Bring Kikino Métis Settlement Youth to Calgary

Tantoo Cardinal’s Tap Root Actors Academy (TRAA) is an acting and filmmaking academy for Indigenous youth based in Kikino Métis Settlement, Alberta. Tap Root exists to provide Metis artistic and cultural knowledge to inform and inspire artistic practices and vision in Metis youth. Tap Root also invites family and community members to offer their time and space for storytelling and volunteering. The Academy gives the youth an opportunity to engage in the cultural landscape of the country and to discover that their stories matter.

We are raising funds to help bring the youth of Kikino Métis Settlement to Calgary in order to celebrate the screening of their 2021 film "Kikino Kids" at the Calgary International Film Festival

This includes event tickets, travel, accommodations, and meals for 35 youth and 10 chaperones from September 25th 2022, through to the 26th. Any funds left unused for this event will go directly back into summer programming which supports facilitator visits, equipment, and much more.

During their stay in Calgary, the Kikino Youth will be toured through what filmmaking facilities the city has to offer. From studio and movie set visits, to theatre and prop warehouses, the tour will show them what will eventually be available to them as they begin their storytelling careers.

My family history was not talked about. There has been a time of silence - shameful history being Indians, Eskimos and Half Breeds. Laws to keep us downtrodden. Generations impacted by Residential Schools and poor education in general. The proud parent of Survival Schools and a lack-lustre early educational experience for some of us in the Indigenous world.

In my 50+ years in this business I have noticed the lack of focus on our stories, in this case, Métis stories.

I have had to pick up on my own personal history in haphazard ways - due to the Silence hiding forbidden stories… emerging from a society where we had been outlawed. Each time I learned more about who we are as Indigenous Peoples I grew stronger. I intend on sharing that experience of packing oneself with heart & soul experiences to carry you through any possibility of alienation. The Tap Root Actors Academy vehicle will help explore your terrain for the gems in your inheritance…as you become a fuller you to strengthen your art.

- Tantoo Cardinal

Help support the storytelling careers of Kikino Métis Settlement youth by celebrating their first film festival screening and expanding their imaginations as to what is possible.