ABOUT US

WHO WE ARE

Native Earth Performing Arts is Canada’s oldest professional Indigenous performing arts company. Currently, in our 41st year, we are dedicated to developing, producing, and presenting professional artistic expressions of the Indigenous experience in Canada.

Through stage productions (theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary art), new script development, apprenticeships, and internships, Native Earth seeks to fulfill a community of artistic visions. It is a vision that is inclusive and reflective of the artistic directions of members of the Indigenous community who actively participate in the arts.

7 VALUES

We believe in

In service of our mandate and mission, the company strives to operate according to 7 traditional principles which inform decisions in all undertakings. It is our belief that these tenets not only honour Indigenous values, but are universal to all cultures in various manifestations. We acknowledge that these are subjective values, and that each individual has an interpretation of them.

HISTORY

Native Earth has participated in the development of a community of artists, and in the creation of several Indigenous classics including Almighty Voice and His Wife by Daniel David Moses, The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway, Someday by Drew Hayden Taylor, Moonlodge by Margo Kane, and most recently Huff by Cliff Cardinal. The 2015 production of Huff toured to British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, Sydney (Australia), and London (England), and continues to tour nationally and internationally.

Native Earth Performing Arts is Canada’s oldest professional Indigenous theatre company.

In 1989, Native Earth instituted an annual development festival of new work called Weesageechak Begins to Dance. Since then, the Weesageechak Festival has helped develop over 100 new dance and theatre works by emerging and established artists, including Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots by Monique Mojica,  Annie Mae’s Movement by Yvette Nolan, Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis and Gordon Winter by Kenneth T. Williams.

Native Earth Performing Arts is a Charitable Organization
Charitable Registration Number 11905 2116 RR0001