Jim Chism is busy digging through boxes and opening files filled with documents and photographs when I meet him at the Waskaganish Cultural Institute. Jim has been digging around Cree territory since the early 1970s, just after the James Bay Project was announced. His is a familiar face for people from Chisasibi, Eastmain and Waskaganish.
As artist and writer Maira Kalman once said, “A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can.”
A new two-day digital happening will be shining a spotlight on the rich and dynamic Cree culture. The Cree Knowledge Festival on March 25-26 will feature six engaging panels, dozens of guests, music performances and storytelling.
Montreal’s Belgo Building is always a big draw during Nuit Blanche festivities each February, when the city’s cultural centres open their doors all night for mostly free attractions. The Belgo’s art galleries were buzzing about Lido Pimienta’s hourly performances at her exhibition of textiles, drawings and soft sculptures.
Bingo has been a Cree tradition since the 1950s, completing its conquest of Eeyou Istchee only 30-odd years after its invention in the US, where churches and charity groups would play for low stakes.
Cree fashion designer Scott Wabano took his collection to one of the world’s most prestigious runways at this year’s New York Fashion Week (NYFW) February 10. The semi-annual series in Manhattan is one of the world’s four major fashion events along with Paris, London and Milan.
For the second time in three years, 56 First Nations riders and allies traversed a daunting, 4,200km snowmobile route across 16 communities and camps in northern Quebec over 18 days. The First Nations Expedition began February 16 in Manawan, and finished March 4 in Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, passing through the Cree communities of Waskaganish and Chisasibi along the way.
Cree musicians took centre stage in Montreal February 12 when Steve Einish opened for G-Unit rap star Tony Yayo at the Belmont nightclub in a show co-promoted by his event-planning company Nomad Entertainment.
Mags Brien and her mother Elizabeth cut the ribbon December 9 to celebrate the grand opening of two “modern teepees” in Kahnawake. The cross-cultural project called the Mohawk-Cree Teepee has grown rapidly since Philip Matoush and his wife Sharon Pepabano began hosting humble campfires in 2020.
It starts with a simple, pensive guitar riff, before the baseline kicks in like thunder. Then the vocals jump in: “I need you more than ever / baby don’t you ever go, don’t go.”
