Established partnership for presentation between En’owkin Centre and Suk’wtemsqilx’w West Kelowna Arts Council featured Lauren Terbasket, Executive Director En’owkin Centre, Dr Michele Jack, Faculty En’owkin Centre, Dr Greg Younging, Publisher Thetus Books and TRC faculty, Jordan Coble, Manager Sncewips Heritage Museum.

Planned and coordinated seminar to present impact on Indigenous cultural appropriation & ways to respect with two of my fellow SWAC Directors, Pat Raphael, Vice Chair 1 and Sarah Parsons, Vice Chair 2

Suk’wtemsqilx’w West Kelowna Arts Council, (then a dual culture Indigenous/nonIndigenous Arts Council) the Faculty of the En’owkin Centre, and Sncǝwips Heritage Museum held a one day panel to explore appropriation, its impact and how to be respectful when referencing Indigenous concepts. This project was funded by BC Arts Council, Westbank First Nation and City of West Kelowna. My sincere thanks for their support.

This project aimed to further develop the skills, knowledge and awareness of the artwork of the Indigenous People of Canada. It recognized the work the En’owkin Centre has already done with the National Aboriginal Professional Artists Program through current faculty and alumni, and also the artists who participated within the workshop portion of the project.  We expected to have 20 participants, but the popularity of the workshop was immense.; over 50 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people participated.

The lead artists of the project, the participants, and the audience afterwards are BC artists, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.  BC has approximately one third of all Indigenous tribes in Canada, and the Okanagan territory is the largest within BC.