How many Indigenous artists does it take to make an opera Indigenous?

How many Indigenous artists does it take to make an Opera Indigenous? That was one of many questions up for discussion at Stories Don’t Die presented by the Artists of Indians on Vacation at the Terminal Theatre on Saturday afternoon. The backdrop to all this of course is the withdrawal of Edmonton Opera from their role in the creation and presentation of Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation in February following the not entirely unexpected “revelation” that Thomas King; author of the novel on which the opera is based, is not Indigenous as he had long claimed. Edmonton Opera chose, unilaterally, to pull out after a protest by a small group of Indigenous activists in Edmonton. To the protesters, the false claim by Thomas King was reason enough to cancel an opera they hadn’t seen but is it? The Artists of Indians on Vacation clearly believe otherwise and Stories Don’t Die makes a strong case for its survival and further development.

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So is that it for Against the Grain?

question_markEdmonton Opera today announced that Robin Whiffen, Executive Director of Against the Grain (though on mat leave for a while now) is joining as their new Executive Director; teaming up again wiith Joel Ivany, Artistic Director, in Edmonton.

Now all the original forces behind AtG have left and what was supposed to be the stability and continuity team has lost its leader (and pretty much everyone else as best I can tell)..  AtG have only produced one live show since COVID and that wasn’t really their’s, it was Theatre of Sound’s production of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle which played in Toronto in March 2023.  Add to that that they have been without artistic leadership since Ivany left in July 2023 and that’s officially.  He took up his Edmonton post in November 2021. Continue reading