Stories of the Estuary
September 21, 2024
Micro Festival Celebration, 6pm – 9pm
Free, Open to All

The Sechelt Arts Festival invites you to a celebration of the Salish Sea – its other-than-human inhabitants, its waterways and estuaries, its stories of travel and exchange, and its vitalness to Sechelt and its communities. Sechelt, as the land between two waters, has been shaped by the Salish Sea

Dress as your favourite sea creature! We will gather at 6pm on the Davis Bay pier for a procession guided by musicians, drummers, dancers and puppets – all celebrating the creatures of the sea. Weaving shíshálh drumming, song and storytelling, with the power of taiko and the beauty of the shakuhachi flute, the procession unfolds a story of the raven, the estuary, and the equinox.

Performers for Equinox Raven include: Andy Johnson, cultural ambassador shishalh nation; Cora Lee Joe-Louise, dancer; Maggie Guzzi, raven; Connor Dixon, dancer; Gerardo Avila, equinox character mask; Noriko Kobayashi, taiko and shamisen (Japanese banjo); Kage, taiko; Bushido: Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos, shakuhachi, shinobue player, and Nori Akagi, taiko; Flags: Hazel Bell-Koski

Following the procession, we will gather at Mission Point House for music, storytelling and hands on activities. We gather to celebrate the shifting cycles of light, the return of the salmon to Chapman Creek, and the rich connections that the Salish Sea has brought to our communities.

In collaboration with the Coast Rogue Arts Society, music includes The Walrus (Deano and Kachy – loop beats with live bass and singing) and Mivule (Reggae, Afrobeat and Dub performed in English as well as Luganda).
Digital Storytelling with Kamala Todd
Art making led by Jessica Silvey
Learning with the land activities with Ali and Bella Casey
And lots more…

This event is a glimpse into a larger festival planned for 2025. Beginning in 2024, under the guidance of the Sunshine Coast Arts Council, the Sechelt Arts Festival connects art, ecology and climate change. We envision art as a means of calling attention to relationships –to our local ecologies, to our companion communities, and to the land, air and waters that make this part of the world so remarkable and unique. Art has the ability to help us think through difficult ideas through play, joy, community and belonging.

We are grateful to our funders: the District of Sechelt, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the BC Gaming Commission, the BC Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia, the Sunshine Coast Regional District and others.

Beginning in 2024, under the guidance of the Sunshine Coast Arts Council, the Sechelt Arts Festival connects art, ecology and climate change. We envision art as a means of calling attention to relationships – to our local ecologies, to our companion communities, and to the land, air and waters that make this part of the world so remarkable and unique.

Art has the ability to help us think through difficult ideas through play, joy, community and belonging. It is in dance, theatre and music that we are able to move through and with ideas; it is through the language of visual art that we are able to give form; and it is through words and texts that we shape sometimes incomprehensible ideas.  And for many, the climate and our changing natural environment is one of those ideas. The Festival seeks to weave together environmental, cultural and social ideas as a means of inspiring our communities.   

In 2024 we will celebrate the Salish Sea – its other-than-human inhabitants, its waterways and estuaries, its stories of travel and exchange, and its vitalness to Sechelt and its communities. Sechelt, as the land between two waters, has been shaped by the Salish Sea – our past, present and future bound to her, despite the increasing challenges of rising waterways and warming oceans. It is an opportunity to bring together the arts with local climate and ecology focused organisations, to consider ways that art can help support our local ecosystems into the future.  

Culminating in November, the Festival will include free monthly programs between March and October – the spring and autumnal equinoxes. Working with the seasons and its changes, we will present activities in public space that bring our audiences and communities in relation to the Salish Sea, both physically and metaphorically. Activities will take place, not just in venues and galleries, but in parks, forests, along waterways and in other local ecological spaces. From exhibitions, performances and film screenings, to lectures, discussions and hands-on activities, we will present an intergenerational Festival that draws our community into engaged and inspiring ideas around biodiversity, climate and creative making.