Titiesg Wîcinímintôwak
Bluejays Dancing
Together Collective
October 7 - 27, 2017
Living Legacies: Two-Spirit Stories, seasons one and two, are Arts workshops centering the stories of Two-Spirit communities in Tkaronto. Over the past year, we worked together growing and making plant medicines; clay rattles and vessels; masks and cardboard body extensions for self-protection and expression; and writing as resistance. A specific performance and Treaty intervention took place at Spadina Museum to re-Indigenous this colonial location with deeper and stronger roots than currently being acknowledged.
Artists whose skills and leadership were crucial in this process include, Shane H. Camastro, Emma Allan, Krysta Williams, Zephyr McKenna, Kiley May, Willow Beyers, Joce Tremblay, Jamie Whitecrow, Ange Loft, Nicole Tanguay, Gein Wong, Melisse Watson, and Louis Esmé.
Please keep an eye out for upcoming programming for this exhibit, and in the larger community this month!
Nia:wen, Miigwec, Hiy Hiy, Anushiik, Wado, Wela’lioq to our entire community who came and made things, shared stories and songs, collaborated openly, listened deeply, grew things; to our broader community of mentors, elders, grandparents and teachers who provided care and love to midwife a project of this kind; to the children who spent their precious time with us in delight, wonder and honesty; to settler friends for supporting behind the scene; to the Land, Water, Fire and Air who create us new each day.
Nia:wen, Miigwec, Hiy Hiy, Anushiik, Wado, Wela’lioq to Native Women in the Arts, Toronto Birth Centre, Community One Foundation, Toronto Arts Council – Animating “Historic” Sites, Jumblies Theatre, Diane Frankling Housing Coop, Tollkeeper’s Cottage, Sketch Working Arts, and Whippersnapper Gallery – PEERS Projects for providing space, kind words, generous funding and institutional support for this work.
A specific shoutout to Ogimaa Mikana: Reclaiming/Renaming for the ongoing, profoundly important work you’re doing which allows all us urban neechies to breathe deeper, take up more physical space and see our stories reflected in the Land through the language.
>>Who we are
Titiesg Wîcinímintôwak // Bluejays Dancing Together is an arts collective by and for Two-Spirit artists operating since 2012. We are an oral tradition that gathers voices, knowledge, stories and desires for re-urbanized Two-Spirit people and our relations. Central to our work is sharing knowledge, skills and experiences to root our stories in the present moment, with an understanding that we are people with long histories on Turtle Island (North America).>>Accessibility information
If you have any *specific* accessibility requests, please email: 2spiritskillshare@gmail.com
>>Indigenous Sign Languages and/or American Sign Language Interpretation
We do have a small budget for disability and deaf accommodations, though are committed to making sure community members are prioritized who would like to attend events. Please contact us directly to make arrangements.>>Active Listeners, Medicines and Helpers
If you find that you need support to attend, or to stay at an event, we will have some options available. As with all other accommodations, we are open to having conversations to figure out how best to meet your needs.—
This project is funded by the Toronto Arts Council Animating Historic Sites Grant in partnership with the Spadina Museum and Community One Foundation and Whippersnapper Gallery’s PEERS PROJECTS Program, which is generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Benefit.
