Westbank First Nation Wins Culture Days 2014 Cities For People Award

Westbank First Nation (WFN) will be honoured in Edmonton this Friday at the 3rdAnnual National Congress on Culture. Tracy Satin and Jordan Coble, representatives from WFN and the Sncəwips Heritage Museum, will be accepting the Culture Days 2014 Cities For People Award, an award honouring exceptional leadership and innovation in implementing a collaborative arts or cultural activity/project that aims to transform the livability of a community or fellow citizens.
 
“The Sncəwips Heritage Museum opened to the public in June 2014 and when presented with the opportunity to participate in Culture Days, the answer was YES. This was an event that we could fully participate in, as Culture Days is about giving everyone a voice through artistic expression, whatever it may be. This was the perfect national venue for highlighting Westbank First Nation language, art and culture in an inclusive, open and respectful way, “ says Satin.
 
With arts and culture as a bridge, Westbank First Nation and the District of West Kelowna collaborated towards a successful Culture Days 2014. First Nation and non-First Nation artist works and workshops were held throughout the intertwining communities of Westbank and West Kelowna and WFN lead the way by proclaiming Sept. 26-28th Culture Days on reserve lands. As a direct result of this groundbreaking initiative, the Suk’ʷtəmsqilxʷ West Kelowna Arts Council (SWAC) was officially launched in February 2015, with representatives from Westbank First Nation and West Kelowna. “Culture Days was and will continue to be a weekend of learning, sharing and participating for WFN and it is the Museum’s hope that more national events will share this same focus,” says Satin.
 
Since its inception in 2010, Culture Days has taken root in some 900 cities and towns across Canada. In many cases, passionate individuals, committed organizations and visionary municipalities have led local efforts. Culture Days will pay tribute to these success stories by honouring the 2014 Award Winners at a special dinner hosted by Marci Ien, Co-Host of CTV’s Canada AM.
 
A free livestream of the National Congress on Culture and Award Ceremony will be available on May 7 & 8 via CultureDays.ca
 
For more information please contact Tracy Satin, Sncəwips Heritage Museum Heritage Officer/Curator at tsatin@wfn.ca or Nazanin Shoja, BC Culture Days Coordinator, at culturedays@allianceforarts.com