Tag Archives: youth

ASAP 2025 presenting Catch and Release on August 21st

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Catch and Release
Culminating performance for the 2025 Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program

August 21, 2025 at 7 pm
Big Medicine Studio
161 Couchie Memorial Dr, Nipissing First Nation

Aanmitaagzi and the participants of the 2025 Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program are pleased to invite you all to Catch and Release, the culminating performance for this year’s program. The artists and youth participants have been working hard since the beginning of July to develop and prepare for this presentation through singing, dancing, regalia making, storytelling, visual explorations, attending pow wows, and other arts activities. The collaboratively created and performed work is an investigation and expression of indigenous dance and storytelling that has grown out of these activities and what lies in the hearts and minds of everyone involved. The presentation is free to attend and all are welcome.

The Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program (ASAP) is an annual 8-week intensive in indigenous performing and visual arts. Now in its eighteenth year, the program is led by award winning and renowned professional indigenous artists and educators. The program gives indigenous youth the opportunity to learn, share, express and create alongside our professional multi-arts team, guest artists, and community-members in a collaborative, inter-generational, and welcoming space.

Catch and Release is co-created and performed by:

Lead Artists – Sid Bobb, Penny Couchie, Katie Couchie, and Darren Nakogee with special guests Doreen Bellaire and Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey

Program Participants – Albany Benson, Ouske Couchie-Bobb,  Lukas Driedger, Autumn Hookimaw, Mya Katt, Markus Lazary, William McGrath, Tayton  Mianskum, Malia Mathias-Mizzi, Niibin Nakogee, Finn Rice, and Shania Splane

Set by Sherry Guppy with Laura Linklater-Wong and Paige Linklater-Wong

Aanmitaagzi wishes to thank the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canada Summer Jobs Program, the Ontario Government through the Ontario Arts Council, Mushkegowuk Employment & Training Services, Moose Cree Training & Employment Unit, and the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre’s Apatisiwin Program for generously supporting the 2025 Summer Arts Program.

 

2023 Summer Employment Opportunity

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Documentation from our 2022 ASAP presentation at the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film.

2023 SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Aanmitaagzi is currently seeking applicants aged 15 – 30 for it’s 2023 Summer Arts Program. The deadline to apply is June 16, 2023. Full details can be found below.

Job title: Youth Arts Intern
Number of positions: 16
Length of contract: 8 weeks
Hours per week: 35
Hourly wage: $16.00
Start date: July 4, 2023
Location: Big Medicine Studio – 161 Couchie Memorial Dr., North Bay, ON

Deadline to apply: June 16, 2023

Background:

Aanmitaagzi is an Indigenous multi-disciplinary artist-run company based in Nipissing First Nation. Linked to provincial, national, and international networks, we are committed to fostering a vibrant arts community through community-engaged projects that promote well-being, strengthen relationships with the land, and incorporate intergenerational approaches and methodologies. We combine art making, education, professional development & social activism through contemporary and customary arts, nurturing historic Indigenous arts practices and exploring how these practices can be carried forward in a meaningful contemporary context.

Every year, we run an annual summer arts program that gives Indigenous youth the opportunity to learn from and work with respected Indigenous arts professionals and Elders. This year’s Summer Arts Program (ASAP) will take place from July 4 – August 25, 2023. Over the eight weeks of the program, our lead artists and invited guest artists will work with the youth participants, providing training in areas such as storytelling and creation, acting, dancing, movement, voice, singing, drumming, visual and installation art, as well as customary Indigenous arts practices and cultural teachings. Through art making and ensemble building, the youth and artists will collaboratively create a performance work that incorporates elements of dance/theatre as well as arts installations for public presentation, and engages with our most recent arts initiative, All My R(el)ations. The public presentation will take place on August 11, 2023.

Tasks and responsibilities:

The Youth Arts Interns will receive on the job training in a variety of artistic disciplines such as traditional and non-traditional storytelling, acting, theatre, dance, voice, puppetry, visual art, installation art, and customary Indigenous arts practices. They will further develop their communications and interpersonal skills and learn the fundamental aspects of event planning and delivery, production management, and outreach and marketing. They will also participate in the creation and delivery of workshops, events, activities, and presentations that will be open to the public.

Specific duties will include:

  • Working with Aanmitaagzi staff, guest artists, and community members under the supervision of the Co-Artistic Directors
  • Working with and receiving mentorship from arts professionals, Elders, and cultural knowledge keepers in a variety of disciplines
  • Working collaboratively to create work for public presentation
  • Participating in other arts events, festivals, and community engagement activities the organization engages in
  • Communicating with community members, elders, and peers for the purposes of coordination and outreach
  • Supporting services to community members and facilitating engagement between youth and Elders
  • Promoting, supporting, and helping to coordinate the organization’s events and activities

In addition, the youth will be responsible for helping to maintain a safe and organized workspace, following established schedules, and completing assigned tasks in a timely fashion, and fostering a positive, creative, and respectful work environment.

Eligibility:

These positions are funded through federal employment programs. To be eligible for employment, youth must:

  • be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment
  • be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for the duration of the employment
  • have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations
  • be fluent in English

Ideal candidates:

The ideal candidates for this job position are full-time secondary or post-secondary Indigenous youth pursuing a career in the arts (e.g. dance, theatre, fine arts, etc.) or Indigenous studies, however candidates no longer in school or pursuing careers in related fields (e.g. arts administration, health & wellness programs, social work, etc.) will also be considered.

Application Process:

Interested applicants are asked to send their resumes and a brief cover letter explaining why they are interested in participating in our summer arts program to aanmitaagzi@gmail.com by June 16, 2023. Only applicants selected for interview will be contacted.

For more information, please contact Sid Bobb, Co-Artistic Director, by phone at (705) 474-2227 or by email at aanmitaagzi@gmail.com.

This year’s Summer Arts Program is generously supported by the Government of Canada (Canada Summer Jobs & Young Canada Works), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.