Chippewas of the Thames First Nation art fair organizers hope to inspire youth in artistic entrepreneurship

By Colin Graf

DESHKAN ZIIBING (CHIPPEWAS OF THE THAMES FIRST NATION)— Plans are still underway to help encourage would-be artistic entrepreneurs in Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (COTTFN), in spite of having to scale back a large First Nation art fair planned in the nearby city of London in June.

The original plan called for a series of 12 workshops in various art forms to be held around the city for members of the First Nation, whether living on- or off-territory, said COTTFN’s Indigenous Event and Project coordinator Kevin Lamure. The event, scheduled to coincide with Solidarity Day, was meant to be capped off with a major concert at the city’s 9,000-seat Budweiser Gardens.  Now, in spite of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, organizers hope to still hold the workshops, meant to help “people who wouldn’t otherwise have the means or opportunity to learn from professional artists,” but to do it in COTTFN territory, about 20 kilometers west of London, instead of in the city.

The project also aims to promote entrepreneurship in the arts, showing would-be artists how to promote and sell their work.  Originally, the grounds outside “the Bud” in downtown London would have been cordoned off on the last day for vendors to sell the artworks created during the workshops, part of the plan that may be difficult to reproduce in COTTFN, Lamure admits.

The revised plan calls for all 12 workshops, in disciplines blending craft and art, ranging from contemporized beadwork, metalwork, stone and wood carving to drawing, painting, and even fashion design, to run during the community’s powwow in Aug. All workshops will be free to COTTFN members from 16 and up, and participation may be opened up to members from neighbouring First Nations if numbers allow, Lamure says.

Organizers are trying to get young people in particular interested in “artistic entrepreneurship” because of the high percentage of high school dropouts in First Nations, Lamure explains. He hopes to “give them something to grasp onto in the real world, and hopefully introduce them to programs in post-secondary that are related to those arts.”

Lamure is also thinking of other ways to promote artistic work by the people of COTTFN during the pandemic.

“It’s a big endeavour and it would be a shame to see it go to waste.”

If people continue to be homebound, he thinks there’s potential to create a virtual project with videos being made to teach artistic skills with an Anishinaabe focus, “something specific for community members to learn”, and a way to drop off art materials could be devised.

“We’ll make something work out of this for sure.”