Arts Commons and the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society have identified the common goal of creating space to celebrate and centre Indigenous Two-Spirit identity and knowledge through: mentorship by Indigenous Elders, traditional Knowledge Keepers, professional artistic career mentorship, artistic creation, exhibition, and sharing learning with the broader community. This goal is consistent with the long-term plan of Arts Commons to Indigenize our spaces through building reciprocal relationships with the Indigenous Nations of the Treaty 7 region via artistic practice. Within the Visual and Media Arts portfolio, we have a consistent record of engaging Indigenous artists (residencies, exhibitions and the current +15 Window Galleries with Tsuut’ina Nation artists), the Education portfolio (most recently with teaching artists Shirley Hill & Chantal Chagnon), and the Producing and Engagement portfolio (most recently with National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrations, and partnerships events with IRIM and Drum Beat as well as space support for Indigenous artists).

The Celebrating Two-Spirit Identities Project has 4 objectives: to (1) support the sharing of traditional knowledge from Treaty 7 Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers with Two-Spirit artists, and to (2) have this knowledge inform and inspire new works from Two-Spirit artists based on the question: “what does it mean to you as a Two-Spirit artist to celebrate this identity?”, while (3) sharing the fruits of this reflection and work with the broader community of Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary). Furthermore, this knowledge transfer and artistic process will (4) inform Arts Commons’ own Indigenization process through the creation of a legacy piece (a document providing context and direction) that is centered on Two-Spirit identities as a way into right relations.

With the consultation of Making Treaty 7, we know this to be a particularly appropriate avenue into conversations on Indigenization given that traditionally, Two-Spirit identities are often respected as conduits between different worlds and identities in many Treaty 7 Nations. It is our collective ambition that this project be specific to those Nations of the Treaty 7 region, and the beginning of a deeper relationship between Arts Commons, the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society, and all Indigenous Nations of the Treaty 7 region. We expect and welcome that through the course of this project, other opportunities will open to the ways these relationship may grow.

Arts Commons and the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society share a vision for public spaces and discourse that respects the traditional knowledge of Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and Two-Spirit peoples from the Indigenous Nations of the Treaty 7 region as a way towards building a creative and compassionate society, inspired through the arts.