TL;DR
Status
Open
Details
This program creates safe spaces for 2S/Indigiqueer youth (18-29) to express their authentic selves and foster solidarity and kinship networks. The initiatives are designed to evolve continuously, adapting to the changing needs of the community.
Our Initiatives
In 2024, our Culture and Wellness team undertook a community engagement project to help inform our next 2S/Indigiqueer programming. In total, we conducted 5 virtual sessions with 12 participants, and 145 online surveys were completed, resulting in 157 responses. We hope that our report serves as a valuable resource for other Indigenous and Two Spirit/Indigiqueer groups.
Online workshops that build cultural and social connections through Zoom sessions that taught traditional skills, led by Two-Spirit facilitators and knowledge-sharers. Each youth received a welcome package with materials and all the necessary supplies to participate.
Past workshops:
- Two Spirit Pine Needle Basket Weaving, Fall 2021
- Powwow Fitness Series, Summer 2022
- Two Spirit Powwow Panel Discussion: Coming into the Dance Circle, Winter 2023
I’d like to encourage Indigiqueer youth to seek out community, either in person or online. I felt like an outsider as a kid — because I was the only out queer person in my small town — and because I had been removed from my Indigenous community. Connecting with other two-spirits was essential to my healing and growth as a person. It is important to seek out those who understand and accept your authentic self, as cheesy as that may sound.
In the Summer of 2023, Amanda Amour-Lynx launched the Digital Constellations Mentorship program with support from Indigenous Youth Roots. The program created pathways for young people to advance into professional roles often limited by institutional privilege, education, and networking connections.
In five virtual workshop sessions led by Two Spirit cultural creators, artists, storytellers, curators, and small business owners, participants learned how to engage with cultural institutions, protect and conserve cultural objects, craft, regalia, and practices.
Partners: ImagineNative and InterAccess
This initiative responded to the need for social connection at the onset of Covid-19 and the demand for more culturally inclusive spaces for Two Spirit and Indigiqueer youth.
It celebrated the unique roles and gifts of Two Spirit kin, focusing on healthy spirituality and self-care practices. Participants engaged in weekly online workshops that explored regalia styles, sewing and beadwork techniques, garment ideation, and the identification of motifs, their meanings, symbolism, and spiritual significance across diverse nations.
We hosted this program in two iterations: one in 2021, running for 13 weeks, and another in 2022, lasting 7 weeks.
Practicing our Indigenous ways of knowing and doing has been an integral part of my healing journey. Having the opportunity to be in spaces where I can come as I am to further learn about Powwow regalia is much needed for our community. These spaces are not only educational, but healing as well.
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