>> Thursday November 29, 2007 at 8 pm

Shooting Stars

A night of blues, hip hop, rock, soul, funk, reggae and much more featuring Canada’s outstanding award-winning Aboriginal artists Clyde Roulette, DiggingRoots and Kinnie Starr at The Gladstone in the heart of Toronto’s trendy Queen west on Thursday November 29, 2007 at 8:00 pm. Tickets $20 in advance or at the door. Box Office: (416) 598-4078.

Clyde Roulette can play the most moving Delta Blues, the Funkiest Memphis groove and ride the slide guitar, all Clyde Roulette style. Around Winnipeg he is known as "Slidin Clyde." Clyde developed his ability to cross cultural and musical boundaries starting as a blues guitarist and crossing paths with Winnipeg’s finest. Clyde was awarded Best Blues Guitarist of 1990 with 2007 nominations for the Sliding Clyde Roulette Band’s Let’s Take a Ride CD includes: Best Blues Album at The Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, Outstanding Aboriginal Recording Of The Year at The Western Canadian Music Awards and Best Blues CD for The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards. Clyde stands on his own as a Blues artist and accomplished guitarist, an Aboriginal combination of Muddy Waters and Chet Atkins. Mel Reimer will accompany Clyde Roulette on Harmonica and Vocals.

With the 2006 release of their debut album Seeds, fans and critics across Canada are hailing DiggingRoots as rebel music's newest saviours. Blending groove-laden roots, blues and reggae with handcrafted acoustics, DiggingRoots’ Raven Kanatakta and Shoshona Kish are quickly emerging as new leaders of the old school of rebel music. Their many awards include a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, Best Blues Awards at the Indian Summer Music Awards and nominations for the upcoming APC Music Awards, the Canadian Folk Music Awards and Best New Group at the Maple Blues Awards. DiggingRoots combine elements of their traditional Native influences, hip-hop, folk, reggae, blues, and roots with a classic and eclectic sensibility that is embraced by all audiences.

Kinnie Starr is an Emcee-singer-poet-actress-beatnik and all-round musicmaker. She has performed at the 2005 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards and has toured Japan, Australia, the U.K., the U.S.A. and Canada over the past five years. Her original sound fuses hip-hop, rock, folk, R&B, electronica and just about anything. Her material has been described as edgy and enchanting, entrancing a room full of strangers. This Juno-nominated artist has serious rhyming skills, boundless amounts of creativity, intellect, originality and powerful poetry, all of which can be heard on her latest album Anything. The lyrically intense Starr can also play a mean guitar.

Catalyst Cafe

Out of the Shadows: Deconstructing the Colonial Woman

Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill (Mohawk, Wolf Clan) from Six Nations holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and is one of the original founders of the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University, where she is currently the Academic Director.  
 
Her research includes: Indigenous Knowledge & Aboriginal Women, and Colonialism’s Impact on Indigenous People and the Contemporary Practice of Indigenous Traditionalism.

Traditional Singer Joni Shawana is Ojibwe and originally from the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve. She is a powerful singer of traditional songs, and frequents the powwow trail to sing with the big drum. Joni has been an active community member in Toronto, and singing is an active means to uplift her spirit.
 
This Catalyst Café will infuse traditional song with academic knowledge. There will be song, dialogue, and an overview of colonial constructions of Native American women. Join us in an open discussion on the state of Native women today, exploring our common goal to reclaim our own imagery and dialogue and improve our current situation.
 
 
ABOUT CATALYST CAFES
Native Women in the Arts’ Catalyst Cafés are performance cafés that stimulate intellectual and creative courage, and the appreciation of Indigenous art and culture.

DATE: Tuesday May 22, 2007 at 7 pm

PLACE:
Talking Room
Native Canadian Centre
16 Spadina Road (Spadina & Bloor)
Toronto, ON

COST:
$5 per person. Tickets available only at the door.
Mix and Mingle/Doors Open 6:30pm
Refreshments and Snack Food Available

>> Wednesday April 18, 2007 at 7 pm

Catalyst Cafe

Music is the Medicine

Derek Miller's musical journey began when his mother gave him a warped neck Fender guitar, fished out of his grandfather’s closet, at the age of 13. He connected with the guitar and feverishly devoured all he could. When former music writer Howard Druckman brought Derek to the attention of the public outside of the Six Nations Reserve, famous peace advocate/artist Buffy Ste. Marie took Derek on the road and exposed him to Canada at large.

In 2002, Derek won a Juno Award for his album, Music is the Medicine. The success of this recording gave way to international touring for the better part of two years to far away lands like Norway, Greenland and Europe.

ABOUT CATALYST CAFES
Native Women in the Arts’ Catalyst Cafés are performance cafés that stimulate creative and intellectual courage, and the appreciation of Indigenous artistic & cultural expression,

DATE: Wednesday April 18, 2007

PLACE:
NOW Lounge
189 Church Street
(N.E. corner of Church St & Shuter St)
Toronto, Canada

COST:
$5 per person. Tickets available only at the door.
Mix and Mingle/Doors Open 6:30pm
Menu and Refreshments Available

>>Friday March 30, 2007 at 9 pm

Up Close and Personal with Lucie Idlout and Tamara Podemski

One of the most powerful voices to rise from the birth of the new territory of Nunavut is Inuk singer/songwriter Lucie Idlout. Lucie’s style takes you on an emotional journey though life drawing on the themes that are common to us all; heartbreak, loss, tenderness and occasionally a little rage.

Tamara Podemski is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Toronto. She calls upon her roots to inspire her art, creating a fusion of spirituality, politics, and self-empowerment. Tamara was awarded the 2006 Aboriginal Music Award for Best Female Artist. She will be performing songs from her recent self-titled album that was released under her own record label, Mukwa Music.

DATE: Friday March 30, 2007
WHERE: Bar Italia, 582 College Street (College & Clinton).
TIME: 9:00 pm
FOR TIX: $20 per person and at the door. Call (416) 598-4078.

Catalyst Cafe

From Oka to the Olympics
 
Waneek Horn-Miller is Bear Clan of the Mohawk Nation. Waneek began swimming and running competitively at the age of 6 years old. Her athletic career was almost cut short when at the age of 14 Waneek was stabbed by a bayonet during the final hours of the 1990 Oka Crisis that took place in Kahnesatake, Quebec. After surviving this trauma, Waneek was greatly inspired to work towards her athletic dreams.
 
Waneek has traveled extensively throughout Native country for the past 15 years working with Aboriginal people of all ages, speaking sharing her personal story, and hoping to inspire them to achieve their dreams. She currently is the coordinator of the First Peoples House at McGill University.
 
ABOUT CATALYST CAFES
Native Women in the Arts’ Catalyst Cafés are cafés that stimulate the appreciation of Indigenous artistic & cultural expression, and intellectual and creative courage.
 
DATE
Thursday March 29, 2007
 
PLACE
NOW Lounge
189 Church Street
(N.E. corner of Church St & Shuter St)
Toronto, Canada
 
COST
$5 per person. Tickets available only at the door.
Mix and Mingle/Doors Open 6:30pm
Menu and Refreshments Available

>>Saturday March 3, 2007 at 3 pm
 
Catalyst Café
 
The Flower of the Zapotec Word/ La Flor de la palabra zapoteca

Recipient of several distinctions from the Mexican National Council for the Arts including the first woman to receive the Nezahualcoyotl National Award in Indigenous Literature, Natalia Toledo is a bilingual (Spanish/Zapotec) poet from Juchitan, Oaxaca in southern Mexico.  In collaboration with artist and translator Maria Luisa de Villa, Natalia will present some of her published poetry and discuss the oral tradition of her culture.
 
Natalia has participated in national and international poetry forums, recently within the framework of the Mexico-Canada exhibition Visions and Apparitions at Hart House, University of Toronto.
 
ABOUT CATALYST CAFES
Native Women in the Artsí Catalyst Cafés are performance cafés that stimulate the appreciation of Indigenous artistic & cultural expression, and intellectual and creative courage.
 
Please join us - everyone is welcome.
 
DATE
Saturday March 3, 2007
Free Admission
Poetry Reading by Natalia Toledo at 3pm
Visual Arts Display by Maria Luisa de Villa from 2-5pm
 
PLACE
Women's Art Resource Centre Gallery
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 122
Toronto, Canada

>>Saturday February 17, 2007 at 7 pm
 
Catalyst Café

An Indigenous Life in Film, Theatre and Dance

Michael Greyeyes is Plains Cree and a member of the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada A graduate of The National Ballet School in 1984, he went on to apprentice with The National Ballet of Canada before joining the company as a full Corps de Ballet member in 1987.   After three years, he left the National Ballet to join the company of choreographer Eliot Feld in New York City.
 
Michael has appeared in such films as: Dance Me Outside, Smoke Signals, Skipped Parts, and Stolen Women: Captured Hearts for CBS, Skinwalkers for PBS, and the TNT Original Films production of Crazy Horse in the title role, for which he garnered much critical acclaim. His other television credits include guest appearances on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Millennium, The Jury, Dr. Quinn Medicine Women, Charmed and Numb3rs.  
 
ABOUT CATALYST CAFES
Native Women in the Arts’ Catalyst Cafés are performance cafés that stimulate the appreciation of Indigenous artistic & cultural expression, and intellectual and creative courage.
 
DATE
Saturday February 17, 2007
PLACE
NOW Lounge
189 Church Street
(N.E. corner of Church St & Shuter St)
Toronto, Canada
 
COST
$5 per person. Tickets available only at the door.
Mix and Mingle/Doors Open 6:30pm
Menu and Refreshments Available

>> Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 7 pm

Catalyst Café

A Peaceful Revolution with Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick has covered the revolution in Bolivia, and will share what she has learned from a month long trip to Bolivia - where she had a rare interview with President Evo Morales. This peaceful revolution is happening in Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the world. The Indigenous majority has taken over the government and is beginning a profound transformation of the country. Their plan is based on the values and culture they have fought to maintain for more than 500 years against colonization, marginalization and discrimination.

Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, writer, broadcaster and speaker. She is currently Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University, and the founder of rabble.ca, Canada’s most popular independent online news and discussion site. During the 1990’s, Judy was the host of a two national TV show on CBC Newsworld and a frequent commentator on CBC radio and television. She also contributes commentaries to a host of newspapers and magazines. Judy is perhaps best known to Canadians as a former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada’s largest women’s group. She is also a Board member of Alternatives, a Quebec based international NGO and on the advisory boards of Fair Vote Canada and the December 6 Coalition.

DATE: 7 pm, November 2006
PLACE: NOW Lounge
189 Church Street (N.E. corner of Church St & Shuter St)
Toronto, Canada
COST $5. per person.
Co-presented by Native Women in the Arts and NOW Lounge

>> Friday April 28, 2006 at 7 pm
 
Catalyst Café
 
Dancing on Water with Tania Willard

Dancing on Water: Aboriginal Longshoring in B.C. looks at the history and the current Aboriginal workforce in longshoring. This exhibition and artist talk illustrates stories, histories and experiences of Aboriginal people on the waterfront, examining traditional relationships and the impact of colonial industries.  The artist, Tania Willard, draws from her passion for Aboriginal rights and working class histories, bringing together a picture of an unspoken history of Aboriginal working people.
 
Tania Willard has exhibited her work in community art venues, galleries and artist run centres both locally and internationally. Her work, incorporating activism and media, helped to shape the artistic direction of Redwire Native Youth Media Society. Tania's work is grounded in her experience as a Secwepemc person and as an urban Native. She also works as a professional designer and illustrator with clients in the not for profit, Aboriginal and health sectors. An alumni of the University of Victoria, Tania received her Bachelors Degree with Honors in 1998.  

7 pm, April 28, 2006
A Space Gallery
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 110, Toronto
 
The exhibition is from April 28 - June 3 at the A Space Gallery Windows
 
Co-presented by A Space Gallery and Native Women in the Arts
 

>> March 31 - April 2, 2006

Song Creation: a Three-day Voice Intensive

Through these Voice Intensives, participants will explore traditional and contemporary song creation, singing as physical experience, breath control and capacity, resonance, and care of the voice. In this practical, hands-on experience, the Voice Intensive participants will also explore solo and collaborative compositions.

This workshop is open to 15 Aboriginal women who are interested in vocal expression.

Schedule:
Friday March 31: 2 pm – 7 pm
Saturday April 1: 12 noon – 6 pm
Sunday April 2: 12 noon – 6 pm

$75 fee for intensive

>> March 27 – April 1, 2006, 11 am – 4 pm

Ten Thousand Waves: a Dance Intensive and Collaboration

Ten Thousand Waves is a dance project for twelve Aboriginal women involved in dance and/or movement with a focus on the creation of new original work. Ten Thousand Waves will focus on Aboriginal women’s relationship to the natural world and especially to water – seas, oceans, rivers, fresh lakes, waterfalls and streams. Ten Thousand Waves is interested in exploring this centuries old connection by linking contemporary Aboriginal dance expression to ecological knowledge and integrity.

This one week intensive workshop is open to 12 Aboriginal women dancers, choreographers and performers.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Native Women in the Arts 416-598-4078 or info@nativewomeninthearts.com
 
Deadline:  March 22, 2006
Cost: $80 fee for intensive
 

>> Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30 at 8 pm

Songs from Above the Treeline

These two concerts will introduce the rarely heard sounds, sights and talents of Inuit and Dene women artists who are from the north: above the treeline. These top artists represent traditional, electronic, rock, folk and contemporary musical genres all influenced by their distinct northern cultures.

Included in this innovative line-up are:

• Three-time Aboriginal Music Award winner, Tanya Tagaq (Wed March 29 only)
• Aboriginal Music Award Winner for Best Female Artist and Best Rock Album nominee, Lucie Idlout
• Nukariik Inuit Throat Singers
• Aboriginal Music Award Winner for Best Female Artist, Best Songwriter, and Best Folk Album, Leela Gilday

DATE: Wed March 29 and Thurs March 30, 2006
WHERE: Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West (at Gladstone Ave.just east of Dufferin Ave) Toronto
TIME: 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30pm)
COST: $20
FOR TIX : online www.totix.ca or in person call 416-536-6468
Tickets also available at the door

These concerts are part of an exciting city-wide initiative from Live With Culture. Live With Culture is a 16-month celebration of Toronto’s extraordinary arts and cultural communities, shining a spotlight on the vibrant and diverse activities happening in the city each and every day. From September 2005 until the end of 2006, Live With Culture showcases the vast scope of the city’s culture of creativity and inspires culture in
Toronto to become a daily part of everyone’s life. How do you live with culture? Visit www.livewithculture.ca, the ultimate guide to Toronto’s culture scene.

www.livewithculture.ca

Artwork by Darlene Gait: www.darlenegait.com

>> March 23 – 25, 2006

Aboriginal Women's Leadership Seminar

This three half-day training intensive invites Aboriginal men, women and youth to explore issues pertaining to Aboriginal leadership and developing personal leadership styles. It encourages women to rescue their roles as central leaders and contributors to their families, places of work, communities and nations.

This Women's Leadership Intensive specifically focuses on challenges faced by Aboriginal women and female youth, and provides mentorship and direct strategies to develop individual and community leadership capacity. Featuring Danis Goulet, Executive Director of imagineNATIVE; Dr. Eileen Antone, a graduate of OISE/UT is faculty member in the department of Adult Education, Community Development, and Counselling Psychology; and Tom Hill, a Konadaha Seneca painter and muralist with a respected reputation for his tireless contributions as an author, editor, consultant, and promoter of First Nations arts and craft.

5 pm – 8 pm
Native Canadian Centre, Talking Room
16 Spadina Road, Toronto
Free admission

>> March 20 – 21, 2006

Urban Aboriginal Leadership Seminar with Billy Rogers

Native Women in the Arts presents Billy Rogers, who utilizes Aboriginal methodologies as the base of his practice to address the historical and current impacts of colonization. Participants benef directly while developing meaningful skills and insight to create a ripple effect into the community. The result was Aboriginal men, women and youth playing a more central role in their communities and more effective participation in society. This 2-day seminar contributes to the flourishing of the urban Aboriginal community in Toronto by fostering leadership and infusing it with models that are rooted in Aboriginal values.

5 pm – 8 pm
Native Canadian Centre, Talking Room

>> Saturday March 18, 2006, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Hip Hop Dance Culture & Youth Leadership

Native Canadian Centre (16 Spadina Road - Spadina north of Bloor)
Free admission
Open to all Peoples

Please wear comfortable clothing and get ready to sweat!

Facilitated by Ruben and Juan Esguerra
Ruben and Juan Esguerra quickly gravitated towards Hiphop culture and began to stepdance and breakdance in school organized shows. The more that they saw and read about Hip Hop, the more they felt a connection between the social struggles of their family, and how Hip Hop was really a culture of unity, protest and expression.

>> Saturday March 18, 2006, 2 pm – 5 pm

Youth, Leadership and the Future (A Dialogue with Waneek Horn-Miller)

Talking Room, Native Canadian Centre, Toronto
Free Admission

About Waneek Horn-Miller
Waneek Horn-Miller is Bear clan of the Mohawk Nation. Waneek was named Co-Captain of the Canadian Women’s Olympic Water polo Team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The team went on to finish 5th at the Games and Waneek completed a 17-year long trek to her dream of becoming the first Mohawk Woman to Compete at the Olympic Games. Waneek went on to win a bronze medal at the 2001 World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka Japan, retiring in 2002 after 9 years on the National Team.

During the Oka Crisis in 1990, Waneek was stabbed by a bayonet during the final hours of the crisis that took place in Kahnesatake, Quebec. Waneek has traveled extensively throughout Native country for the past 15 years working with Aboriginal people of all ages, speaking sharing her personal story, and hoping to inspire them to achieve their dreams.

>> Friday March 17, 2006

Leadership for Aboriginal Peoples Living in an Urban Context

A half-day intensive focused on:
The political organization of urban Aboriginal leadership.
How traditional models and teachings define leadership.
Personal leadership styles: identifying your strengths and building your style.
Building community inter-relationships

About Sylvia Maracle
Sylvia Maracle is the Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres. Maracle, a member of the Wolf Clan from the Tyendinaga Territories, has been involved with the Native Friendship Centres for 30 years and has been the Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres for the past 26 years. She has contributed to the enhancement of the urban Aboriginal community in numerous ways.

When: Friday, March 17th, 2006
Time: 2pm – 6pm
Fee: $25
Where: Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Room # 318
750 Spadina Avenue, Toronto (Bloor And Spadina)
Food & Refreshments Available

>> Thursday October 20, 2005

2005 WRITER IN RESIDENCE on the Toronto Island

Native Women in the Arts’ writer in residency was created to stimulate Aboriginal women's academic writing on art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous Peoples.

ABOUT JOANNE ARNOTT
Joanne Arnott is Metis from Manitoba (b. Winnipeg) and currently residing in Richmond, British Columbia. She is primarily a poet, but has also published a collection of non-fiction stories and essays, Breasting the Waves: On Writing & Healing (Press Gang). She is published in Miscegenation Blues: Voices of Mixed Race Women (Sister Vision), By, For, & About: Feminist Cultural Politics (Women’s Press), Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology (Broadview Press), Oxford Anthology of Native Canadian Literature in English (Third Edition), and Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica (Kegedonce Press). Her most recent book is Steepy Mountain: love poetry (Kegedonce Press).

ABOUT HER RESIDENCY
During her residency, Joanne will write an essay based on her five-day excursion with indigenous poets Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Heather Harris, and Michael Blackstock, Poetry Train 2, part of UNBC’s Aboriginal Writers and Storytellers Festival, 2005, as well as the installation of a Culturally Modified Tree at UNBC, and Michael Blackstock’s presentation and photo exhibit exploring the same themes. lnterwoven with these fresh autumnal experiences, Joanne will share earlier experiences and longer-view reflections on trains, movement, and identity, as well as the positive impacts of her encounters (in person and through their writings) with a few other indigenous writers.

The tone of the essay will be personal, will stem out of her life as a writer and mother, and will profile her literary influences, as a wide-ranging affirmation of Indigenous writers at work in Canada.

THE PURPOSE of Native Women in the Arts' residency is:
To generate written material on subjects pertinent to art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous peoples.
To support Aboriginal Women writers by providing a one or two-week residency in order to create and complete publishable academic works.

Our next deadline for the Writer in Residence is July 1, 2006
 

>> October 13 – 20, 2005

Writer in Residency on Toronto Island

For the upcoming, 2005-06 season, Native Women in the Arts continues our Writer in Residency to stimulate Aboriginal women’s academic writing on art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous Peoples.

PURPOSE:
• To generate written material on subjects pertinent to art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous peoples.
• To support Aboriginal Women writers by providing a one or two week residency in order to create or complete publishable academic works.

For more information, please contact Native Women in the Arts at 416-598-4078 or email: info@nativewomeninthearts.com

>> Friday September 30 at 8 pm

Catalyst Café

An Evening of Comedy with Don Burnstick

The talented and humorous Don Burnstick has established himself as one of Canada's best comedians. His highly acclaimed comedy show “You Might be a Redskin – Healing Through Native Humour”, is a comedic performance, that humorously portrays First Nations people, their habits, likes and dislikes.

Don is a Cree from the Alexander First Nation located in Alberta, Canada. The youngest of 15 children, coupled with the fact of growing up on the reserve, taught Don a variety of means of defending himself, not the least of which became his use of humour.

“After all that we have gone through, we have never lost our sense of humour and it’s time to share that. This is the spirit of healing and the essence of my performance.” Don Burnstick

Catalyst Cafés are participatory performance cafés that stimulate the appreciation of Indigenous artistic & cultural expression, creative and intellectual courage, and civic engagement.

Please join us - everyone is welcome.

DATE: Friday September 30, 2005 at 8 pm
PLACE: NOW Lounge
189 Church Street
(N.E. corner of Church St & Shuter St)
COST: $10. per person
Scrumptious food and Refreshments

RSVP: info@nativewomeninthearts.com or call 416-598-4078

>> Release Date: September 25, 2005

Sky Woman: Indigenous Women Who Have Shaped, Moved or Inspired Us

Nearly 40 writers and visual artists are represented from 22 nations from across Canada, United States, Mexico, Pacific Islands and Japan. This anthology includes works from BUFFY STE. MARIE, JEANNETTE ARMSTRONG, LEE MARACLE, JOY HARJO, and DAPHNE ODJIG.

Other contributors include: Kathy Ainsley, Christi Belcourt, Sally-Jo Bowman, Nicola Campbell, Qwo-Li Driskill, Chisato Dubreuil, Carla Gilday, Maya Gonzalez, Barbara-Helen Hill, Merlin Homer, Jessie Housty, Maria Hupfield, Debra Isabel Huron, Jane Inyallie, Nehi Katawasisiw, Birdy Market, Catherine McCarty, MariJo Moore, Gloria Okeynan Sutherland, Rafaela Perales, Beverlee Pettit, Richie Plass, Marcie Rendon, Janet Marie Rogers, Marlene Rogers, Alexis MacDonald Seto, April Severin, Moneca Sinclaire, Patricia Teichert, Ardith Walkem, and Penny E. Youngreen

WOMAN ANTHOLOGY
ISBN 1-894778-19-7
PB 6.75 X 9.75 160PP
$24.95 CDN
$20.95 USD

Co-published by Native Women in the Arts and Theytus Books
To order: order@theytusbooks.ca
or call 250-493-7181 ext. 32

>> Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005.

Catalyst Cafe

Thursday Sept 22, 2005 from 6 pm - 8 pm

Singing Home the Bones

Gregory Scofield is a Metis poet, writer, activist and community worker whose maternal ancestry can be traced back five generations to the Red River Settlement and to Kinesota, Manitoba. He has published four much-praised and award-winning books of poetry as well as a memoir, Thunder in My Veins: Memories of a Metis Childhood. Gregory often mixes autobiographical themes with passionate and gritty, sometimes gut wrenching images. A dynamic and exciting poet, Gregory also teaches First Nations and Metis poetry at Brandon University in Manitoba.

Catalyst Cafés are participatory and performance cafés that stimulate the appreciation of Aboriginal artistic & cultural expression, creative & intellectual courage and civic engagement.
Please join us - everyone is welcome.

DATE & TIME:
September 22nd from 6 pm - 8 pm

PLACE:
Women’s Art Resource Centre Gallery
(401 Richmond St West, Suite 122)
Spadina & Richmond West
Scrumptious Food & Refreshments will be served.
Pay What You Can, Suggested Donation $10.

>> Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005.

Catalyst Cafe

Wednesday June 22, 2005 at 6:30 pm - 8: 00 pm

Beauty, Creation, and Ceremony with Jan Kahehti:io Longboat

Native Women in the Arts' Catalyst Cafes stimulate:
• creative courage
• civic engagement
• appreciation of Aboriginal arts and culture
• community cultural transformation

Jan Kahehti:io Longboat is Turtle Clan from the Mohawk nation. She is a keeper of Indigenous Knowledge in terms of Medicines, Teachings, and the Roles & Responsibilities of Women. She has worked extensively in many Native communities sharing the traditional teachings of herbs and medicines. She works with a holistic concept of healing, and has been studying traditional herbs and medicines for over twenty-five years. She has recently concluded a traditional based five-year program that helped Native women heal from the inter-generational impacts of residential school called the Idawadadi project.

Date: Wednesday June 22, 2005
Time: 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Place: A-Space Gallery
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 110
Pay What You Can, Suggested Donation $10.
Refreshments & Snacks

EVERYONE IS WELCOME

Please RSVP to info@nativewomeninthearts.com or call 416-598-4078 to reserve your seat.

>> Thursday, May 19th, 2005.

Connecting to Community Series with Susan Aglukark

>> Thursday, March 24, 2005.

An Encounter with Alanis Obomsawin

>> Saturday, March 5, 2005. (12 noon - 6 pm)

Symposium on Indigenous Cultural Management

Co-presented by Native Women in the Arts and the Centre for Indigenous Sovereignty, this critical Symposium will feature three outstanding Aboriginal leaders who will share their insight and vision on the subject of cultural approaches to management based on fundamental Indigenous principles and models of leadership. This Symposium will look at Indigenous cultural approaches to management, community inter-relationships, decision-making, capacity-building, and nurturing healthy arts and cultural leaders and organizations.

Speakers include: Sylvia Maracle, Gordon Peters and Amos Key Jr.

Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Toronto
750 Spadina Avenue (South West corner of Spadina and Bloor)
Cost $15 per person.

Please RSVP at 416-598-4078 or email info@nativewomeninthearts.com

>> Wednesday, October 27, 2004.

Native Women in the Arts and Images Festival invite you to meet the extraordinary Georgina Beyer, M.P. direct from New Zealand.

Screening and Conversation with Georgina Beyer (Maori)

Wednesday October 27, 2004 at 7 pm at the Al Green Theatre (JCC Bloor)
750 Spadina Avenue (Spadina & Bloor), Toronto.

Direct from New Zealand, Georgina Beyer is of Maori descent and a member of Parliament. As the first transsexual in the world elected to national office, Georgie Girl, an award winning documentary chronicles her life journey from sex trade worker to national leader.

Directed by Annie Goldson and Peter Wells, Georgie Girl follows Georgina's path from a farm in Taranaki, through the streets and nightclubs of Wellington and Auckland, to the highest offices of power in New Zealand, from boy to transvestite to woman.

Georgie Girl is a highly crafted, textured documentary, with both the style and the outreach of its central character who relates her remarkable story with humour, wryness and at times, sorrow. Georgina is a charismatic and spontaneous speaker known for her oratory in and out of Parliament.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased from Native Women in the Arts at 416-598-4078. Reception to follow.

>> Friday, October 22, 2004.

A Testament to the Power and Potential of Aboriginal Women
an Aboriginal Leadership Intensive with Georgina Beyer, M.P. (Maori)

This one-day training intensive will invite Aboriginal people to explore issues pertaining to Aboriginal leadership and developing personal leadership styles. It will encourage Aboriginal women, men and youth to rescue their roles as central leaders and contributors to their families, places of work, communities and nations.

This one-day training will cover the themes of:
• Indigenous and mainstream forms of governance;
• Development of leadership;
• Influencing decision making;
• The importance of art and culture
• Women's roles in Aboriginal political process.

Georgina Beyer, M.P. is of Maori descent and a Member of Parliament. Georgina is a dynamic and passionate speaker and an internationally renowned advocated on Aboriginal issues that pertain to leadership, sexuality, arts, culture and community.

2pm-6pm
The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto in the Talking Room
(16 Spadina Road, just north of Bloor, 2nd Floor)
Registration Fee: $25

>> Wednesday, October 20, 2004.

Catalyst Cafe

Wednesday October 20, 2004 at 7:00 pm

A Journey From Sex Trade Worker to National Leader
with Georgina Beyer, M.P., direct from New Zealand.

Native Women in the Arts' Catalyst Cafes stimulate:
• creative courage
• civic engagement
• appreciation of Aboriginal arts and culture
• community cultural transformation

Cataylst Cafes are open to EVERYONE and are Pay What You Can.
Suggested Donation $10.

Tallulah's Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street (just north of College near Yonge)
Co-presented by Native Women in the Arts & Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

>> September 29, 2004.

ANNOUNCING OUR 2004 WRITER IN RESIDENCE on the Toronto Island

Barbara-Helen Hill

Native Women in the Arts has created a writer in residency to stimulate Aboriginal women's academic writing on art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous Peoples.

ABOUT BARBARA-HELEN HILL 
Barbara-Helen Hill, MA, is a multi-media artist and author of the book Shaking the Rattle Healing the Trauma of Colonization, now in its second printing. She is also published in Gatherings VI through X that are anthologies by Native North American and Indigenous people, published by Theytus Books. Helen received her Certificate of Creative Writing and Visual Arts at the En‚owkin Centre in British Columbia and her BA in Native American Aesthetics ˆ Creative Narrative from SUNY Buffalo. After receiving her MA in American Studies at SUNY Buffalo, she continues to write and pursue her art.

ABOUT HER RESIDENCY
Helen will be using the Writer in Residency to re-evaluate and complete her work "Healing the Spirit -- How We Can Learn From Each Other; Studies in Anti-Racism Literature and Creative Writing", which combines literature, creative writing and narrative essay to teach anti-racism and creative writing. The completion of her residency will produce a book to be utilized in university settings, as well as be accessible to a diverse audience outside of an academic setting.

THE PURPOSE of Native Women in the Arts' residency is:
To generate written material on subjects pertinent to art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous peoples. To support Aboriginal Women writers by providing a residency in order to create and complete publishable academic works. Hosting a discussion group with the writer in residence and the larger Aboriginal, arts and cultural communities.

Our next deadline for the Writer in Residence will be August 1, 2005

>> September 8, 2004.

Catalyst Cafe
stimulating creative courage, civic engagement, appreciation of Aboriginal
arts & culture, and community cultural transformation

Wednesday September 8 at 5:30 pm
"Impoverished Thinking & How it Impacts the Creative Process"
Dr. Mona Stonefish (Pottawatomi-Mohawk of Kahnawake) has advocated on
behalf of Aboriginal people in the past fifty years primarily in the areas
of human rights, restorative justice, education, and good medicine. She is
an academic with a strong foundation of spiritual values, a respected
Elder and Senator.

>> August 14, 2004.

>> July 19 - 30, 2004.

6 Arias from the 6 Directions (Phase I)
Native Women in the Arts and Canadian Stage co-produced the first phase of 6 Arias from the 6 Directions. Six creators/writers/performers from the Yukon, Manitoba, Ottawa, and Greenland joined forces to explore and create 6 new original pieces.

The 6 Arias from the 6 Directions honour the Aboriginal conception of the universe as we explore culture and art through individual creativity. These six powerful voices generated original material through exploration, structured improvisation, text, movement, storytelling, memory and culture guided by an outstanding Canadian Stage dramaturg.

NWIA is thrilled collaborate with Canadian Stage on this unique and distinctive project.

>> July 7, 2004.

Catalyst Cafe
Wednesday July 7, 2004 at 5:30 pm
"Reconstructing and Celebrating Aboriginal Women" with writer and educator Kim Anderson.
Kim is a Cree/Metis writer, editor and educator. She is the author of A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood and the co-editor with Bonita Lawrence of Strong Women Stories: Native Vision and Community Surviva Survival.

>> June 16, 2004.

Catalyst Cafe
esday June 16, 2004 at 5:30 pm
"First Peoples' Music, Radio Waves & Historical Roots" with Elaine Bomberry.
Elaine Bomberry is an Aboriginal arts activist, concert promoter and radio producer. Elaine is the producer of the Rez Bluez showcase concerts, former director of Aboriginal Talent Development for Aboriginal Voices Radio Network, and recently launched "The Aboriginal Music Experience," an award-winning three-part radio documentary series. Elaine was also instrumental in the creation of the "Best Music of Aboriginal Canada" category for the JUNO Awards.

>> May 29, 2004.

>> May 26, 27, 28, 2004

3-Day Physical Intensive for Dancers & Choreographers

Maddison Studios, Toronto.

Ten dancers, choreographers and actors participated in a 3-day physical investigation exploring the relationship of movement, energy, improvisation and technique as it relates to Traditional Dance forms, and
Contemporary Dance forms.

>> April 24, 2004.

Symposium on Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Cultural Expression
Co-presented by Creators‚ Rights Alliance (CRA) and Native Women in the Arts (NWIA)
Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Toronto
750 Spadina Avenue (South West corner of Spadina and Bloor)
Saturday, April 24, 2004 (12:30 pm ˆ 6:30 pm)

This symposium will address the pressing issues of honouring traditional knowledge and cultural expression, intellectual property, and capacity-building within our communities.

>> March 24, 2004

Catalyst Café with Elder Joanne Dallaire,
"Rediscovery of Our Cultural Identities".
Joanne Dallaire is from the Cree Nation of Attawapiskat, Ontario. She has been counseling, consulting and training for over twenty years. Her philosophy and practice is that each of us has a place and purpose. She walks with the seven grandfather teaching of honesty, humility,respect, courage, truth, love, and wisdom.

>> February 24, 2004

Catalyst Café with actress and Producer Jennifer Podemski,
"A Personal Journey to Producing a Television Series".
Jennifer Podemski is co-owner and operator of Big Soul Productions which most recently created and produced the television series Moccasin Flats on APTN and Showcase. Although Jennifer has been primarily an actor for the past fifteen years, she has split her time behind and in front of the camera over the past five years.

>> December 10, 2003.

Native Women in the Arts and 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations present a

TWO-SPIRITED CABARET
a one-off extravaganza with First Nations artists

Featuring
Gloria May Eshkibok
Billy Merasty
Nicole Tanguay
and Special Guest Mariko Tamaki
with Emcee Laverne Monette
and introductions by Art Zoccole, Executive Director
of 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations

Wednesday December 10th, 2003
Show starts at 8:00pm
at Tallulah's Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street (just north of College near Yonge)

TICKETS: $15 at the door OR call the box office
Refreshments are available.
General Seating

Box Office: (416) 975-8555

Native Women in the Arts will host a highly interactive information booth at the Canadian Aboriginal Festival on November 29 & 30, 2003 at the Sky Dome in Toronto. Over 3,000 visitors will drop by for raffles, prize giveaways, to purchase books, register for upcoming workshops, and to find out about past and future programming at Native Women in the Arts.

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