Winnipeg, MB – Aboriginal Music Manitoba (AMM) is excited to announce that it will be partnering with the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre (NPDWC) on a fourth free community celebration during Aboriginal Music Week 2015. The event, dubbed the Aboriginal Music Week Stage at the Austin Street Festival, will mirror the format of Aboriginal Music Week’s other community celebrations with music workshops, activities for kids, a free BBQ, and a big concert featuring performances by First Nation, Métis, and Inuit acts from across Canada.
Award-winning country singer Ali Fontaine, Aboriginal chart topping rock group Black Rain, a Quebec-based rising star named Mariame, and three youth performers who will be announced next month will perform at the concert.
- Ali Fontaine (2,685 fans on Facebook, 1,549 followers on Instagram, 1,239 followers on Twitter) is a country singer from Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. She was named Best New Artist and earned the title for Best Country CD at the 2011 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards.
- Black Rain (5,856 fans on Facebook, 553 followers on Twitter) is a rock band from Ahtahkakoop First Nation in Saskatchewan. Their latest single, “Memories,” hit #1 on the National Aboriginal Music Countdown earlier this year.
- Mariame (2,212 fans on Facebook, 870 followers on Instagram, 45 followers on Twitter) is a pop singer from Montreal who released her debut album, entitledBloom, on May 26. The music video for the lead single racked up more than 18,000 views in it’s first month on YouTube.”
The main goal of Aboriginal Music Week is to develop Aboriginal youth as an audience for live music,” explains AMM chairperson Alan Greyeyes. “We learned a couple years back that the best way to do this is by taking the music to the community, instead of expecting them to come to us, and this new partnership gives us the ability to reach even more young folks in Winnipeg.”
The concert is set for an outdoor stage on Austin Street, between Euclid Avenue and Selkirk Avenue on Friday, August 21 from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. and the NPDWC has several other activities planned for the celebration.
“The Austin Street Festival has become a perennial favorite in Point Douglas- organised by and for our community,” says NPDWC Executive Director Kate Sjoberg. “Along with the concert, we’ll have a bunch of activity stations for the kids, music workshops with some of the performers, and a free BBQ for the neighbourhood. It just keeps getting better each year.”
The Aboriginal Music Week Stage at the Austin Street Festival
Ali Fontaine, Black Rain, Mariame, and special guests
Friday, August 21, 2015
1pm – 6pm
Austin Street, between Euclid Avenue and Selkirk Avenue
Free Concert | Free BBQ | Free Music Workshops
All Ages, Families Welcome
Aboriginal Music Week 2015 is set for August 18 – 22 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It will include four community celebrations at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, the Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre, the Austin Street Festival, and St. John’s Park. Four lunch hour concerts, three days of music workshops, two ticketed concerts, two networking dinners, and mentor meetings with three international artists round out the festival programming this year.
About Aboriginal Music Week
Aboriginal Music Week was launched in 2009 to develop Aboriginal youth as an audience for live music. The festival presents between 25 and 35 First Nation, Métis, Inuit, Native American, and Indigenous music acts each year. It is held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and is produced by AMM.
AMM would like to acknowledge the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Arts Council for their financial support of Aboriginal Music Week 2015.
AMM would like to acknowledge RPM.fm, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR) and Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters, Grassroots News, North End Revitalization Incorporated, the City of Winnipeg, the National Music Centre, and Amiskusees: Semaganis Worme Family Foundation for their support of Aboriginal Music Week 2015.
We acknowledge the financial support of FACTOR and Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters.
Visit aboriginalmusicweek.ca for more information about the festival.
Visit ammb.ca for more information about AMM.
About North Point Douglas Women’s Centre
The NPDWC for Women was developed in 2000 as an empowerment project in recognition of women’s generally unequal position in society, their unique needs, and the important role they have in planning at the community level to enhance social, economic, and environmental conditions for themselves and their families.
Visit northpointdouglaswomenscentre.org for more information about the NPDWC. For more information about Aboriginal Music Week, please contact:
Alan Greyeyes, Chairperson
Aboriginal Music Manitoba
P: (204) 296-9790
E: alan@ammb.ca
aboriginalmusicweek.ca
ammb.ca
For more information about the NPDWC, please contact:
Kate Sjoberg, Executive Director
North Point Douglas Women’s Centre
P: (204) 947 0321
E: director@npdwc.org
northpointdouglaswomenscentre.org
