Join us for Creative Reconciliation - A Series of Workshops at the Caetani Centre
Creative Reconciliation offers an in-depth exploration of syilx culture and practice. Held on the first Monday of every month from November, 2024 to March, 2025 (January’s workshop will be on the second Monday), each session provides a distinct opportunity to learn about respectful engagement with First Nation communities, experience traditional storytelling, understand cultural appropriation, and participate in environmental stewardship.
Interactive activities and thoughtful discussions will offer valuable insights into cultural respect and environmental care. Although each workshop is designed to stand alone, attendees are welcome to join any individual session or participate in the entire series.
Each workshop takes place at the Caetani Centre Gallery at 3401 Pleasant Valley Road, Vernon BC, on Monday afternoons from 1 to 4 PM.
Although each workshop is designed to stand alone, attendees are welcome to join any individual session or participate in the entire series.
The workshop are as follows:
Visitor Protocols - November 4, 2024
Captikwl Study: syilx storytelling - December 2, 2024
Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation of Culture - January 13, 2025
Love Letter to Mother Earth - February 3, 2025
Land Acknowledgements & Allyship - March 3, 2025
Meet the Facilitators:
Mariel Belanger (c̓ʕ̓n̓c̓ʕ̓an̓)
Mariel is a PhD Candidate and 2022-25 CGS SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship, the Teyonkwayenawá:kon – Queens University Graduate Scholarship, MFA SSHRC at UBC-Okanagan, UBC-Okanagan Aboriginal Fellowship, and Indian Brotherhood scholarship recipient who was awarded Outstanding Indigenous Masters Graduate Student at the 2018 International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry held at University of Illinois in Champaigne-Urbana. Belanger’s research Digital Embodied Story Practice as Indigenizing Research-Creation Methodology explores digital story-making to subvert coloniality and contributes to the growing body of interdisciplinary artistic scholarship that engages Indigenous community, language, and culture, as a bridge for society telling stories of our time.
Sienna Belanger-Lee
(x̌ixʷutəm, Shongswiigeezus)
Sienna (she/her) is from the Syilx and Anishinaabe Nations and was raised on reserve at Okanagan Indian Band, located at the head of Lake Okanagan. She is a student obtaining a bachelor's degree in the nsyilxcn/nqilxʷcn language through the Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency program at UBC-Okanagan. Sienna currently resides at nsisul̓aʔxʷ(dry creek) where she facilitates Indigenous planting opportunities as well as her digital arts, language learning, and horse culture.
Each workshop is by donation (a minimum of $5) or pay what you can. Please contact us at the Caetani Centre if you are requiring funding assistance.
Participants can register and pay online for individual workshops or the entire series of the Creative Reconciliation Workshops.
For more information, please contact the Caetani Centre at programs@caetani.org or call 250-275-1525.