Sākihiwē aims to inspire next gen

Sākihiwē is turning 17, a cause for celebration, inspiring Indigenous artistry and plenty of cotton candy for Alan Greyeyes, the music business pro and community builder who helped launch the event in 2009 with Aboriginal Music Manitoba.

After nearly a decade of bringing low-barrier access to music and arts in Winnipeg’s inner-city neighbourhoods, Sākihiwē received its current name — a Cree phrase meaning “to love another” — through ceremony from Sundance Chief David Blacksmith in 2018.

That name felt deeply intertwined with the annual festival’s ethos of offering accessible programming while creating Indigenous-led pathways for artistic sustainability, mentorship and representation.

“Our focus is to give Indigenous and newcomer families in Winnipeg’s core and North End access to the arts,” says Greyeyes, who also chairs the Indigenous Music Office — a national body aimed at uplifting, empowering and strengthening Indigenous music creators, families and communities.

The festival director believes mental health suffers without access to the arts, which is why the festival’s cornerstone events are its free annual block parties, boasting live music, a barbecue, face-painting, a photobooth, an Indigenous marketplace and festival-run activity stations for children. Picnic tables will be set up, but families are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to enjoy the outdoor concerts.

“I live now in South Osborne, and I can walk down the street to the Park Theatre or the Neighbour by Neighbour event at the Lord Roberts Community Centre. I want families in the North End and the core to have the same kinds of opportunities and access,” says Greyeyes.

“In those early, formative years it’s even more important to have access to role models, to see people blazing trails and opening doors for others.”

This year, music will fill the air beginning at 2 p.m. today at the Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre (510 King St.) and on Sunday at Central Park.

At the Turtle Island show — which kicks off with a powwow demonstration by Rising Sun Pow Wow Club, Blazing Buffalo and Thunderbird Coming — guests are asked to park on King Street or Dufferin and Flora avenues.

Slated to perform outdoors at Central Park are youth throat singers from the Tunngasugit Inuit Resource Centre, rapper KNG JMZ, franco-folkster Willows, country singer Brettyn Rose, fiddler Darren Lavallee, and songwriters Rhonda Head and Amanda Gendron.

At 8 p.m., Celeigh Cardinal — named songwriter of the year at the 2024 Western Canadian Music Awards — will perform tracks from her discography, including the Juno-nominated LP Boundless Possibilities.

Among the performers taking the stage today is 32-year-old Saskatoon rapper Anthony (Big Tones) Pasqua, who is in town for his second performance in Winnipeg over the past year following a show at last fall’s BreakOut West festival — and this time, he’s driving into town with a fresh track called Shine.

Featuring lyrical tributes to his inspirational matriarchs — Pasqua’s auntie Tracey and kookum Donna, “the sweetgrass warrior,” who died in 2024 — Big Tones says Shine is about “letting yourself be who you are, continuing to live a good life, surrounding yourself with good people and becoming the best version of yourself.”

He performs today at 6 p.m., playing a set right before Long Plain First Nation songwriter and filmmaker Aaron Peters.

For a full block party schedule and additional information about Sākihiwē’s year-round programming, visit sakihiwe.ca.

winnipegfreepress.com/benwaldman