The City of St. Catharines and FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre have been nationally recognized for Celebration of Nations gathering of Indigenous arts, culture and heritage.
They accepted a Cultural Event Award from the Creative City Network of Canada alongside Artistic Director Michele-Elise Burnett, and Artistic Producer Tim Johnson at the Creative Cities Summit in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Celebration of Nations is held annually at the PAC in early September.
The weekend gathering offers a unique blend of both traditional and contemporary Indigenous perspectives.
Local residents and visitors can reflect on an Elder’s shared wisdom by the Sacred Fire as the sun rises, try their hand at a traditional craft, and get a better sense of the lived Indigenous experience.
“Celebration of Nations is a successful model of a partnership between the PAC and leadership from the Indigenous community and it has had an astoundingly positive impact on the social cohesion of our community,” said Mayor Mat Siscoe.
The CCNC Awards of Excellence are presented annually to celebrate achievements of Canadian municipalities in cultural programming.