Walking the Elements: The Chu Niikwän Artist Residency is back at Arts Underground in Whitehorse
Rebecca Manias, Kim Roberts and Sheelah Tolton: Elemental Transformations. Works from Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Rebecca Manias, Kim Roberts and Sheelah Tolton: Elemental Transformations. Works from Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
The Friends of the Yukon Archives Society has organized a wonderful exhibit at Arts Underground on how visual arts have evolved in the Yukon over the years. It documents the lively traditions of art-making among First Nations people and, more recently, among settlers. Seeing this exhibit made us wonder what it was like to be …
Closeup of Velma Olson’s beadwork on Sidney Anderson’s 2015 graduation dress [one_half] To my mind, Honouring Our Future: Yukon First Nations Graduation Regalia is among the most important art exhibits to take place in the Yukon over the past 10 years. I invite you to consider the effects the art processes displayed have on the …
Rendezvous weekend takes place Feb. 26 to Feb. 28, with a mix of in-person and outdoor action.
Robyn McLeod’s dresses from her fashion collection, Dene Futurisms, are featured in this story, which is part of a series about the three Chu Niikwän residency artists and their work.
Chishti’s Then and Now: Water and a Name is the second in a series of stories featuring the Chu Niikwän artists and their work.
Many classic stories have food and drinks intrinsically linked to their narratives. The Whitehorse Public Library has taken this idea and run with it, creating Page to Plate – a series of workshops for youth linking literature and cooking.
The Masquerade Ball serves as YSR’s big Saturday event. Major Funk and the Employment will provide entertainment for the evening, and there will be dancing and a prize for the best dressed.
Standing outside in a parka in -35 isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, never mind standing outside in a sequined bodysuit. That’s why, this year, when Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous (YSR) hosts For the Love of Drag, it’s going to be a little more temperate for both the audience and the performers.
“When your Japanese lifetime is coming out, drink all the sake you want. Have a little bash.” This quote was made famous by spiritual teacher, Frederick Lenz. If you happen to be in Whitehorse on Feb. 28, you can follow his advice at Sake Fest. The first inaugural Sake Fest is being hosted at the Kwanlin …
Without volunteers the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival (YSR) would have never started, let alone gotten to its 56th year.
The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre is the place to be this February. That’s where the majority of events are taking place for the 2020 Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous (YSR).
The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre Sewing Group would like to encourage you to see their work in Indigenous Purpose, an exhibition featuring their nine dog blankets and two podium banners. It’s on display at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto until Jan. 5, 2020. It’s part of the Festival of Cool: The Arctic, which opens with a Dec. 10 …
As the holiday season rapidly approaches, Yukoners find themselves in the full swing of seasonal craft markets. One of the most highly-anticipated events in the calendar, and the largest in the 2019 season, is the 12 Days of Christmas Market, taking place this year from Dec. 12 to Dec. 23 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural …
Every holiday season the Challenge Disability Resource Group brings their clients together with business community supporters, funders and government officials, for the Challenge Annual Christmas Luncheon. This fully inclusive and barrier-free event is just one element of the myriad of work that Challenge does to support Yukoners with a disability. “We are a non-profit organization …
The Air North First Light Image Festival will compete with a Steven Page concert this year, but organizer Mark Kelly said ticket sales are already going strong for the photography fest, now in its third year. “We’re not sold out yet, but as of (April 8) the workshops are 70 per cent sold out and …
In the midst of Sourdough Sams, tattoo competitions, and beard and leg hair-growing contests, Yukon kids need a place to call their own during Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous.
Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous mainstage is indoors this year. “(Being inside) is definitely a change and I hope that people embrace it,”
When it comes to the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous lip sync competition, you might have to bring more of an A-game than you’d have to bring to a contest where you actually sing.
What do you wear to an outfitters ball? The two terms seem to be in contradiction to each other.
After eight years, the traditional Bachelor Auction is getting a makeover! The title sponsor, Beauty Bar Hair & Esthetics Lounge is proud to introduce the first Sourdough Sam Date-off & Auction.
It is no secret that without volunteers, there would be no Rendezvous. Each year hundreds of Yukon residents step up to continue a tradition that started over 55 years ago. It is these volunteers who contribute to the success of the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival and make it such a memorable event and experience. Rendezvous …
This year’s Spruce Bog Craft Fair features a wide array of crafts, from quilts that mirror paintings, to paintings that mirror nature, to knit designs that are seen in current fashion, or to locally-made gourmet coffee Spruce Bog. Two inspiring and motivational words that bring back many pleasant memories, both of crafting and shopping; they …
It’s (almost) that most wonderful time of the year … Read More »
Only two weeks to go until the 2018 Cranberry Fair, when, again, over 40 artists will gather to present the Yukon’s exceptional artistic craftsmanship.
Ulrike Levins (left) and others celebrate completing the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition’s Voices Influencing Change program PHOTO: Courtesy of Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition Life isn’t always kind and rosy. Each of us experiences things we would rather not and, as a result, have a story to tell. These challenges sometimes leave deep hurts, wounds and scars that …
The Yukon portion of Culture Days will happen at numerous locations around Whitehorse on the last weekend in September as part of a national effort to increase participation in arts and culture. The event was created in response to the success of Québec’s Journées de la culture weekend that first took place in 2007. Michelle …
Each year, in Whitehorse, the Northern Fibres Guild invites the world to one of the Yukon‘s most exclusive sales events—Cranberry Fair.
On May 25, students from all over the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories gathered in Whitehorse at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, in celebration of the forty-third annual First Nations graduation.
The 2020 Adäka Cultural Festival at its idyllic location, the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre located on Whitehorse’s beautiful waterfront.
It’s the longest day of the year, and what better way to appreciate this new Canadian statutory holiday than to visit local First Nations and to be part of this national celebration and enjoy live music, artist demonstrations, traditional food, ceremonies and more.
Owen Laukkanen is unabashedly a writer of commercial fiction, also known as “genre” fiction, having produced a novel every year since The Professionals came out (and was nominated for four major genre awards) in 2012.
The local writer selected to be a mentor at this year’s Young Authors Conference is Jamella Hagen, who teaches creative writing at Yukon College.
PHOTO: Dan Davidson The Yukon Writers’ Festival takes place May 2 through 5, with events throughout the Yukon In 1990, a number of organizations joined together to meld the Young Authors’ Conference and the National Book Festival into a farther reaching Yukon Writers’ Festival to highlight the Canadian literary arts in the Yukon. The …
Gearing up to explore ideas and the written word Read More »
Jay Gough of Nikon Canada, along with Trisha Gillings of Panasonic Canada (not pictured), will be on site all day with trade show style booths demonstrating their latest equipment, and delivering “Tech Talks” over the lunch hour It’s springtime in the Yukon and our days are getting longer, Yukoners are preparing for the summer season …
The Yukon’s inaugural 2018 Fur Ball is from the creative minds behind the UnFURled project, and will give Yukon fur-fans a chance to show off their styles.
The Frostbite Music Festival returns in 2018, on a new date, and has embraced the theme of rising from the ashes.
Mount Sima’s snow guns, ready for action at Shipyards Park Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous has partnered with Air North, the City of Whitehorse, Days Inn, Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre and Shaw Direct to keep a favourite Rendezvous event. Fourteen years ago Whitehorse artist Don Watts, an internationally-renowned snow carver, started the International Snow Sculpting Challenge and …
The Rendezvous event called Her Majesty’s Royal Feast is an elegant evening with a 5-course meal on Feb. 13 at the KDCC In its second year, Her Majesty’s Royal Feast was created to give the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Queen candidates a high class venue to deliver one of the most important components of the competition: …
The 2018 Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) features a strong Indigenous presence in this year’s films – and in the audience, with more than 40 guests attending from Outside.
Get your cameras rolling and warm up your gear because the annual Yukon 48-Hour Filmmaking Challenge starts on Friday, January 12. It’s a yearly team-up between the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture in Dawson City and the Yukon Film Society in Whitehorse. The event gives participants two days to complete a short film with …
Vendors and their crafting friends are gathering for The 12 Days of Christmas Market this December.
The Adäka Cultural Festival was nominated by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada for a 2015 Cultural Tourism Award.
James Bernard MacKinnon, commonly bylined as J.B. MacKinnon, will be coming to the Yukon from Vancouver to be the Yukon Public Libraries’ choice as a travelling writer to visit a number of communities during the Yukon Writers’ Festival taking place May 2-7. During his Yukon visit McKinnon will do presentations and readings in the Dawson …
The first days in the creation of the play Map of the Land, Map of the Stars took place in the summer of 2015 along the banks of the Yukon River. A group of artists gathered with stories, images, objects, and songs – items that they were drawn to and that were rooted in the …
Moses found nine other women to take on creating a dog blanket. The sewing group started up again in September, and they cut the materials out in October. She was happy she had such a good team of committed artists working with her. Each blanket takes many hours to design, bead and complete. They worked …
“Her Majesty’s Royal Feast is a brand new and exciting event,” says Dave Blottner, executive director of Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous. This event will feature a five course meal catered by six local restaurants, with a speech by the Rendezvous Queen and a string quartet. The event will take place at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre …
Arctic Secrets Directed by Allan Code, a Whitehorse based filmmaker, Arctic Secrets is a symphony of immensely strong and surprisingly fragile elements that comprise the wilderness of the Yukon Territory. Stunning imagery abounds in this visual adventure through its waters, mountains, and forests. Focusing mainly on the more arctic regions of the territory, Code and …
If you’ve always wanted the challenge of making a film in a short amount of time, here’s your chance. The Yukon 48 Hour Film Challenge, hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) and the Yukon Film Society, will once again be offering filmmakers of all ages a chance to test their mettle …
Yukon 48 hour Film Challenge Back Again this Year Read More »
From stunning jewelery, fine arts and unique crafts to quality prepared foods and personal care products hand made by Yukon artisans, the 12 Days of Christmas has become one of the largest Yukon craft fairs over the past decade. From its humble beginnings as a one day Christmas market in 2005 it has gradually grown …
Jess and Brady are happily married. Their love story began like many others – they got to know each other while working shifts together at the local movie theatre and feelings blossomed as they started spending more and more time together. It wasn’t long – four months to be exact – before Brady asked Jess’ …
Kaori Torigai loves beer in much the same way others love baseball. Or World of Warcraft. Like baseball, there are a mind-boggling array of statistics to consider. And, like World of Warcraft, there is a huge cast of characters. And, as in both baseball and World of Warcraft, beer is social, it can be shared …
The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, a cultural hub of our capital city, will see national delegates focused on aboriginal economic development arrive on Monday, October 3 for the CANDO 23rd annual conference: Partnerships for Prosperity, Change Collaboration and Opportunity. CANDO (Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers) is a federally registered, non-profit society that …
Ever since she was a little girl, Teva Harrison drew. She studied art after high school. But, as it often goes, “needing to make a living, I digressed.” After the explanation, Harrison laughs. A joyful, full, belly laugh. To make a living, she worked as the director of marketing for the Nature Conservancy of Canada. …
Our community will soon welcome an expected 100+ Indigenous curators, artists, and academics participating in the first northern gathering of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. The collective is a national service organization of Indigenous curators and artists from across this land now known as Canada. The collective was created in response to the dominating non-native curatorial …
Dennis Shorty created his first sculpture when he was eight years old. It was a moose carved out of poplar with a burbot fish skull for antlers and a bit of “fish glue” to hold them in place. He was proud of the sculpture and showed his father, Alec Shorty. Alec told the young carver …
Harlan Pruden and Marney Paradis are PhD program at UBC. Pruden gave a talk to a group of peers – including Marney – after class once. As Pruden describe it, upon hearing the presentation, Paradis’s mind was blown. Two-Spirit People, Then and Now: Sex, Gender and Sexuality in Historical and Contemporary Native America is the …
The Yukon is filled with culinary hidden gems, according to Eric Pateman. A culinary expert, Pateman had no idea how rich the Yukon food scene was until Debra Ryan, manager of strategic planning for Air North, finally persuaded him to visit. Now he is a main organizer of the Yukon Culinary Festival, running from August …
The Yukon Culinary Festival Tells a Story of the Yukon, Through Food Read More »
This year the Yukon Film Society (YFS) returns to the Adäka Cultural Festival with more First Nations programming. The collaboration between Adäka and YFS allows all the screenings to be free. Screenings run July 3 and 4 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre during the festival, which takes place July 1 to 7. Screenings begin …
2016 Adӓka Cultural Festival: Kaska drummer Dennis Shorty , Gwich’in fiddler Boyd Benjamin, & Inuit throat-singer Kathleen Merritt
Just when you think Yukon Pride is all about the party, the world reminds you that it’s not. Though the cheery posters and advertisements for 24+ Hours of Funky Gaylight promise a party not to be missed, they were created months before the shooting at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando reiterated there are still many …
Love, Honour, and Equality Under the Midnight Sun Read More »
On June 21st the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Society will be hosting National Aboriginal Day at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. The festivities are open to the public and will include games, music, food, kids activities and cultural displays. Krista Reid, the cultural programing coordinator for the society, says they are excited about this year’s event, …
I had a great chat recently with Heidi Loos. She is organizing the first Yukon Chalk Art Festival for Unlikely Events Yukon. The Festival will run June 11 and 12, 2016, 10 am. to 5 pm. at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre parking lot. Two workshops will take place at the parking lot of Dana …
Audience members with program “maps” in hand will be guided through the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for a unique performance adventure from Gwaandak Theatre, showcasing the spectacular riverfront and Yukon stories about who we are and where we come from. Gwaandak Theatre in association with the Yukon Arts Centre and Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC) …
Major Funk and the Employment is a big band with a big sound. It has some big changes since bassist Etienne Girard put the group together.
The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certificate program to foster the conscious development and design of eco-friendly architecture. It was launched 10 years ago, and pillars of performance include, site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty. Recently the Maori tribe Ngai Tûhoe completed the construction of New Zealand’s first living …
Japan is a country that is rich in history and has made quite the presence within popular Western culture. Think ninjas, samurai warriors, cherry blossoms, sushi, anime – the list goes on. On April 2 you can experience many of the wonderful things Japan has to offer at the festival hosted by the Japanese Canadian …
Often mistaken for the French version of the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival, Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), from March 3rd to 23rd, is a national initiative lead by the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue. The RVF is an event surrounding the Journée Internationale de la Francophonie (March 20), which is organized every year around …
It’s that time of year again, when it’s totally normal to see girls walking around in period costume, when men compete in beauty pageants, when that guy with the really long beard who comes into the restaurant you work at starts talking about the medal he hopes to win. And this year is no …
If you were on a committee to provide decorations for a dance, your shopping list will likely include balloons, streamers and crepe… lots of crepe. But not if you were decorating the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre for the Steampunk Ball 2.0 Tesla Boogaloo. Instead, you will need polished brass, iron, wood and leather for the …
This year marks the 14th anniversary of the Available Light Film Festival. Each year, the festival seems to grow and attract greater talent from a variety of places. This year also has a substantial amount of filmmaking workshops, some free and others requiring tickets. The festival’s keynote address will be from Dylan Marchetti, chief creative …
The Available Light Film Festival running Feb. 6–14 there will be showing films during the daytime, right in the middle of your lunch hour. So pack a sandwich or a smoothie and head over to either the Yukon Arts Centre or the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for some truly fascinating cinema. Here is a rundown …
Three of the country’s best storytellers will soon descend on Whitehorse for the Northern Lights Writers’ Conference. The conference features Terry Fallis, author of Best Laid Plans; Douglas Gibson, editor and publisher of luminaries such as Alice Munro; and hometown hero Ivan Coyote. The theme is The Storytellers. Douglas Gibson wasn’t always a storyteller by …
For years Canadian cinema was referred to as invisible cinema for its lack of global impact and struggle to compete with Hollywood’s massive export of blockbuster films. Each year film festivals around Canada aim to disprove this notion and push the potential and visibility of Canadian cinema to other parts of the world – and …
This year’s Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) features a series of films draw audiences’ attention to the experiences of life in the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The North on Screen series comprises a third of the Yukon Film Society’s 14th Annual film festival, which runs Feb. 7 to 14 in Whitehorse. Nunavut Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) returns …
Available Light Film Fest shines on Canada’s North Read More »
In a community as small as the Yukon, when people begin to stand together, change is a very real possibility. The 2015 annual 12 Days to End Violence Against Women campaign launches on Nov. 25. During these 12 days Whitehorse residents will come together in support of women in our community and take a stand …
Montreal filmmaker Maxime Grioux’s 2014 film, called Félix et Meria, is a forbidden love story – and it has been earning wide acclaim. It has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category, and it has already won Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It …
The systems of the Earth are inextricably interwoven – be they environmental, social, or economic. Naomi Klein, bestselling author of This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, and No Logo, believes that the capitalist model of economics is at odds with the healthy functioning of all other systems on Earth. Klein says that capitalism is a …
Yukon First Nations are planning ways to offer authentic cultural experiences for visitors. The plan to bolster cultural tourism among the Yukon First Nations has been in the works for a while, but this week people from across the Yukon Territory are getting together for a conference in Whitehorse to discuss ways to strengthen this …
Many Yukoners are involved in global issues and a series of talks at the Kwanlin Dϋn Cultural Centre brings their international experiences home. The Yukon Development Education Centre is hosting the free lectures in Whitehorse called the Sustainable Global Development Speaker Series. Presented on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m., themes include climate change, gender …
Gary Bailie has taken a personal tragedy and turned it into the fuel that powers him to produce the popular Blue Feather Music Festival. Now in its 15th year the annual music event was never meant to be the large-scale music festival it has become. It initially began as a celebration of life for Bailie’s …
The Yukon Rendezvous Society is throwing a Halloween dance party again this year, and the theme is Back to the Future Part II. The trippy concept is that in 1989, when Back to the Future Part II came out, our man Marty (Michael J. Fox) time-travelled to the future and landed in 2015. And now …
On Oct 31st Whitehorse residents will have a chance to work up a sweat to some sweet electronica tunes at the second annual Masq dance party. There will be a full bar, photo booth, catering, music and a costume contest with prizes from Air North, Earl’s and Yukon Brewing. The event is a fundraiser for …
My dance practice is rooted in uncultivated, wild, outdoor spaces. I often perform site-specific dances outdoors for audiences and/or camera. However, my latest collaborative project, Ramble (45 min), was performed last month inside a black box theatre in a busy city (Toronto), within a busy theatre and dance festival (the 25th edition of SummerWorks). …
An ambitious pan-Northern ensemble of seasoned musicians from all three territories will make its debut in Whitehorse next week as one of the performance highlights of the fifth annual Adäka Cultural Festival. The New North Collective will bring together the songwriting and performing talents of four Yukoners, two residents of the Northwest Territories, and a …
I heard Theo Fleury speak at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse last summer during the Adäka Cultural Festival, but hadn’t had a chance to read his autobiography, Playing With Fire, until recently. I finished it quickly. He writes forcefully about his addictions and the abuse and neglect that underpinned them. Much of the …
Meet Jordi Mikeli-Jones — a renaissance woman. She is the owner of the popular Triple J’s Music, Tattoos and Piercing. She is president of Kona’s Coalition, a non-profit organization that works towards improving animal welfare in the Yukon. She was the first female resident DJ in Whitehorse, and she is the founder and promoter of …
It’s her first day on the job and Chantal Rondeau is starting with a list of the Yukon’s 14 First Nations. “I cross them off when I get a piece of their clothing on the runway,” she says. The producer of the Adäka Fashion Show, the splashy finale of the upcoming Adäka Cultural Festival, June …
Krista Reid has worked since last June to ensure the memorial exhibition known as Walking With Our Sisters would be “a space to create a personal journey” of awareness and healing. “It’s an opportunity for those who have been in violent situations, or have lost loved ones to violence, to provide a place of honouring, …
As a shout out to Gary Bob Joe Bremner’s love of specialty cocktails, I conducted our interview at Whitehorse’s newest, not-yet-open, cocktail-andwine bar, Woodcutter’s Blanket, on Strickland and 2nd (known to most as the two-moose building). The pews were just being set up when we arrived, but our place at the bar was ready for …
Leela Gilday recognizes how First Nations performers can inspire aboriginal youngsters, who seldom see “indigenous heroes”
Last November, Whitehorse entrepreneur Stephen Kwok Wai-Kan was in Vancouver in his part-time role as liaison officer between the Yukon and Chinese governments. When Her Excellency Lui Fei, China’s consul general in that city, asked if he’d be interested in having some Chinese performers come to Whitehorse to help celebrate the Chinese New Year, Kwok …
2013 Adäka Cultural Festival: 28 performance groups, 44 visual artists and 50 workshops over 6 days at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.
It can take approximately six days to hand-make a traditional pair of beaded moosehide moccasins. That’s why they cost about $250.But when you splurge on a pair your feet will be toasty warm and you’ll be walking around in artwork. During the Sourdough Rendezvous weekend, the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre is hosting a craft fair with …
Dawson’s first public library opened in a tent on Front Street in 1897, with 1,500 volumes donated by the Forty Mile Prospectors to “the mushing parson” S. Hall Young. By 1903, the venture evolved into the Standard Library Restaurant and Hotel, which offered “books, board, bed, bath and bar” and writing tables for miners to …
World of Words: The rugged history of Yukon libraries Read More »
Along with restoring the First Nations’ centre of learning to its traditional location, the new library in the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre realizes the vision of Yukon Public Libraries founder Bette Colyer: “To build an attractive, inviting environment where all community members could enjoy the pleasures of reading.” A hundred years ago, stampeders and shipbuilders …
After a rather busy weekend down at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Center for the Erik’s Main Event consumer electronics show, [what day are we on here?] we were unloading a large truck and as we looked up, there were the northern lights. While there are many avid aurora-watchers in the Yukon, I still find it …
Sitting in Starbucks with Mark Preston, it’s hard to shake the feeling of being in the artist’s own studio. Not only do the walls of the downtown café display several of his works, but Preston has a small laptop open in front of him, as he frequently does here, working on a new design. But …
Gary Bailie can’t keep the pride out of his voice as he guides a visitor around the imposing newKwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. As manager of the $25 million construction project, Bailie knows every inch of the 40,000 square-foot waterfront complex, built to resemble the cluster of buildings typical of many First Nation villages. The first …