Cochrane Culture Days 2021

Jessica McMann is a Cree (Cowessess, SK) musician, contemporary dancer and choreographer. She is also a classically trained flutist with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her recent compositions and soundscapes explore Indigenous identity and history. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company. Currently her personal experience, Two-Spirit identity, Cree and Blackfoot language, history of powwow and hoop dancing, and the strength of Indigenous women guide her current contemporary dance work. She works regularly with Elijah Wells, a Blackfoot animator to bring the stories of Transgender, Two-Spirit and Queer persons alive.

Jessica’s recent Musician artist-in-residence at the Banff Center for the Arts resulted in an Indigenous classical CD recording with Beverley McKiver in the fall of 2019. Jessica’s work has been shown by Pregones Theatre(Bronx, 2020), re:Naissance Opera (2020), Made in BC (2018, 2019, 2020) and at Fairy Tales Film Festival (2012, 2020), Matriarch Uprising (2019), Vancouver International Children’s’ Festival (2018), Vancouver International Jazz Festival (2018), AlterNative: IndigiQueer (2017), IndigeDIV (2017, 2019), Talking Stick Festival (Vancouver 2012, 2013, 2020), Kootenay Cultural Festival (2012, 2015, 2016), ASTAM; Cree Festival (2012), Coastal First Nations Dance Festival (2011,2012, 2014, 2017, 2018) Vancouver Queer Film Festival (2011), Q the Arts Festival (2011), and 7a*11d (2010).

“Too Good; That MAY Be”, an immersive soundscape movement performance was shown at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg as part of “The 60’s Scoop; A Place Between” in 2017.  She has also toured in Sweden, Netherlands, and Belgium. She has created soundtracks for the ITWE Collective, performed with the Ambrose University Chamber Orchestra and the Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra, and was a guest musician for Arcade Fire at the Junos. She has performed regularly with Laura Vinson and the Free Spirit. Her collaborative visual arts work with Elijah Wells are in the permanent collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK.

Jessica is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards.

Make your own squirmy snake, slithering dragon puppet. We supply the basic materials and guidance – you supply the imagination. When your creation is finished use our tabletop stage and pose for a photo or perform a little video.

Puppet pop-up workshops actively promote all family members—youngsters and elders alike—in creating art and drama together. The projects are scaled so that everyone can make something.

WP Puppet Theatre is a not for profit charity based in Calgary AB. Our online and offline performances and learning opportunities use the power of puppetry to impact positive social change. Programming for children through seniors includes a biennial Festival of Ideas, VIEW from the Inside courses promoting mental health and wellness, school residencies, online courses and puppet performances. For more information wppuppet.com.  

Mesmer’s Glass is a large, interactive “staged-improvisational performance” from 25 to 50 people.  The magic of the event is the spontaneous creation of a sound piece unique to that particular space and time. All participants experience both the sense of ‘audience’ listening for the first time to the group music, and also the sense of being a ‘performer’ as a musician involved in the mass ensemble.

As each group of ‘musicians’ and each group of ‘instruments’ is unique, each ‘staging’ is a one-off individual performance event that can never be exactly re-created.

Click Here for more information and to register.

Ali Morrison is a classical pianist who has performed, recorded and been invited to live and work in seven countries. Her work performing with percussionists inspired a lifelong passion for rhythm, music on ‘found objects’ and making instruments from objects that are destined for the bin.

Now living in Canada, when not immersing herself in Bach and Beethoven, she teaches piano, examines for RCM, coaches teachers, adjudicates festivals and gives Masterclasses to aspiring young pianists.

Ali’s idea of ‘Play Time’ is creating events that bring community together: The Children’s Festival of Lights (across Ireland), the Boat Ballet (32 sailing vessels choreographed in Dublin Bay), the Feast of Fools (Peru), and !BOOM! She Said and Mesmer’s Glass in each country that she has lived.

EVERYONE is a Musician!   Fast, Physical and FUN!  Come and make the earth move with Mass Percussion Event on Found Objects and Recycled Instruments.  Best Suited for ages 6 to 96 yrs.

The First Musical Instrument was the Heartbeat. There is nothing that we do unconsciously without that beat and rhythm. Come and enjoy moving and making powerful music and that makes the earth move!