Tipi Raising with Special Performances Curated by Garret C. Smith

Presented by Springboard's containR Fest:

Tipi Raising with Special Performances Curated by Garret C. Smith

Tipi raising, performances, craft market and more!

 

Monday July 1, 2024 | 1-8pm | all ages | no cost to participate | Please Register

1-8 PM  |  Indigenous Arts Market
1:30-2:30 PM  |  Tipi Raising with Garret C. Smith
2:30-3:30 PM  |  Stories in the Tipi with Garret C. Smith
4-5:15 PM  |  Performance by Bebe Buckskin
5:40-6 PM  |  Performance by Alanna Bluebird-Onespot
6:30-7:30 PM  |  Performance by Shane Ghostkeeper

 

containR will feature the artistry and histories of cultural leaders and creative movers and shakers from the Nations of Treaty 7.

The tipi raising, a component of many First Nations, is a process between community and the land. We invite guests to learn how to raise a Blackfoot style tipi together, as a community, to honour our local artists, our land and history.

Learning how to raise a tipi with Garret Smith and his family. Learning traditional skills that connect us with the cultural history of this land, Indigenous practices and craftsmanship. The tipi provides shelter, warmth and opportunities to develop connections. In the process of raising a tipi together, we hold teachings about our relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds. The arts community gathers to search for and create ways of being inside a place that carries memory and future imagination. Drawing on notions of performance, cultural resilience and invitation, we gather to explore the inter-relationality between the body, the land, history and future memory.

Garret C Smith

Garret is a proud member of the Piikani and Kainai Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. A graduate of the Centre For Indigenous Theatre (Toronto, ON) in 2013 and the Interim Artistic Director of Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society (Calgary, AB) in 2017, he is primarily an actor with multiple theatre, film and television credits.

In March 2018, he helped create the "Mohkinstsis" Healing Camp across the street from the Calgary Courts Centre. Initially a protest camp raising awareness of social injustices, this protest lasted one week before the group re-organized to create the Healing Camp, which stood for just under 9 months. Its purpose was to fill a gap in the city's current infrastructure by providing First Nation communities a place to engage and practice in their culture and spirituality.

In 2020 Garret continued this work modifying his approach, inviting volunteers onto traditional land to harvest and prepare tipi poles for local elders and community youth based organizations. Holding an annual series of harvests, Garret works towards bridging the gap of ignorance, misinformation and the basic "not-knowing" to help create a better tomorrow.

 
Tipi Raising Facts:

A Blackfoot style tipi is raised using 4 poles tied together near the tips, consisting of 3 to 6 poles/ribs (depending on size of the canvas), another 2 poles in the back and 2 in the front, with an additional pole used to attach the canvas. Poles are brought on-site via flatbed trailer. Once the poles are raised and the canvas secured, 2 poles are used for the ears/flaps totalling 17 or 21 poles. Sticks called 'button's are used to secure the canvas together while larger 'stakes' are used to be hammered in the ground, again the number varies with the size of tipi canvas. Tipi's can be raised 'safely' by 5 people, tasks can be split to include more volunteers making the process ideal for a group activity. Tools required are simply ropes and hammers & ladder. (50 ft & 8 ft length ropes, 1 sledge hammer and 3 or more 4lb mini-sledge hammers, 10 ft ladder. All of which are supplied by the tipi owner.)

Experts can raise a tipi in less than 10 minutes. A group of women currently hold the record for fastest tipi raising at their local Nations Pow-wow. A group new to the experience typically raises it within 45 minutes. Once the tipi is up, volunteers and guests are invited inside to enjoy the fruits of their labor, resting by the fire as we engage in purposeful conversation.

 

For more details and for other events please visit Springboard Performance