Stand Up Comedy at 7:30 p.m.
  • D.B. McLeod: Denis with an “E” at 8:30 p.m.
Stephanie Pangowish is an Anishnaabekwe comedian from Wiikwemkoong on Manitoulin Island and co-founder of Manifest Destiny's Child, Canada’s first collective of Indigenous women stand-up comedians. She will be performing at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University. (TedX video screenshot)
Stephanie Pangowish is an Anishnaabekwe comedian from Wiikwemkoong on Manitoulin Island and co-founder of Manifest Destiny’s Child, Canada’s first collective of Indigenous women stand-up comedians. She will be performing at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University. (TedX video screenshot)

 

Thursday, June 24

Bagnani Gardens

  • Vanguardia Dance Projects: Hybrid Women at 6 p.m.

Fire Pit

  • Jennifer Alicia: Restor(Y)ing Identity at 7 p.m.
  • Stephanie Pangowish: Stand Up Comedy at 9 p.m.

Gzowski Stairs

  • Zaagi’Idiwin Collective: Streetheart at 6 p.m.

Stone Circle

  • Tiger Will Mason: the Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 8 p.m.

Friday, June 25

Bagnani Gardens

  • Vanguardia Dance Projects: Hybrid Women at 8 p.m.

Fire Pit

  • Jennifer Alicia: Restor(Y)ing Identity at 6:30 p.m.
  • Tiger Will Mason: the Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 9 p.m.

Gzowski Stairs

  • Zaagi’Idiwin Collective: Streetheart at 7:30 p.m.

Stone Circle

  • Stephanie Pangowish: Stand Up Comedy at 7 p.m.
  • D.B. McLeod: Denis with an “E” at 8 p.m.
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Saturday, June 26

Bagnani Gardens

  • Vanguardia Dance Projects: Hybrid Women at 4 p.m.

Fire Pit

  • Jennifer Alicia: Restor(Y)ing Identity at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
  • D.B. McLeod: Denis with an “E” at 9 p.m.

Gzowski Stairs

  • Zaagi’Idiwin Collective: Streetheart at 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Stone Circle

  • Tiger Will Mason: the Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.
  • D.B. McLeod: Denis with an “E” at 1:30 p.m.
  • Stephanie Pangowish: Stand Up Comedy at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
  • Tiger Will Mason: the Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 8 p.m.
Norma Araiza and Olga Barrios of Vanguardia Dance Projects will present 'Mujeres Hibridas (Hybrid Women)' at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University. Araiza is Mexican of Yoeme/Basque heritage and Barrios is originally from Bogotá, Colombia. (Photo: Vanguardia Dance Projects)
Norma Araiza and Olga Barrios of Vanguardia Dance Projects will present ‘Mujeres Hibridas (Hybrid Women)’ at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, running June 23-27, 2021 at Trent University. Araiza is Mexican of Yoeme/Basque heritage and Barrios is originally from Bogotá, Colombia. (Photo: Vanguardia Dance Projects)

 

Sunday, June 27

Bagnani Gardens

  • Vanguardia Dance Projects: Hybrid Women at 6 p.m.

Fire Pit

  • Jennifer Alicia: Restor(Y)ing Identity at 3 p.m.

Gzowski Stairs

  • Zaagi’Idiwin Collective: Streetheart at 4 p.m.
  • Closing ceremony at 8 p.m.

Stone Circle

  • Stephanie Pangowish: Stand Up Comedy at 4 p.m.
  • D.B. McLeod: Denis with an “E at 5 p.m.
  • Tiger Will Mason: the Music & Stories of a Modern Mohawk at 6:30 p.m.

 

NIFF supporters include the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, City of Peterborough, Fringe Festivals, Trent University, TD, Rotary Club of Peterborough Kawartha, New Stages Theatre, Mississaugas of Scucog Island First Nation, Nish Tees, The Peterborough Foundation, and Showplace Performance Centre.

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