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Creativity ignites at Family Winter Arts Festival

BANFF– The Banff Centre Family Winter Arts Festival celebrated creativity and imagination in the Bow Valley community by encouraging guests to participate in ongoing projects on Sunday (Feb. 16).

Program administrator with the Banff Centre, Sam Welsh, said one of the highlights of the full day of activities was a beading workshop hosted by Stoney Nakoda teaching artist Samantha Smalleyes.

“Samantha is such an amazing teacher,” Welsh said. “We knew we had to have her come and share that (beading) with local families.”

Smalleyes has collaborated with the Banff Centre before and each class proves to be an amazing experience for students, Welsh added.

When Smalleyes first began sharing her skills with others, she was nervous to teach the art of beadwork, but as she got into the flow of creation, it was a fun experience. Smalleyes still gets nervous before each workshop, she said with a light chuckle, explaining that while the butterflies may be dancing in her stomach, she feels it is important to pass on the art of beadwork to others.

“It’s fun coming out here and beading and teaching,” Smalleyes said, adding that the beadwork workshops fill her with pride. “When they (guests) get back home they’ll say, ‘we did beading and made our own bracelets,’ I just love it.”

Smalleyes added that she loves being able to build relationships in the Bow Valley because that has always been a goal with her work. She thinks it is important to share cultural teaching with others.

Playing a role in building community ties, artist Adrienne Wong offered guests a chance to participate in her ongoing project "Me on the Map" during the Banff Centre Family Winter Festival. She has been working on the project for five years with her collaborator J.D. Derbyshire.

“The project, all in all, is about citizenship and giving kids a sense of ownership and empowerment around the built environment that they live in,” Wong said.

Using a room in the Banff Centre, kids, with some help from their parents, created a cardboard city that featured what they think is essential for a community. Buildings added to the town included a large house, a ski hill with a gondola, a castle, roads, a river with a river system, a lake, clock tower, swimming pool, grocery store and more.

The goal was to “think about what a mountain town needs,” Wong said, explaining that they were able to build what they envisioned using everything from cardboard and string to post-it notes and almost any art supplies they could need.

“We have a little bit of everything,” she said. “If you give kids a chance to build something there’s no hesitation from any of the kids or families, everybody jumps right in and there’s a lot of problem-solving and collaboration.”

“Me on the Map” began five years ago and as taken place in urban centres like Vancouver and Toronto. Wong said she brought the project to Banff two years ago and participated in the festival last year.

She said it has been interesting to see the unique perspective of those from a semi-rural area like Banff.

“Balancing human and animal needs is so prevalent in the culture— natural elements are very present and come forward quickly,” Wong said, adding that each city she has worked in has incorporated unique ideas that reflect the community. “I think that we all kind of care about the same thing— we want places where we feel like we belong, places that feel like they reflect us and are beautiful.”

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