A Love Letter to Indigenous Artists
This is both a love letter to the Indigenous Artists who have supported, guided or offered me their wisdom as well as a reflection of the ways that spaces and organizations try to decolonize and Indigenize the art-making process. We don’t celebrate the living enough and this is my offering to them and the organizations I’m inspired by.
Soundstreams - Two Odysseys, photo by Dahlia Katz. Mask commissioned by Two Odysseys co-director Michael Greyeyes, created by Nisga’a carver Mike Dangeli.
To all and every Indigenous Woman, Matriarch, Two-Spirit, Knowledge-Keeper, Elder and Human-Being who has been a part of my life and journey: Chi Miigwech.
Finding joy during a time when arts organizations will often tokenize IBPOC artists, their bodies and their work can be, at best, very frustrating and taxing on our emotional state and well-being.
There’s so much joy and warmth that I’ve found in the faces, laughter and kindness offered to me by artists such as Yvette Nolan, Yolanda Bonnell, Brittany Ryan, Cole Alvis, Keith Barker, Jessica Carmichael, Aria Evans, Samantha Brown, Nicole Joy-Fraser, Deantha Edmunds, Ian Cusson, Kim Senklip-Harvey, Frances Koncan, Michelle Lafferty, Rebecca Cuddy, Marion Newman, Olivia C. Davies, Jani Lauzon, Robyn Grant-Moran, Rena Roussin, Theresa Cutknife, Tyler J. Sloane, Rawdna Carita Eira, Evan Korbut, Samay Arecentales Cajas, Raven Chacon, Heli Huovinen, Melody Courage, Pauline Shirt, and dozens of more Indigenous people who have impacted me, my career and my life in general. I’m sorry I haven’t named all of you but know that I think of you often.
At this point in my career, I’m involved with the Canadian Opera Company as part of their Circle of Artists. I’m joined by a whole family of Indigenous voices who are working to guide the COC in ways that it can do better by Indigenous people (and honestly, for any artists who feel ostracized by predominantly-white-institutions such as the COC). As well, I’m currently working on a new opera that’s being commissioned and supported by Loose Tea Music Theatre. Previously, I was interning in producing and ended up working on Two Odysseys (led by Soundstreams, Signal Theatre and the Beaivváš Sámi Theatre in Norway). I studied classical saxophone performance at the University of Toronto so one might guess that I never expected to end up so entrenched in the opera world.
Classical music school and any other art school teaching a specific art form doesn’t set you up to truly understand the complexities of working as a freelancer or about collaboration or the general admin that will take up a large portion of your time so you can do your taxes, write invoices and keep your schedule organized. The learning that happens when you take time to eat a meal with another artist is often more beneficial than the time you’ll spend studying the theoretical aspects of an art form. Dylan Robinson describes so well in his book Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies the lack of balance when Western art forms invite Indigenous artists into their space. The protocols in place are always from a Western viewpoint in this scenario. Why not reverse it? What happens when a project is Indigenous-led and we invite others into Indigenous spaces. The sharing of knowledge is so much different when it comes from a circle of Indigenous artists and non-Indigenous all sitting together.
The global pandemic has emphasized the best and worst traits in arts organizations and their leadership. I’ve participated in several fellowships, apprenticeships and programs to support my education and growth. During this time of stillness, I’ve been working on the technical parts of my artistic practice and have learned a lot about the leaders of some of these organizations.
Why Not Theatre (Toronto) is one of the leading and shining examples of what an organization, regardless of genre, should be doing. Led by Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernadez, Why Not is an organization that is working to support and ensure that equity-seeking voices (ie. IBPOC, MAD, Deaf, Neurodiverse, Disabled, Queer) are supported and given all of the space they want to take up with the resources to feel confident. As an organization, they have championed programs supporting artists and leaders through their ThisGEN Fellowship. Providing mentorship, funding for supplies and just overall emotional support, Why Not has shown that they are willing to do what artists have been asking of every organization in this city. Their staff have been learning ASL and took up equity training last year. Over the winter, they’ve been using their office to help the Encampment Support Network to collect donations. Making art is great but we need to be more supportive of all of our communities. It’s an absolute privilege to make art in our society and Why Not is a role model organization for other institutions.
Another organization whose work I want to highlight is Generator (Toronto). Their artist-producer resource website is a resource that I am constantly sharing with other artists and organizations. It contains so much knowledge regarding producing in a more general sense as well as the nuanced and important aspects of our work as producers and presenters. There are entire sections dedicated to how you can be a more inclusive and considerate producer, work about land acknowledgements and how to approach being more intersectional as well as resources for hiring ASL interpreters and working with the Deaf community. The list is ongoing and they’re always adding to it.
Finally, I want to speak about The Music Gallery (Toronto). This organization was created in the 70s and the transformation of this organization over time has been astronomical. Experimental music is such a loose and ever-changing changing term for a genre that doesn’t have a distinct image. This means that an organization can be quite intersectional in their programming if they chose to be. The Music Gallery was one of the first places I heard such a wide variety of music when I first moved to Toronto. It still surprises me how much this organization wants to redefine what new music, experimental music, creative music, avant-garde music, contemporary music, etc. etc. will look like in 2021 and the future. As a curator there, I have felt very supported by the space they have created (virtual and in-person) and the values that they present to the community. I’m inspired by the new leadership and the community support they offer. Through the Dandelion Initiative, the Music Gallery has offered free workshops to numerous community members and arts administrators.
The reason for naming these three organizations and highlighting the values and systems they’ve set up is because they all remind me so much of the values of Indigenous people that I’ve shared meals with. Indigenous ways of creating, knowing, and working have transformed and changed my artistic practice and producing practice. While capitalism has enforced a demanding constraint on our time and our resources, taking time to breathe and to reflect and to share a meal with other artists is often considered a luxury. Having an Elder present to remind us of the land we play on and having a space to smudge or practice ceremony shouldn’t be considered luxuries. These are common ways of grounding our work and grounding ourselves to the other artists in the space we share while working. All I want to do is to make art and feel safe, I want to support other artists so they can feel safe too.
Olivia Shortt (they/them: Anishinaabe, Nipissing First Nation)
Multidisciplinary Artist, Administrator, Producer, Curator, Composer