Arts workshops hosted for female Indigenous students

NEWS RELEASE

WHITE PINES COLLEGIATE AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

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My Life, My Community, My Ontario is an integrated arts workshop for Indigenous girls who attend White Pines 7-12 School in Sault Ste. Marie. The workshop started on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2017 and will occur during school hours for the rest of that week, ending on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.

This project, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council Creative Engagement Fund, is produced by the Female Eye Film Festival in collaboration with White Pines 7-12 School, Garden River First Nations and Batchewana First Nations and Women in Crisis Algoma.

Themes and social issues that will be presented to the young female students during the workshop include, your Indigenous identity can bring you strength and pride; you have the right to live free from violence and shame; through art and creative work, you can liberate yourself, communicate your messages and achieve social change.  

Students will participate in workshops involving mask-making and creative movement, film, photography, and soapstone carving while learning about important social issues.

The mask-making and creative movement will be integrated to create short performance pieces that will be filmed and photographed for public presentation in Sault Ste. Marie at a later date. Students will be given a copy of their finished works.

These short films and a documentary about this project will be premiered at the 16th annual Female Eye Film Festival and shared with community partners across Ontario and abroad at other international festivals. The goal is to help raise awareness about violence against Indigenous women.

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