The Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre has a full slate of events scheduled next week to honour Truth and Reconciliation.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Different events are happening at the Esplanade next week for Truth and Reconciliation.
On Sept. 27, New Dance Horizons will be performing Quadriga in the Rock Garden as a free performance for Grades 4-12. The company is from Regina and artistic director Robin Poitras is a creative partner to Edward Poitras, who has an exhibition on display in the Heritage Gallery called Revolution in the Rock Garden.
Brenda Mercer is holding craft circles to make earrings on Sept. 28, Oct. 14 and Nov. 18. The first session is by invite only and tickets are available for the other two sessions through the Esplanade website.
“I think it is really exciting because we’ll be in the middle of the gallery with Catherine Blackburn’s exhibit in there,” explained Mercer.
She will teach the circle how to make earrings with fringes on them while surrounded by the powerful artwork of Blackburn. This is more than just an Indigenous craft circle, but also a time of conversation and learning.
On Sept. 29, the Esplanade is offering a Kids Culture Walk from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“We do this every year,” said education co-ordinator Dyana Walls. “We offer eight times, four in the morning and four in the afternoon for eight different classes to come and attend. It’s a free program where they rotate through different spaces.”
Walls will be taking the school groups on tours of the Edward Poitras and Catherine Blackburn exhibitions. Following that, the students will be handed over to an art instructor for a hands-on art activity in the Discovery Centre related to those exhibitions.
The Esplanade has partnered with both the Medicine Hat Public Library and TREX Space for the Kids Culture Walk. The library is offering sidewalk chalk art again this year.
“Last year we made it down to the chessboard and then we washed it off for the afternoon groups to come in. It went over really well last year. Our backup activity will be a scavenger hunt on art in the library if it happens to rain,” said Carol Ann Cross-Roen, head of youth services at MHPL.
At TREX Space the students will have the chance to view ‘Tale of a Fish Scale’, an exhibit by an Indigenous visual art group. Additionally, they will learn about the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and each one will receive a polaroid to take home.
For more information about Esplanade events go to esplanade.ca.
