Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series is a monthly online conversation session that invites leading Indigenous Art creators to talk about their practices and processes.
Join Kevin Loring, Actor, Playwright, and founding Artistic Director of Savage Society, and currently the Artistic Director of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre of Canada, for this session facilitated by Reneltta Arluk, Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre.
This session takes place over two days:
May 19: Kevin Loring does a presentation of his work.
May 20: Be part of a conversation with Kevin Loring and Reneltta Arluk. This second session is the space intended for your questions and comments.
With support from:
Meet Kevin Loring
Kevin is N'lakap’amux from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia. Kevin Loring is an accomplished Actor, Playwright, Director and founding Artistic Director of Savage Society, a non-profit charity dedicated to telling Indigenous stories. He is currently the Artistic Director of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre of Canada.
A versatile artist and leader Loring has served as the co-curator of the Talking Stick Festival, as Artist in Residence at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, as Artistic Director of the Savage Society in Vancouver, as a Documentary Producer/Writer and co-host of Canyon War: The Untold Story, and as the Project Leader/Creator, and Director of the Songs of the Land project in his home community of Lytton First Nation. Loring created the Songs of the Land project in 2012 in partnership with five separate community organizations.
The project explores 100-year-old audio recordings and the creation stories of the N’lakap’amux. Loring has written several new plays based on this work with an ensemble of professional Indigenous Artists and community members, these include: Battle of the Birds, about domestic violence and power abuse, The Council of Spider Ant and Fly about the introduction of death into the universe, and The Boy Who Was Abandoned, about youth abandonment and elder neglect.
Kevin has a long history at the National Arts Centre. As well as performing in numerous productions there he was a company member of the National Arts Centre English Theatre Acting Company and was the Playwright in Residence there in 2010.
Kevin is the recipient of many awards and accolades, most notably the 2009 Governor Generals Literary Award for his play Where the Blood Mixes, and a Governor General's Performing Arts Mentorship Award, and he was a GG Literary Award finalist for his play Thanks for Giving in 2018.
Meet Reneltta Arluk
As Banff Centre's Director of Indigenous Arts, Reneltta is focused on fostering Indigenous culture through storytelling, and she's doing it by building a community that supports Indigenous artists, helping them discover their voice and turn their ideas into reality.
Reneltta Arluk, Director of Indigenous Arts, Banff Centre.
Photo by Nahanni MacKay.