Kokopelli Choirs/Indigenous Composer Collaboration

The Cause

We will create a series of concerts which celebrate and center Indigenous musicians and composers.

On March 18, 2023, we will welcome Vancouver's acclaimed professional chamber choir, musica intima, alongside Indigenous composer Andrew Balfour of Winnipeg. Together with our own Kokopelli and Òran choirs, we will present two concerts at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, an Indigenous-centered congregation in the heart of Edmonton.

The series will continue on June 3, 2023, with amiskwaciwâskahikan/Little Red River Cree Nation singer/composer Sherryl Sewepagaham as a featured guest at our Journey concert, again at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. Sherryl will hold workshops with our children's and youth choirs in the weeks leading up to the concert, and the choirs will premiere a new work written by Sherryl at the performance. Involving our youngest singers in these workshops answers some of the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

We will honour the living and vital art and culture of Indigenous artists through this concert series.

Who Will it Benefit?

This will benefit the almost 300 singers in our choir program that participate weekly and in concerts within our seven choirs, as well as our community of audience members and supporters which include both Settler and Indigenous communities. This responds to Calls to Action around education, youth, culture, and language; it also lives out the federal government's Path to Reconciliation Act, which aims to "[establish] and [maintain] mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in order to build trust, affirm historical agreements, address healing and create a more equitable and inclusive society".

We predict audience numbers to be around 1000 people between the two concerts in the series.

We will distribute 50 complimentary tickets to community members living in the area around Sacred Heart Church, which is predominantly an Indigenous congregation, to benefit those who are part of this core neighbourhood.