Upcoming Events
Adaka Cultural Festival: June 21-27, 2013
At its idyllic location on the Whitehorse waterfront the Adäka Cultural Festival shines with awesome energy, arousing inspiration, pride, and excitement in the thousands of artists, visitors, and supporters who attend the Festival each year.
Celebrating and showcasing Yukon First Nations arts and culture, the Festival offers a vibrant program of events incorporating a balance of traditional and contemporary music, dance, drumming, arts and crafts, storytelling, film, artist demonstrations, workshops, cultural presentations, a community feast and more! Featuring local, national, and international artists this Festival encourages artist interaction and the sharing of knowledge, skills, and ideas. We hope you’ll join us!
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Past Events
The Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre Spring Craft Fair
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The Northern Cultural Expressions Society carving studio has been working since early June carving a Healing Totem in recognition and memory of survivors of residential schools. They are just about finished, and the Totem will be raised on Saturday, November 3.
Don’t miss all the events going on at the KDCC to celebrate the raising of the Healing Totem!
This is also your last chance to come down, visit with the carvers, and sign a cedar wood chip in memory/recognition of survivors of residential schools.
Thursday, Nov 1 at 6:30 pm: Lighting of the Sacred Fire to burn the wood chips (KDCC Fire Pit)
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Please join us at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre for Culture Days 2012 on Friday, September 28, Saturday, September 29, and Sunday, September 30!
About Culture Days
“Culture Days is a collaborative coast-to-coast-to-coast volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Thousands of activity organizers self-mobilize at the grassroots level to present and coordinate free public activities that take place throughout the country over the last weekend of September each year.”
Please visit the Culture Days website at www.culturedays.ca to find out about all the other activities going on in Whitehorse and the surrounding area.
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Artist-in-Residence: Mark Lange (and friends)
The Cultural Centre is proud to welcome Artist-in-Residence Mark Lange this summer. He is in the studio every day creating new work, from paintings to carvings to designs on animal hide. He has also invited a number of friends to join him, so you can wander through the studio and watch paintings being created, masks and boxes being carved, jewellery being made, and original art being created from scratch!
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Adaka Cultural Festival: June 22-28, 2012
Don’t forget: the Adaka Cultural Festival runs at the Cultural Centre for the next week! Come to the Centre for a range of musical and dance performances, a gorgeous art gallery exhibition and sale, cultural workshops and presentations, a community feast, and outdoor kids activities. Please visit their website at www.adakafestival.ca for all the details!
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GRAND OPENING & National Aboriginal Day Celebration: Thursday, June 21, 2012
Come join us for an exciting day of drumming, dancing, music, food, storytelling, face-painting, art, and celebration! The drumming procession and canoe launch starts from Rotary Park at 10am, arriving at the Centre at 10:30 am – so don’t miss their arrival and welcome! At 11 am, we will gather in the Longhouse for welcome speeches and a dance performance before we break out the celebratory cake and tea.
At 12 noon, the Celebrity Bannock Bake-Off will begin (thanks to Aboriginal Affairs Canada), and the Northwestel Salmon and Bannock tent will open, along with our Artisan’s Tent, Kid’s Craft Tent, and storytelling and face-painting at the Library. Running from 1 -6 pm, you can also enjoy a full line-up of musical and dance performances, including special guests Mike Gouchie and Kinnie Starr!
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FREE Public Play Reading by Yvette Nolan: Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 4pm
Gwaandak Theatre and Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre Present:
A Free Reading with Award-winning Playwright and Director Yvette Nolan
Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) is a playwright, dramaturg, and director. Her plays include Two Old Women, from thine eyes, Annie Mae’s Movement, BLADE, Job’s Wife, Video, and Scattering Jake. Directing credits include The Only Good Indian…, The Triple Truth (Turtle Gals), Café Daughter (Gwaandak Theatre) Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, Death of a Chief, The Unnatural and Accidental Women, Annie Mae’s Movement, A Very Polite Genocide, and Salt Baby (Native Earth). From 2003-2011, she served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts, Canada’s oldest professional Aboriginal theatre company. She is currently the Writer in Residence at the Saskatoon Public Library.
4 pm on Sunday June 10, 2012 at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre in Classroom A
Free Admission!
This presentation is made possible through the support of Canada Council for the Arts and Playwrights’ Guild of Canada.
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FROZEN PASTS: June 3-8, 2012
Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Government of Yukon are co-hosting FROZEN PASTS: The 3rd International Glacial Archaeology Conference. This developing field of study focuses on the global phenomenon of prehistoric and historical materials melting from a variety of frozen contexts.
The conference will include an opening reception at the Beringia Centre, followed by three full days of glacial research presentations from locations around the globe at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. To learn more, please see the complete details on our website.
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Film Preview & Feedback: Monday, March 12, 2012
We are previewing a new film “Back to the River” written and directed by Wildman Productions. The film explores the history of aboriginal people who have lived on Whitehorse’s waterfront.
People are invited to come and provide feedback on its accuracy. The film will be shown at the Centre, in the Longhouse, three times on Monday: 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00.