Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance

The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance is a provincial arts service organization whose mandate is to support, promote, and advocate on behalf of Northern Ontario Indigenous artists. Through collaborative projects and by fostering collaboration and exchange across the province with other artists, curators, critics, and cultural organizations. Follow Us on Instagram

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Join us for a community gathering at the N’Swakamok Friendship Centre on April 25th from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM. This event is open to Indigenous people who want to connect, create, and learn more about NIAA.

Come spend time with others in a welcoming space where you can take part in beading and various crafts. Bring a project you’re working on or use our beading kits. Whether you want to create, ask questions, or simply enjoy the company of others, this is an opportunity to be in community and learn more about the work NIAA is doing to support Indigenous artists in Northern Ontario.

N’Swakamok Friendship Centre located at 110 Elm St, Greater Sudbury, ON P3C 1T6.

10 minute walk (650 metres) from Sudbury’s GOVA Transit Downtown Hub.

Support the NIAA Gathering

The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA) is hosting a community gathering at the N’Swakamok Friendship Centre on April 25th from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM. This event will bring Indigenous people together for an afternoon of connection, creativity, and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to take part in beading and other crafts in a welcoming space, with no cost to attend.

We are looking for sponsors to help provide snacks, refreshments, or supplies to support this gathering. If you or your organization are able to contribute, your support will help create a meaningful and accessible experience for all who attend.

If you're interested in sponsoring or learning more, please reach out via email: NorthernIndigenousArt [ AT ] gmail [ DOT ] com You can also support the NIAA by donating to our gofundme campaign: https://gofund.me/d758a1cf

Thank you for helping us strengthen community connections and support Indigenous artists in Northern Ontario.

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The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance presents Zikwaadan!

Join us Sunday January 26, 2024 at 6:30PM EST for Zikwaadan// Spit on it! a YouTube streaming event showcasing Indigenous clown performers Mx. HoneyJack, Jet E. Psychedelia, Olive Boogits, Clair Voyant, and hosted by Miskwa the MAD clown prophet! Coming from many territories these performers combine traditional and contemporary clowning with drag. Open up your mind and wallet for the zany spectacle of the clown lodge!

Join the livestream YOUTUBE EVENT! https://youtube.com/live/kQ9N5kxfZBQ

Get event updates on FACEBOOK! https://www.facebook.com/share/C2hBCa52B3MXb9Rv/

We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario for their support. 

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We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario for their support. 

The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA) is proud to announce that it has been awarded funding from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC)’s Indigenous Projects granting stream to host Zikwaadan // Spit on it! an online event showcasing Indigenous clowns from across Northern Ontario. 

Zikwaadan // Spit on it!  is scheduled to take place January 26th  2025 live on Youtube and promises to be a silly event, providing a platform for Indigenous artists from across Cree and Anishinaabe Aki to showcase their unique talents and explore the intersection of traditional clowning and drag performance.

"This is SICK! Super stoked to be a part of something so new and unique" added Tejhler LB, assistant coordinator of the project. "Being able to showcase other Indigenous clown drag performers to a broader audience that appreciates the weird, is super cool. A niche crowd will be into this and I want the little goblin freaks to log in!!! And I want to show that it's cool to be cringe!"

"We are thrilled to receive this funding from the Ontario Arts Council, which will enable us to not only hire great Northern Ontario performers," said Rihkee Strapp, Co-founder of NIAA. "This project also provides support to emerging art administrators."

The role of Indigenous clowns is to open up hearts and minds with laughter, teach lessons with tricks and ridicule, and demonstrate the crucial role of the outsider within the circle of creation. 

More details will be announced soon on the NIAA.ca website and social media channels. Learn more about the Ontario Arts Council here:

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The idea of a healing retreat was first brought up at our Dream Big gathering in 2019. In 2021, the Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA) brought together artists, Kimberly Pelletier, Jordan Fiddler, Lisa-Marie Naponse, Lucille Atlookan, Casha Adams, and NIAA's Cora Rae Silk and Rihkee Strapp to Nipissing with space graciously donated by the Finch resort. Our artists were given this time to relax and reflect with one another. We discussed the importance of language learning, ate delicious food, did our make-up together, and enjoyed some performances by local Jacob Dayfox. Our artists were greeted with a boujie native sushi dinner when they arrived. Each morning our artists enjoyed fresh coffee and tea with a hot breakfast prepared by our NIAA team member Rihkee Strapp, with our final taco feast prepared by community artist Kimberly Pelletier. I hope you enjoy these deadly photographs by Casha Adams.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and turn-on all notifications to get the latest updates on Northern Indigenous Art! What are your favourite cultural comfort foods? Chi miigwech, Marsee to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting this gathering.

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Our small team has always prioritized people over projects, and while we struggled to update everyone during the pandemic, here's the quick update: In 2021 we held a small healing retreat of artists in Nipissing. We are excited to soon start posting some of the pictures from that weekend. Late in 2022 we received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council to develop our collective and consider incorporating. In the coming years we will be gathering our community collectives and members to discuss governance, invite board members, and hang out. Follow our organization on Facebook or Instagram!

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In 2020 NIAA connected Northern Indigenous artists online with one-on-one mentorship with Jermaine Henry and through zoom gatherings to hangout and connect emerging artists in our first creative online residency.

We are excited to highlight a few artists from 2020’s Online Creative Residency: Theresa Lee Marcia Wemigwans, Selena Wabegijig, and Quinn Organ. First Nations beading artist and instructor, Theresa Lee Marcia Wemigwans, was born April 8, 1981 in Wikwemikoong, Manitoulin Island. She taught herself beading and loom work at the age of 12 and has been actively participating in community beading groups since, learning tricks and tips from other talented beading artists. Theresa's inspiration comes from the great outdoors and she loves experimenting with a variety of colours and bead cuts to create beautiful custom made Indigenous beadwork. Over the years, Theresa discovered that she was gifted with a special talent and with the belief that beading was healing, she wanted to share her knowledge with others. She now teaches all ages how to bead using various stitches and techniques. Pre-pandemic, Theresa created her own bi-weekly beading group called Art of Healing Circle through N'swakamok Native Friendship Centre in Sudbury, ON, as well as hosted other workshops in her community. Theresa has a strong passion for beading, enjoys sharing her knowledge with others, and watching others create beautiful indigenous beadwork. Selena Wabegijig is a 41 year old Ojibway woman. She lives in Sudbury and has studied, volunteered, and worked throughout northeastern Ontario, learning, healing, and educating about Intergenerational Trauma. Selena knows the value of community for survival, walking together to decolonize ourselves and social systems, while networking and developing our collective capacity to bring transformative change. Selena Wabegijig has worked and volunteered with various organizations in Sudbury, including the Elizabeth Fry Society as a Peer Leader; Better Beginnings, Better Futures’ Community Closet program; and N’Swakmok Native Friendship Centre’s cultural programs and MMIWG events. Selena is currently active with grassroot non-profit, Planet Over Profit. (https://www.facebook.com/popsudbury). Selena Wabegijig is open to collaborations!! Quinn Organ, who always brought joy to our mentor meetings and artist hangouts. Follow this emerging artist on Instagram at @twospirit_and_kindagay Quinn is a Two-Spirit youth from Sudbury, Ontario who uses a variety of mediums in their artwork. Their art represents their struggle with loving themselves in the body they own due to social media and diet culture. They hope that others seeing their art will help others to understand that the media doesn’t define beauty and help others to find self-love. Miigwetch and Marsee to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting this project.

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Presenting the Baawating Arts Festival, part of Dream Big 2019. Check out the Facebook event page for more info! 

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CARFAC Ontario is offering NIAA members a 25% discount on 1 year memberships – that's like getting 3 months for free! To get your discount code, sign up with NIAA today – https://niaa.ca/join.

CARFAC Ontario is an association of professional visual and media artists that believe artists should be paid for their work and share equitably in profits from their art; they offer many resources and supports for artists at all stages of their careers. Learn more about the benefits of being a CARFAC Ontario member today: https://www.carfacontario.ca/.

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The Northern Conference & Festival for Indigenous Arts

Learn more about DREAM BIG 2019: The Northern Conference & Festival for Indigenous Arts, September 27-29 in Baawating (Sault Ste. Marie). 

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NIAA recently earned support from the province and was awarded two grants from the Ontario Arts Council to host Dream Big 2019 and the first Baawating Arts Festival. “We’re extremely grateful to the OAC for their support of this project,” says NIAA co-founder and board member, Rihkee Strapp. “However, Northern Ontario is huge and air travel is a major expense so we’re hoping to raise additional funds to help subsidize travel costs so more artists from across Northern Ontario can take part.” 

Click Here to Donate

Donations are currently being accepted through the group’s GoFundMe page and will go towards travel subsidies to visiting artists. 

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The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA) is an emerging, Indigenous-led provincial arts collective with the mandate to support, promote, and advocate on behalf of Indigenous artists in Northern Ontario. NIAA was created in response to the lack of Indigenous arts leadership in the North, and with the belief that Indigenous artists are the experts on Indigenous art and on the communities and contexts in which they work.

Currently, NIAA is raising funds and connecting with Indigenous artists in Northern Ontario to help define collective goals and shape the organization. Though collaborative projects and by fostering exchange across the province with artists, critics, curators, and cultural organizations, NIAA is committed to supporting the work of Indigenous artists so they may thrive in the North.

VISION: Indigenous artists in Northern Ontario are well connected to markets, audiences, and opportunities across the province

What we offer:

Opportunity to help shape NIAA

Networking + employment opportunities

Administrative support for emerging artists

Collaborative projects

Virtual + in-person gatherings

  Past Projects:

Creative Online Residency 2020: Meet the artists on our social media

Dream Big 2019: The Northern Conference & Festival for Indigenous Arts, Sept. 27-29 in Sault Ste. Marie

Community-specific pilot projects (Baawating Gallery in Sault Ste. Marie)

CONNECT WITH NIAA: https://niaa.ca/ [email protected] Facebook: @NorthernIndigenousArtistAlliance Instagram: @northernindigenousart

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Howah! Three upcoming free events with Christine Friday!

"As we walk in our own truth, we must tell our own stories. This is our own story, a story not allowed to be told by others...” - Christine Friday

The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA) is pleased to be hosting dancer, choreographer, producer, and director Christine Friday in Baawiting for a series of free events this weekend, April 19th - 21st.

April 19th @ 6pm at Shingwauk auditorium Dance Performance -- Maggie and Me -- Free dinner

April 20th @ 1:30pm at  Koach Katrina’s, 642 Queen St. E, Unit 1 Dance workshop -- Be inspired through a Indigenous contemporary & traditional dance

April 21st @ 1pm at Shingwauk auditorium Film screening -- Path Without End at Shingwauk auditorium

“Maggie and Me honours and continues the legacy of women as healers in our communities; traditional practice revealed in a contemporary world.  The journey travels with us through dimensional realms of existence -- spirit, dream and present -- The healing and revitalization of our Anishinaabe culture.  With a movement style that is at once free, lyrical, explosive an expression of Indigenous contemporary dance, she walks into her own power.”

Those attending the dance workshop at Koach Katrina’s should wear comfortable clothing and prepare to move! Single use bus passes will also be available to folks who need to travel to and from the dance workshop.  

Path Without End is a documentary dance film about the Friday Family -- taking back their power and speaking their truth on their traditional family territory.

“Christine Friday is a force of nature, and I want to encourage all local Indigenous performers and filmmakers to attend these free events, especially youth aspiring to work in these mediums,” says NIAA board member Rihkee Strapp.

All the events will have delicious food prepared by the Pow Wow Pantry.

The Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance is a provincial arts service organization whose mandate is to support, promote, and advocate on behalf of Northern Ontario Indigenous artists. This project is funded through the Ontario Arts Council’s Indigenous Artists in Communities and Schools Projects.

Contact:

Coordinator, Cliff Bolduc, pronouns: he, him, his

[email protected]

Ph: 1+249-356-4201