Summer Solstice Celebration with Logan Staats

Presented by Talking Stick Festival

Experience an unforgettable evening at “Summer Solstice Celebration with Logan Staats,” where Indigenous art and culture come to life. This captivating event features a diverse mix of ceremony, storytelling, dance, music, fashion, and more. Be moved by headliner Logan Staats’ soulful melodies and amazed by the talent of ILA. Discover the powerful connections that unite us all, as inspiring performances celebrate the spirit of Indigenous cultures in a captivating blend of tradition and contemporary expression.

Logan Staats

In 2018, veracious Mohawk singer-songwriter Logan Staats was chosen from 10,000 hopeful contestants vying for a spot on musical competition show The Launch. Before an audience of 1.4 million viewers, Staats won, officiating the breakthrough that would lead him to Nashville and Los Angeles, and to his single “The Lucky Ones” winning the Indigenous Music Award for Best Radio Single. “The Lucky Ones” also occupied #1 in Canada.

In the years between now and then, Staats has come home, making the intentional decision to re-root at ​​Six Nations of the Grand River. “I wanted to bring my songwriting back to the medicine inside of music, to the medicine inside of reclamation,” he says following a phase of constant travel and intensity.

To Staats, music is a healing salve, contemplatively composed and offered to listeners in need of comfort. Since returning home, Staats has been able to create music authentically again, reclaiming his sound through honest storytelling and unvarnished, sometimes painful reflection.

ILA

With her soulful voice and lyrics that wash over the minds and hearts of audiences like waves, singer-songwriter ILA is a force to be reckoned with. This Winnipeg based folk-soul artist of Anishinaabe and settler heritage, takes listeners on an introspective journey, inviting them to connect deeply with their own emotions. As an act of reciprocity, Ila mentors emerging Indigenous artists in AIRsessions, her self-curated music workshop series. ILA has taken the stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Regina Folk Festival, sākihiwē festival, and opened for Jeremy Dutcher’s sold out performance in PEI. After the release of her self-titled debut album (2013) Ila took time to mindfully refine her artistry, embarking on a creative evolution emerging with a self-determined sound. Her newly released album Fool Under Water (2022) is an honour song to her metamorphosis into the powerhouse she is today and a promise that the tide will turn.

Fashion Show
by Joleen Mitton

bio to come

Jordan Waunch - emcee

Jordan Waunch is a Vancouver based Métis performing artist, public speaker, and award winning filmmaker. A graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Film And Television Production Program, Jordan has gone on to build a career as a professional casting associate at the Vancouver based casting facility Studio 3 Media. In 2019 he directed the project “Sisters Of Sorrow” through StoryHive’s first ever Indigenous Storyteller Edition and produced the Queer Indigenous horror film “Terror/Forming”. His most recent directing project “Shadow Of The Rougarou” is playing on APTN’s streaming service Lumi.