August 10, 2010

Summer productions enjoy highest attendance in a decade!

As we enter the final week of our summer performances for 2010, attendance has been the highest we have experienced in almost a decade. We attribute this to supportive weather – rough waters and dark skies in the daytime to draw in the matinee audience, and clear skies at night to draw in the mainstage audience. And, of course, the excellent work on stage feeds the word of mouth referrals.

The 6 Foot Project – Conversations with the Land
An Environmental Art Project for All Islanders

Dear Fellow Manitoulin Islanders,

Debajehmujig is excited to be able to invite you to participate in The 6 Foot Project, a project that is meant to daylight, celebrate and bring together the many diverse relationships that Islanders have with the land that we share. If you are a farmer, fisher, painter, writer, teacher, mechanic; if you’re in Wiky, Gore Bay, Sheshegwaning, all the way to Meldrum Bay, in town or in the bush; if you’re 83, 42 or 7; if you’re a man, woman, or child who loves this land, Manitoulin Island, please share this love. Take part in The 6 Foot Project!

The League of Cultural Emancipators Banner Exhibition
K.B Reynolds Mastin Gallery
Continues until August 20, 2010

The League of Cultural Emancipators is a celebration of more than 40 community members represented on 24 hand painted banners, who have contributed to the freeing of our culture over the last 50 years. The Debajehmujig Theatre Group recognize that they have the opportunity to live their lives today as full-time practicing Anishnaabek artists because of the hard work, endless commitment, and visionary inspiration of a great many people. These people have laid the groundwork and re-opened the doors on our cultural practices, our stories and knowledge, and our celebrations.

Over the last 5 decades, there have been hundreds of community members who have dedicated their lives and careers to the vitality of our culture. Their contributions are as unique as they are, and the selection represented on our banners demonstrates that it takes all kinds of people doing all kinds of things to keep a culture alive. It takes leadership to organize and then to help sustain the organizations. It takes educators to learn and then to share and then to learn some more. It takes artists to interpret and to re-interpret, so that our celebrations are always relevant in today's world. And it takes activists to step forward and speak out and helpers to step back and support from behind.

Debajehmujig Theatre Group is proud to collaborate with One Light Theatre in Halifax to present the conference portion of PRISMATIC 2010: OCTOBER 10-17

Prismatic brings new works by culturally diverse and Aboriginal artists into the spotlight. The mandate of this initiative is to promote the pursuit of artistic excellence and ongoing organizational sustainability through collaboration, innovation and dialogue.

Prismatic: performance, networking, forward thinking.

Canada’s artistic community is full of colour, brilliant, and prismatic. Join us in Halifax in October 2010 to celebrate the talents and vision of Canada’s leading culturally diverse and Aboriginal artists and to engage in stimulating dialogue about developments in Canadian arts and culture.

Prismatic 2010 will feature innovative new works presented throughout the community in free and ticketed events, culminating in a spectacular showcase performance. This event is a significant opportunity for Nova Scotian audiences to connect with artists from a variety of disciplines, including dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Prismatic 2010 promises to be a stimulating arts experience.

Together with participants from across the country, we will explore the complex histories and experiences of Canada’s Aboriginal and culturally diverse artists with a view to establishing common areas for advocacy, artistic and professional collaboration and organizational sustainability.

Prismatic promotes the pursuit of artistic excellence through collaboration, innovation and dialogue.

For more information please visit www.onelighttheatre.com

An Honour Story
Holy Cross Mission Ruins, Wikwemikong

There was a time not too long ago when the drum could only be heard in the distance. The people knew it was out there somewhere…but where? And who were those people banging on the drums - Indians perhaps? What did it mean?

The hunger drives the misplaced spirit of a people to search frantically for the sound of the drum.  One by one people begin to find the sound and realize it is their own heart beat.

‘An Honour Story’ celebrates the people who fought hard for the reclamation of our identity - not as ‘Indians’ but as ‘Anishnaabek’ - transforming the sound of the distant drum into the heartbeat of our communities.

Preview - Friday, July 23 at 8pm (Half-Price)

Opens Saturday, July 24th and runs until Saturday, August 14, 2010
Evenings at 8:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturday at the Holy Cross Mission Ruins, Wikwemikong

Ticket Prices

Adults $25.00
Student/Elders $20.00
Children 12 and under $10.00

For ticket information, please call (705) 859-1820

2010 Summer Season – Matinee Double Bill


The Descending Star

Escape reality and enter a world of colour and imagination.  Descending Star will have you experiencing the beauty and magic of storytelling as our ancestors experienced it.  A time when a community was a community, when war and hunger were unknown and everyone lived in harmony. 

Watch as the star in the far south dances its way from shining brightly in the sky to finding its place in the hearts of children. 
 

Thunderers and Water Monsters - Amazing But True Stories

Come and be transported back to a time and place when people were aware that their life was influenced by forces greater than themselves. They were simply witnesses - and at times the playthings - of energies and entities far greater and far more mysterious than mere mortals.

The traditional Ojibway life-world, expressed in stories passed down through generations, is alive with the presence of other-than-human people – the Manitouk.  Be brave! Come find out how unimportant we humans really are, and who is actually setting the stage upon which we dance.

Larry E Lewis Studio
Debajehmujig Creation Centre, 43 Queen Street, Manitowaning

July 13 - August 14, 2010
Matinees at 2:00pm Tuesday thru Saturday
 

Ticket Prices
Adults $20.00
Student/Elders $15.00
9-12 years $10.00
8 and under $5.00

For tickets and information, please call (705) 859-1820

May 26, 2010

Pictured at right is the Mastins General Store at 43 Queen Street as it appeared during the middle of the last century.

By this time, it had already established itself as a place for social convergence, bringing together people from the neighbouring communities of Manitowaning and Wikwemikong.

May 7 – June 5, 2010

Textile Art Exhibition by Bill Shawanda

Aanii. I am Bill Shawanda, an Artist, a Designer and a Story Teller, living in the remote.  I have been on a journey with Debajehmujig Theatre Group for many seasons. While on this path I have been given many gifts and opportunities.  Debajehmujig has given to me the worlds of Costume, Performance, Historical and Cultural Teachings, Travel, Meeting and Learning from other Artists and Stories.  All of these stitched together have designed who I am today. 
Now I feel the need to patch together my journey as an artist and share what I have learned.  My environment, my experiences and my imagination have given birth to my art.  Each influence in the process including my inspiration, my creative process and the stories surrounding my vision will all have their role in the exhibition.

May 5, 2010

Debajehmujig is pleased to perform its final show of The Indian Affairs for guest students and teachers from St Charles Collegiate and Marymount College in Sudbury, as well as from Wasse Abin High School in Wikwemikong. In addition, several out of town guests from Thunder Bay also had the chance to see the show.

April 10 – 19, 2010

After seeing the production “Our Relations” at the United Chiefs and Council of Manitoulin conference, Chief Gary Allen of Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation (located just outside of Fort Frances Ontario), contacted Debajehmujig with an interesting and unique request, which had us excited from the start.
 
His community was exploring the implications of switching from the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) electoral system of governance to a traditional system of governance, (i.e. the Clan System or perhaps a family representational system). His request was that Debajehmujg come to Nigigoonsiminikaaning and consult with the community to get an idea of some of the challenges that may arise when implementing either of the new systems of governance. After the research we were then to develop a presentation to animate and explicate back to the community some of our discoveries around the issues that were raised by the community.