Talking Stick Festival under the theme, Cultivating Kin, brings artists and cultural workers together to reconnect through shared creativity and community. Over this three-day gathering, we invite participants to reflect, build relationships, and reimagine how we support one another and the creative practices we steward.
NDN Acts
Friday, March 20 @ 7 PM
Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
NDN Acts opens the Talking Stick Festival with five new works by Indigenous artists curated by Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen. Artists are paired across disciplines and invited to create something new together, developed specifically for this night. Shared publicly for the first time and in wildly different stages of development, the works respond to this year’s theme, Cultivating Kin. Spanning theatre, film, music, dance, comedy, visual and performance arts, NDN Acts brings creative fusion to the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre and celebrates ten Indigenous artists moving forward together.
The event is FREE
Night Shift: NDN Takeover
Friday, March 20 @ 8:30 PM
Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
An evening of live music rooted in progressive and expansive Indigenous sound, featuring performances by Edzi’u and Hayley Wallis. Moving through electronic, soulful, and groove-driven textures before closing with a DJ set from DJ Kookum, the program unfolds as an arc of sound that gathers, uplifts, and moves the room, celebrating contemporary Indigenous collaboration and creative energy.
The event is FREE
Cultivating Kin
Saturday, March 21 @ 9 AM – 4:30 PM
RSVP Only
Cultivating Kin is an intimate gathering grounded on the theme of restoring right relations in our creative practices. Centering care and community, it offers space for artists and culture workers to connect, reflect, and imagine new ways of being in relationship with one another and with the creative work we steward. This gathering brings together artists, culture workers, and community members to reimagine a world where our arts practices are rooted in shared Indigenous worldviews grounded in the 5Rs: respect, relationality, responsibility, relevancy, and reciprocity. Centering Indigenous, African/diaspora, and the wider diaspora including Peoples of the Global Majority, Cultivating Kin invites collective reflection, dialogue, and care-driven practices that nurture kinship and make room for more just, liberated and creative futures. Join us for a day of dialogue, embodied practice, and relationality.
SeedPool Immersion
Sunday, March 22 @ 11 AM – 1:30 PM
SFU World Art, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
SeedPool Immersion is an interactive workshop led by Diane Roberts and collaborators that invites participants into a digital platform of “seeds” — visual, sonic, and conceptual works designed to be activated. Through a live navigation of the SeedPool Immersion website, audiences encounter a range of creative provocations before selecting one to respond to using simple hands-on materials. The session moves from shared viewing into collective making and concludes with participants offering their responses back to the room, creating a space of exchange, experimentation, and co-creation rooted in relational practice.
The event is FREE
Lighting the Next Fire
Sunday, March 22 starts @ 4 PM
Lighting the Next Fire at Second Beach closes the Talking Stick Festival with a public gathering by the water. With drumming, song and story exchange, along with a Feast, it’s a chance to come together with our communities and celebrate alongside one another.
Do you have a keepsake, heirloom, gift, or everyday item that carries memory, emotional connection, or conjures a special experience? Perhaps it reminds you of a loved one, marks an important moment, or was passed down through generations.
We’d love to hear how this object connects you to your story, your community or your journey. Share a short reflection on its significance in your life.
Partners and Supporters
