2022 Festival

Photo by: Nadya Kwandibens / Artist: Celeste Pedri-Spade & Evan Ducharme Studio

Marketplace

Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto ON M5J 2G8
(416) 973-4000

June 10, 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
June 11, 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM
June 12, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Manitoba Spotlight

Lakeview Market Tents
Booths 38, 41 – 44


Curated by Lesley Beardy

Lesley Beardy is Anishinaabe and Inninew from Missipawistic Cree Nation and based in Treaty One Territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She grew up on the Saskatchewan River where it meets Lake Winnipeg. Lesley’s artistic skills include photography, writing curatorial texts, and research with emerging Indigenous artists.

She has had exhibitions in Nuit Blanche Montreal and in Window Winnipeg Manitoba. She is also a community helper and a mental wellness worker for youth. Lesley sits on the board of directors for an Indigenous youth organization in the North-end of Winnipeg and has been a juror for Flash Forward. Lesley believes that supporting, creating, and wearing Indigenous Fashion and textiles is the best way to decolonize and represent our culture in a beautiful way. 

Original Maker’s Space

The Original Makers Space seeks to address the lack of access and representation of older Indigenous people in the workplace, especially women and houseless people. The Original Makers Space is a drop-in site where elders and community members are invited to work on their own designs, sell their pieces if they choose, and socialize.

Scheduling sitting times will be made available on-site by the Native Arts Society.

Native Arts Society (NAS) is an Indigenous, two-spirit led initiative inspired by the “art days” from May 2020 at an encampment on a street corner in Parkdale, Toronto. Many Indigenous street folks supported by NAS are talented multimedia artists and come from a long line of artists. However, non-Indigenous people exploit these artists and their artworks, paying below market value for original Native artworks, without question. The Native Arts Society provides space to store, create, and sell Indigenous-made art that is safe, rooted in harm reduction, and free from judgment.