NAC INDIGENOUS THEATRE TAKES AUDIENCES ON A JOURNEY OF MEMORIES AND STORIES WITH INDIGENOUS CITIES 
Annual audio-based storytelling experience launches in three cities for inaugural year  
 
June 3, 2021 – OTTAWA (Canada) – In honour of National Indigenous History Month, the NAC Indigenous Theatre is proud to announce a new annual theatrical adventure titled Indigenous Cities, an audio-based experience that will take audiences on a unique and personal journey through city landscapes. 

Indigenous Cities is a series of place-based aural offerings, gifted from the memories of Indigenous community members and interpreted by Indigenous artists, each recounting a history, a moment or a feeling connected to a specific place. 

For this inaugural year, audiences can listen to work offered by artists based in Vancouver, Saskatoon and Ottawa-Gatineau, with a total of 15 stories available free online through Indigenouscities.ca. Listeners from across the country can choose to follow as many stories as they wish on their journey, using their personal listening devices. Local audiences can experience offerings on location in each city, if provincial restrictions allow, or join national audiences in experiencing the stories in the comfort of their own home using virtual maps online.

“Indigenous Cities celebrates the work of Indigenous artists in this uncertain time, and it is work that can be undertaken safely at home during the pandemic,” said NAC Indigenous Theatre Artistic Director Kevin Loring. “The project will impact our national consciousness by highlighting Indigenous stories from the cities we all share. All of our cities occupy the traditional lands of Indigenous people, and these stories will reveal the connections Indigenous people have to these places. Indigenous Cities will offer a space for Indigenous recollection and perspectives that can be shared with Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences.”

NAC Indigenous Theatre has partnered with Savage Society in Vancouver and Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre in Saskatoon, and has collaborated with local artists Brittany Johnston and Jaime Morse to curate the experience in Ottawa-Gatineau. Each city will feature five narratives that celebrate Indigenous storytelling and reveal untold histories of the monuments and skylines that are passed every day.

Indigenous Cities will launch stories over three weeks, beginning June 3 in Vancouver, followed by June 10 in Saskatoon, and June 17 in Ottawa-Gatineau. In addition, accessible components of Indigenous Cities will be available and will continue to be developed and offered in the months to come. This year is just the beginning, as Indigenous Cities will continue to feature stories from across the country in future seasons. 
 
Visit Indigenouscities.ca for more information. 
 

INDIGENOUS CITIES SCHEDULE  
 
The story audio will be released on the following dates for each respective city. 
 
Vancouver – beginning June 3, 2021 
An NAC Indigenous Theatre and Savage Society co-presentation 

featuring stories by Olivia C. Davies, Ronnie Dean Harris, Chief Kwakwee Baker, Quelemia Sparrow, and Russell Wallace. 
From the shores of skwtsa7s (Island of Dead Men), to the banks of the Sto:lo (Fraser River), Indigenous Cities is a collection of stories revealing the land they are from. These stories hold the wisdom of sχʷəy̓em̓ (ancient stories), historical knowledge, and personal experience long obscured by the city landscape. Through music, sound, and storytelling, each unique offering, curated by Indigenous artists and memory holders, evokes connection and invites interaction with the traditional landscapes of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Qiqéyt (Qayqayt), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Katzie, Kwantlen, sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie) Nations. 

Island of Dead Men -  Chief Kwawee Baker 
I am Here Grandmother - Olivia C Davies
The Promise 1864 - Ronnie Dean Harris
Məθkʷəy̓ - Quelemia Sparrow 
The Boy Who Will Wander -  Russell Wallace 

Saskatoon – beginning June 10, 2021 
An NAC Indigenous Theatre and Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre co-presentation  
featuring stories by Jennifer Dawn Bishop, Shawn Cuthand, Daniel Hanover Knight, Lancelot Knight, and Zoey Roy.  
 
Tales of love, loss, healing and perseverance. Every day, we walk the streets of Saskatoon, pass by landmarks unaware of the stories of people who’ve gone before. We invite you to peel back the pavement for tales of the impact and meaning this land holds. From the banks of the South Saskatchewan River to the inner-city streets, our story keepers share their connection to this place we call home.  

Gordon – Jennifer Dawn Bishop 
The Buffalo Bone Trade – Shawn Cuthand  
Hidden Future – Lancelot Knight
Stronger Alone – Daniel Hanover Knight  
Sister and I – Zoey Roy 

 Ottawa-Gatineau – beginning June 17, 2021 
featuring stories by Craig Commanda, Larissa Desrosiers, Alanis King, Amanda Rheaume, and Emily Marie Seguin. 
 
What is now called the nation’s capital has been known by many for its rich history and recognizable monuments. But what stories have so far gone untold? What knowledge is embedded in the foundations of this territory? From Akikodjiwan to Kijik Pikwadin, and along the Kichizibi, a collection of moments both personal and historical examine deep connections recalled through song, poem and memory.  

Akikodjiwan - Craig Commanda  
Found - Larissa Desrosiers  
To Nozhem - Alanis King   
I’ll Be Right By Your Side - Amanda Rheaume 
In Honour of Her; A Love Letter to Aki - Emily Marie Seguin   

 The stories will remain on the NAC website for audience enjoyment after each city’s launch.  
 
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS 
 
The National Arts Centre Foundation wishes to acknowledge the support of TD Bank Group and the Slaight Family Foundation, Major Partners of Indigenous Programming. 

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE 

The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams—the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety—and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation. 
 
ABOUT SAVAGE SOCIETY 
 
Telling our own stories based on myth, tradition, and the contemporary Indigenous perspective, Savage Society was created in 2004 for members to produce their own stories as practising Indigenous Theatre and Film Artists. Artistic Director Kevin Loring is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia. Our focus is on developing work that reflects our worldview, sourcing traditional stories and cosmologies and our contemporary realities as Indigenous people for public dissemination in both professional theatre venues and community settings, and apply different approaches appropriate to those environments. 
Savage Society operates on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), Qayqayt, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem ), Kwantlen and sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen) Nations. 
 
ABOUT GORDON TOOTOOSIS NIKANIWIN THEATRE

Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre's mission is to produce and present innovative cultural theatre experiences that engage and empower First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth, artists and the greater Saskatchewan community.