For the third year in a row, Musqueam is partnering with the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on a free landmark cultural festival. ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) features two outdoor stages, featuring 16 performing acts.
“In our culture, fire is the centre of our longhouses, where our ceremonial work takes place,” Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow says in a news release. “Being called ‘toward the fire’ is a call to join us in this celebration of Indigenous talent and creative expression.”
Two Musqueam community members—Two-Spirit artist Manuel Strain and hip-hop and spoken-word artist Christie Lee Charles—will host the Indigenous-led festival again this year. It runs from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday (September 14) with free parking starting at 11 a.m. in the Rose Garden Parkade.
Alberta Métis songstress Celeigh Cardinal is one of the headliners. She and Toronto-based, Tataskweyak Cree Nation multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter and producer Sebastian Gaskin will play a live concert inside the Chan Shun Concert Hall. It begins at 5 p.m.
Cardinal recently released her third studio album, Boundless Possibilities. Her first full-length disc, Everything and Nothing at All, captured Indigenous Artist of the Year title at the 2018 Western Canadian Music Awards. The follow-up, Stories from a Downtown Apartment, won the Juno for Best Indigenous Album of the Year in 2020.
Gaskin’s debut album will be released by Ishkōdé Records and Universal Music Canada.
Fire is central to Musqueam culture
Earlier in the day, the River Grass Stage will feature Tsatsu Stalqayu / Coastal Wolf Pack, Digawolf, Fawn Wood, Sister Ray, Hayley Wallis, DJ Kookum and Sierra Baker (K̓esugwilakw), and MJScottS.
Meanwhile, the Cedar Grove Stage outside the Chan Centre lobby will offer a platform for poets, authors, and storytellers. Here, Massy Books has curated a youth poetry section themed around “Our Bodies a Megaphone” with Shawnelle Blackbird Riley (Anishinaabekwe), Valeen Jules (Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwaka’wakw), and Jaz Whitford (Secwe̓pemc and mixed settler).
There will also be children’s storytelling at the Cedar Grove Stage. Speakers include xʷməθkʷəyəm theatre and film artist and playwright Quelemia Sparrow and Haida educator and storyteller Kung Jaadee.
That’s not all. The Flag Pole Plaza will be the site of free skateboarding demos ad youth workshops. And inside the RBC Cinema, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival will curate give short Indigenous-made films geared toward youths and six films from its Elders program.
“This festival is a unique opportunity for Musqueam not only to meet, but to welcome a diverse group of Indigenous artists that we don’t often see in one lineup or in our territory,” Sparrow says. “hay ce:p q̓ə, thank you to everyone at the Chan Centre for their collaboration and for their work to make this festival happen.”
Musqueam and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts will present ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday (September 14). Follow Pancouver on X (formerly Twitter) @PancouverMedia and on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
