The Yukon International Storytelling Festival was held every Summer in

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, generally in an outdoor setting. Cofounders of the

storytelling festival A storytelling festival is an event that features local, regional and/or nationally known oral storytellers. Each storyteller will have a scheduled amount of time to share a story (or stories) with an audience. The featured storytellers are often p ...

were storytellers Louise Profeit-Leblanc and Anne Taylor. Profeit-Leblanc, from the

Northern Tutchone The Northern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the central Yukon in Canada. Language and culture The Northern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Northern Tutchone p ...

Nation, was the niece of Angela Sidney (1902 – 1991), one the Yukon's last

Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...

. Sidney had devoted her life to preserving the stories of the Tagish of Southern Yukon, Profeit-Leblanc and Taylor were motivated to found a more local venue for sharing Yukon stories when they realized that Sidney had had to travel in 1984 to the Toronto Festival of Storytelling to disseminate her peoples' stories to a world audience. In 1987 interested parties came together to plan the first Yukon Storytelling Festival in 1988. It later grew beyond the scope of

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to attract

storytellers Storyteller, story teller, or story-teller may refer to: * A person who does storytelling Arts and entertainment Film *''Oidhche Sheanchais'', also called ''The Storyteller''; 1935 Irish short film * '' Narradores de Javé'' (''Storytellers'') ...

from all over the world with an emphasis on native peoples storytelling and circumpolar countries.

History

In 1984 Angela Sidney shared her stories at the Toronto Festival of Storytelling. Fellow storytellers were inspired by her to develop the Yukon International Storytelling Festival which was created in 1988. First decade. The first edition in 1988 proposed storytellers from 4 continents and 23 languages (including 16 native languages). In 1989 the festivals take flight and promotes attendance by schoolchildren and Jerry Alfred was one of the artists. In 1990 the festival grows. In 1991 the festival gains notoriety from a national festival reviewer and changes its name to "Yukon International Storytelling Festival". The Tagish lady who inspired the creation of the festival, Angela Sidney, died. 1992's edition experienced diplomatic problems with its scheduled

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

guests. 1993 saw record attendance and box office sales. 1994 the festival experienced severe financial losses due to a windstorm that nearly destroyed the festival tents and caused the festival to relocate. In 1995 the festival was scaled down in order to recoup past financial losses, and produced a surplus for the first time. In 1996 the festival grew once more and saw its second best attendance. The 10th anniversary edition in 1997 experienced its best attendance yet and interest from the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...

finally started happening. Second decade. The 1998 edition felt a loss of attendance because of competing local events. In 1999 it proposed a new successful "Winter tour" and finally garnered support from the

. The 2000 edition was held in June and had great weather . 2001, rain did not impede the festivals popularity. In 2002 the festival gained much political support and moved into new offices with a new dynamic leader. The 2003 edition saw a successful Circumpolar Banquet and other workshops and events throughout the day. The many forest fires of 2004 created a unique atmosphere for the festival, the highlight storytellers were Red Sky Performance Troupe from

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The largest festival in 2005 had 12 tents with many different activities. Highlighted artists were Uzume Taiko Japanese drumming ensemble, Aché Brasil performing the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...

and Robert Bly. 2006, with MacPap International Brigades veteran Jules Paivio as highlight remembering the Spanish Civil War, was a similarly large and well attended endeavour. Partnership with "Harvest Fair" and the Mongolian

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...

s provided cozy, warm and intimate storytelling venues. The 20th anniversary was held indoors for the first time at the Yukon Arts Center in August. Highlighted artists were SunsDrum, an interactive

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

presentation of traditional drumming and

throat singing Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures around the world. The most distinctive feature of such vocal practices is to be associated to some type of guttural voice, that contrasts with the most common types of voi ...

, Jeanne Doucet Currie, an Acadian traditional storyteller and singer/songwriter, Dan Yashinsky (founder of the Toronto Festival of Storytelling) and Ida Calmagne (Tagish, Yukon), daughter of the founder of the festival. The festival is currently on an indefinite sabbatical.

Regular local guest storytellers

Jerry Alfred - Michele Emslie - Anne-Louise Genest - Backwoods Benny

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * {{citation , url=http://www.banffcentre.ca/faculty/faculty-member/3237/louise-profeit-leblanc/ , title=Louise Profeit Leblanc , location=Banff, Alberta , year=2013 , access-date=5 November 2014 , work=The Banff Centre for the Arts , ref={{SfnRef, The Banff Centre for the Arts

External links and references

International Storytelling CenterYukon International Storytelling Festival fonds (yuk-170)
at Yukon Archives Literary festivals in Canada Storytelling festivals Culture of Whitehorse Indigenous festivals in Canada Arts festivals in Yukon

History

Regular local guest storytellers

See also

Footnotes

References

External links and references