The Museum as Steward of Knowledge: Accessibility, Dialogue and Relevance. University of Alberta . Des 681 . Theory and Research in Design Studies II . Gavin Renwick . Winter 2013
03 Gavin Renwick Introduction 05 Piyush Mann Project Title 14 Ceren Pektas Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone 21 Salim Azzam The Art of Story-telling 31 Mike Buss & Scott Varga Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge 37 Layal Shuman The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible 46 Ika Peraic Enabling Space 55 Sandra Tullio-Pow Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design 66 Lara Pinchbeck Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
Gavin Renwick . Designing for the Intangible
As globalisation impacts upon traditional practices their sustainability becomes more fragile (as cultural values and embodied knowledge can no longer be assumed to be transmitted from generation to generation). If cultural survival, never mind identity, depends on an uninterrupted chain of transmission, new ways of communicating cultural memory and traditional knowledge are required to enable future generations to continue to evolve while maintaining contemporary relevance. (There is also scope to recognise how traditional environmental knowledge can make a significant contribution to evolving contemporary sustainable design). Within these scenarios there exists a potential role for the designer-researcher, particularly in the context of a new museum located within a contemporary multi-cultural city like Edmonton. The artist Joseph Bueys once said that ‘culture relates to freedom because culture implies freedom’, insinuating, for me, the need for designers to be critically conversant about their methods, not merely their products. This seminar therefore introduced research through the context of practice, understanding it as a practical investigation calculated to devise or test new information, forms or procedures. We discussed the role and potential of research through exploring how designers construct an understanding of the social world and how that can affect possibilities for their practice. We considered the potential for design to operate between the individual and social world - within what Wade Davis calls the ‘ethnosphere’. With a new downtown museum currently being designed a unique opportunity arose for this multi-disciplinary class of Visual Communication Design, Industrial Design and Human Ecology students to reconsider what a museum for the 21st Century could be. Importantly, it was an opportunity to reconsider how we present and interpret material collections – particularly in a more culturally appropriate and post-colonial way. In the recent past our relationship with the place has fundamentally changed. The way in which those who lived on or worked the land has been transformed so rapidly that, within a generation, many areas of traditional skills and knowledge have completely disappeared, particularly through urban migration. For many communities, this has given rise to a schism between generations and a fear that their culture is being lost. This is especially poignant in societies where cultural history was traditionally passed between generations through song or story. (UNESCO has recently recognised the importance of traditional knowledge by ratifying the ‘Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage’.) Des681 explored issues of memory, transmission and creative continuity within and through design. We explored the relationship between practice (doing/making) and the transmission of knowledge and how, when incorporated into a critical design process, it can contribute to a dynamic cultural continuity and sense of identity within a multi-cultural milieu (rather than simply preserving and recording the past as some stylistic frozen moment in time).
Gavin Renwick . Designing for the Intangible
This seminar series brought together topics such like practice-led methodologies, design practice, performance, ethnography, cultural history, curation, museology and project management towards developing new mores of cultural communication. The seminar also undertook a critical review of curatorial practice and design within the context of cultural ‘contact zones’, such as museums, and investigate how non-tangible heritage has been utilised to date. We explored to what extent can the designer-researcher assume the role of cultural intermediary between intangible / non-textual knowledge traditions and cultural repositories? How can traditions and expressions be integrated into tangible design as a vehicle for understanding non-material culture? Can prototype designs be developed that effectively deliver a holistic interpretative experience of specific traditions within a multi-cultural museum context? Dr Gavin T Renwick Canada Research Chair for Design Studies
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Piyush Mann . Rethinking How We Design: Empathy Driven Design Process
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Ceren Pektas . Moli for Royal Alberta Museum / Expanding the Idea of Contact Zone
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Salim Azzam . The Art of Story-telling
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Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
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Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
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Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
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Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
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Michael Buss & Scott Varga . Engram.ca: The Trace and Resynthesis of Knowledge
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Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
Textual design uncovers the hidden meanings of written words
HI hi!
hi...,
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
hi
hi
hi
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Textual design reveals the intangible Serious
Excited
HI hi!
Insecure
hi...,
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
Confident
Friendly
Innocent
hi
hi
hi
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Textual design within the context of a museum
Fonts & readability
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Layout design
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Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
Hierarchy of information
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Colour choice
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Amount of information
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Fonts & readability 1
3 2 4
Try to avoid 1. Mixing decorative fonts with serif fonts 2. Using fonts in very small sizes 3. Using uneven leading (the space between lines) 4. Having long sentences
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
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Layout design 2
4 3
1
Try to avoid 1. Straight and curved paragraph styles 2. Lack of a layout grid 3. Inconsistent alignments of paragraphs 4. Random break of words
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
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Hierarchy of information 3 1
2 Try to avoid 1. Same textual design for different levels of information 2. Undefined relation between the text and its map or illustration 3. Misleading through unintentional visual hints
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
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Colour choice & psychological implications 1
2
3
4
Try to avoid 1. Black background within this context 2. Earth tone colour schemes with decorative fonts 3. Huge amount of white text on a red background 4. White text on a multi-coloured lit background
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
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Amount of information
*
*
Try to avoid too much information that cannot be Seen, read and understood
Layal Shuman . The Impact of Textual Design on Effectively Translating the Intangible
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Ika Peraic . Enabling Space
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Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
Quillwork
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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“The continuity of tradition is due not to its passive inertia but to its active regeneration–in the tasks of carrying on.” (Ingold & Hallam, 2007, p. 6)
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Connect Elders and Youth
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Goal To create an instructional video to preserve, document and teach traditional quillwork techniques to children, youth and adults.
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Research Questions > What are the traditional patterns, motifs and colours used in quillwork? > What are the cultural meanings assigned to specific patterns and the practice itself? > What are the quillwork techniques for weaving, plaiting, wrapping and stitching? > How can the use of media most effectively foster the transfer of cultural knowledge?
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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“The coming of the Europeans was ultimately to prove disastrous to the indigenous culture, and naturally the decorative arts suffered: four major quilling techniques virtually disappeared between the 17th and mid 18th centuries.� (Whitehead, 1982, p. 15)
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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From decorative art to souvenir
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Future Vision > Visual Resources: database and book of traditional quillwork patterns and motifs from the Royal Alberta Museum. > Instructional Video & workbook on quillwork techniques. > Quillwork workshops for novice and intermediate learners (Amiskwaciy, U of A, RU and RAM). > Web based workshop module > Quillwork Symposium, Workshop & Exhibition
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Collaborators
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Use design to link eastern and western Canada through a shared cultural heritage.
Sandra Tullio-Pow . Transitioning Traditional Craft Into Contemporary Design
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Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
The relocation of the Royal Alberta Museum affords the opportunity to develop a stronger relationship between the museum organization and the surrounding communities. The site will be on the old postal sorting centre (104 Ave + 97 St) between downtown’s civic precinct area and the inner city where the Chinese business district and several social agencies for homeless and transient people are located. (1) A greater connection between the museum and Edmonton’s First Nations population. (2) The people within the immediate vicinity are assets who could be integrated into the operations of the museum. Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That First Nations people have no barriers to visiting the museum and this develops their sense of self. “In terms of access for the inner city people, I think that there’s going to be huge implications for people living in poverty, people struggle with mental health and additions issues aren’t going to be able to access this facility because of barriers right off the top. Well, poverty and if there is certain etiquette that is required in the museum -well I am not even aware of that, to be honest with you. Like I know when you go in, it’s a place where you don’t make a lot of noise and what not. … Perhaps that is working with some of the agencies to see if they can offer passes for some of their clients. … Because a lot of their history is in there and so the only way they are going to be able to access that is if they have equal opportunity to get in there.” Larisa Kreider “What I think that I miss more”, “back then when I was living at home”, “I remember”, “That’s ours”, “When my dad was chief”, “ I was right there. I can feel the excitement”, and “That reminds me of my Dad and Mom”. Philly B.P. “Part of the culture, at least with my brief exposure to our ceremonies, is that it’s more about my journey to get to the ceremony, or the journey and after, what comes. … Sometimes elders will share as much as they believe they can because that will disrespect or cross that line. Other elders might believe that they should not be sharing. If they want to find out, this is the work that needs to be done to find it out. You might have more modern elders, open to that, and different approaches that depict their journey of what can be shared.” Dave Ward
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That First Nations people can access their cultural materials and knowledge respectfully. “In terms of access to the museum, to all of those artifacts, I have never heard of that. And I am born and raised here and I have never heard that you could access any of that stuff. In fact, I went through the museum at some point, we knew that there were artifacts but it seems kind of a mystery of how to access that stuff. … I know elders in the community and I have never heard that you can access artifacts. I have never heard that.” Larisa Kreider “We talked … how sacred the pipes and the stems and the bundles and the ceremonial tools are and, in the new museum, hopefully we would take the time to ensure that the nations which these gifts have come from that they are able to access them for ceremonial activities. If there could be an argument around that then I would like that it would modernize what the museums could and should be.” Dave Ward “There’s a responsibility to take care of that pipe like a baby, to nurture it and to practice with it. … The people who are gifted with it are connected to that energy and that loss of all the goodness that comes with it. And so are the nations. Once again an important part of how to engage the nations.” Dave Ward
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That First Nations people can, through the museum, share their knowledge, skills and perspectives. “I have always though that we are underutilizing all of the cultural knowledge that
“This is a small reference to the pride that the women took in doing their work,
we have here. Every time we do a cultural awareness training of workers, you
when it came to handling their tools or garments – see the belt across the top.
have to call in someone from a different area, when you got the grassroots people
Just how much patience. … Hav[e] elders teaching younger ones about beading
that have that knowledge but are not encouraged to use it or to share their stories,
and the life lessons that would go into the process for when you make a mistake
because I think that this has to do with the oppression that occurred and they have
in your beading and then you have to pull it back, pull the needles through and
learnt that no one wants to hear about it, that they are not worth listening to. … So
pull that bead back through and just like in life you come across those kinds of
ultimately they [the museum] could use the resources in the community and help
situations and just the art of understanding the amount of time that goes into
built their knowledge base too. … This would be a really good idea around poverty
doing it right and the patience associated with it. It is really about how do we
reduction and help marginalized groups to gain knowledge and gain skills and to
manifest that in our lives when our child is maybe not listening the way we want
help their financial situation, even on a part-time basis and getting them more
or going in the direction we want or maybe we made a mistake or something
involved in the community. They could expand even, they could be doing arts and
happened in our life that was a crisis so how do we handle that. To handle it with
crafts, showing them physically how to make certain items.” Larisa Kreider
patience and caring and love. … And understanding that lady that made that belt put her energy into that belt, so her spirit is connected to that belt, her prayers,
“My dad was an awesome person with awls. He would make his hat, he would sew
her thoughts, her prayers for safety for her partner or her child using it. It is
his saddle. He was awesome with his hands. He did not make his own tools. He
connected. … Energy is critical in telling our stories.” Dave Ward
was always working with his awl and his hands. I remember him making a saddle. That’s too bad that I never really captured all of these things. You just kinda’ go ‘That’s Dad. That’s what dads do.’” Philly B.P.
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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“When Dad was chief, he would always invite all of the other elders from the camps and you would always have to walk in on your left hand side [of the teepee]. For example, you would walk in, you would start with the chief, you would serve him first, make your way around. Then walk this way. This way, but you had to make your way back up and start again. As a kid I would zigzag and my dad would say you have got to do it this way. So I meant I learned a lot that way. How to enter a teepee, you would think that it is like any other house – you just enter it and enjoy. But there was protocol to it.” Philly B.P. “As part of the Smithsonian, there is a tour guide. That tour guide is the difference maker in the material. Because it brings the whole facility to life.” Dave Ward “Think about marginalized people who are living in the community, how are they making, are there opportunities for them to become business owners? I don’t see that. Definitely not in the Aboriginal community. How many Aboriginal businesses do you know in Edmonton? … So there needs to be more Aboriginal businesses and things like that.” Larisa Kreider
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That First Nations communities can host and sponsor satellite museums. “Would it not be nice if the Alberta museum were to have little satellite museums to say this is the rightful home or where it really belongs. … Then that would promote the economic and tourism of the reserve. And this is where you interpret them. ‘Here are some that were found in this area. … If you want to see more, go to this, go there.’ That kind of idea. That would be awesome. Then actually, the reserves themselves have their own museums and then they could showcase their own. ‘Here is the trapline line: here is what we used to do, here is what we still do.’” Larisa Kreider “I think that Hobbema has a cultural centre. That could be a starting point so they could utilize some of the resources there and they could get them to come in and facilitate that. And Enoch is so close. They could build a partnership with Enoch, and Alexander. And utilize some of the people out there to come in and start speaking to the artifacts, and they might be artifacts, … that we make today.” Larisa Kreider “They found these medicine wheels. So what happened was that people were just coming in, people that were partying and they did not really respect it. Now they are having all sorts of new findings so now they are really taking consideration and preserving a lot of that stuff now.” Philly B.P.
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That First Nations communities can use these satellites for further economic development opportunities within their community. “A lot of people need to feel like they can actually succeed too. I think that
“Winnipeg is doing a bit better than we are, in terms of community economic
maybe there needs to be some Aboriginal economic development office. …
development. They have more social enterprises, and tapping into community
It’s to promote community economic development and all the resources are
people as resources. … If you want to have, and it’s all grass roots people working
right there in one building. … I just think that everyone is at different levels of
and it’s a social enterprise and a cooperative.”
capacity to develop a business. Some people have the skills but don’t have the
Larisa Kreider
academics to create a business. So if there was some support there to help people become entrepreneurs. Not everyone can just write a business plan and
“Let’s suppose that you wanted to grow sweet grass, we could take people out,
market themselves. And do all that kind of stuff and they just don’t have the funds
like excursions, like in Mexico, to do excursions going to sweat lodges. Having
to start off with, to begin with. So there needs to be focused effort to. I think of
the authentic Aboriginal experiences, that is a huge missed opportunity that we
cooperatives, ways to do it in a more cooperative fashion; like a social enterprise
could be utilizing, that again would strengthen the pride, the culture, give people a
concept.” Larisa Kreider
sense of skill-base, and also obviously some finance.” Larisa Kreider
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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imagine That a greater presence of First Nations cultures within Edmonton and throughout Alberta increase their reputation. “If you look at Edmonton as a whole, you would not know that you are in First
“We can graduate to using a term like indigenous and that not only validates
Nations territory. Period. You would not know. You go to Vancouver, you know. But
indigenous people but it also speaks to where Canadians want to go with the
you come here to Edmonton, you would not know.” Larisa Kreider
relationship. I think it is an evolution to our journey.” Dave Ward
“Because we are the second highest Aboriginal population in Canada, soon to be the first, if Edmonton really wanted to create a better image for Edmonton,
“It would be nice to know, to have that endorsement. That might be a lot to ask
they would consider enhancing opportunities for Aboriginal people because that
some nations but in terms of who we are as Canadians and where we are going, i
will actually draw people in as a source of tourism. So people would come here
think that is ‘Did we get this right?” validation. We want to get everything right but
because they know that this is First Nations territory and they would actually take
that validation is nice.” Dave Ward
advantage of what we have to offer and that would be a lot more than just Fort Edmonton.” Larisa Kreider
“These are your ancestors but we are living in a different era now. We are urbanized now so we can get more cultural pride. It would help with some of the
“ ‘Cause Cree, Blackfoot, and Dene are all very different. Each of those nations
stereotyping and all of that stuff. Racism.” Larisa Kreider
there’s a different language, there’s different ceremonies, different versions of how ceremony’s approached; so Albertans don’t get that here.” Dave Ward
Lara Pinchbeck . Imagine: leveraging the Royal Alberta Museum for First Nations cultures.
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