Talking Stick reaches a happy milestone

Talking Stick, a Vancouver festival showcasing Aboriginal art, writing and performance, will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. It runs in various venues around the city, and will run from Feb. 19 to March 3.

The festival was started through Full Circle performance group in 1992, a group that aims to provide opportunities for Aboriginal artists working in different mediums.

“Full Circle has taken 20 years to get this far, and it’s been a hard 20 years, quite frankly,” said Margo Kane, artistic managing director of Full Circle.

“It’s rewarding. It’s going to be 20 years and finally after 20 years I feel like I can pause and reflect on what’s been achieved and be proud of what we’ve managed to achieve.”

Among other performances, this year’s festival will feature three one-person shows.

“We use all the [artistic] disciplines to organize our festival,” said Kane.

“This year we’ve had more of a push to have theatre presented because there is more theatre being toured now. This year it’s all one-person shows so it’s a little bit easier to manage financially. But that’s just where the community is at right now.”

Tumit, a one-woman play being shown as part of Talking Stick, tells the story of a woman who struggles to break the negative generational pattern of her family.

Tumit is written and performed by Renaltta Arluk, who is of Inuvialuit, Gwich’in and Chipewyan-Cree descent, and who is originally from the Northwest Territories.

“I never labeled it Northern, and I never labeled it Aboriginal, even though I am Northern and I am Aboriginal,” said Arluk.
“I just wanted the audience to see how they saw themselves within the piece. But they said this is definitely a Northern play, and this definitely is reflective of our culture.”

Arluk added that she is thankful for Talking Stick because it gives the small Aboriginal theatre community the opportunity to showcase their work.

“Our stories are very powerful and our stories need to be taught and carried forward. That’s ultimately how I became an actor. I just really believed in the power of our stories,” she said.

“[The Aboriginal theatre world is] small. That’s why Talking Stick festival in itself is kind of an amazing thing. It’s kind of a grand festival and goes over two weeks. [Margo Kane] is presenting three theatre productions and that’s just an amazing feat as far as the Aboriginal arts community goes.”

Kane said that one thing that surprises her about Talking Stick each year is the small number of Aboriginal artists that come out to the festival to view other artist’s work.

Tickets to the opening night gala on Feb. 19 are $40 each.