News - Festival a Meeting of Minds The Gathering..2003

since May 6, 2004

FESTIVAL A MEETING OF MINDS THE GATHERING OF THE GOOD MINDS IS A FEAST OF NATIVE CULTURE.
Friday, September 26, 2003 Tag: 0309260071

Edition: Final Section: Entertainment Length: 73 lines Page: C4

BY SANDRA COULSON, FREE PRESS LIFESTYLES REPORTER

The birth of the Gathering of the Good Minds two years ago came amid the difficult days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "That was quite traumatic for most of the world and most events taking place at that time were cancelled because of that," says Dan Smoke, one of the organizers of the Gathering, a festival of aboriginal arts and wisdom.

"We felt it was important the Gathering go on because what we were talking about, what we were sharing, is our indigenous knowledge system." All the teaching, singing, dancing and storytelling, the art exhibit and film screenings -- taking place again this weekend at the second
Gathering -- have the single purpose of healing native people's losses, Smoke says. "And that healing energy that came out of the first festival was good for any of our guests and visitors who were feeling the impact of 9/11," he says. About 4,000 came out. A good mind in native culture describes a person endowed with intellect and intuition and the creativity to express them. This weekend's programs are free. Each day opens with a sunrise ceremony -- today and Saturday
on the front lawn of Museum London and Sunday in the old Neutral village site at the London Museum of Archaeology. A sacred fire lit at dawn will be tended all day. Museum London hosts most activities today and Saturday. The London Museum of Archaeology takes over as the main site Sunday, coinciding with its Native Harvest Festival. The art exhibit continues at
Museum London and a shuttle bus will run between the two sites. Native crafts will be on sale at the Covent Garden Market square during the weekend.

Ontario Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman, a member of the Anishinawbe nation, will attend as a guest tonight at the official opening at Museum London. Smoke and his wife, Mary Lou Smoke, knew Bartleman champions many of the interests supported by the Gathering, so when they met him in at an event in Toronto last year, they invited him to the next Gathering. They offered him tobacco and when Bartleman accepted it, Smoke says that, according to native protocol, he was making a commitment to come. But the office of the lieutenant-governor has its own protocol to follow. The next time the Smokes saw Bartleman, at a tribute dinner to Lincoln
Alexander, Bartleman made his way over to them and urged them to send the invitation in writing, too. Bartleman isn't the only aboriginal person prominent in local and national circles coming to the Gathering. Some of the scheduled presenters and exhibitors are documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, musicians Robbie Antone,
Tim Dillon and Ogitchitaw Kwe Wag, the Kanata Native Dance Theatre, traditional teachers Bruce Elijah, Norma General and Vern Harper, and artists Ida Baptiste, Sean Couchie and Shelley Niro.

IF YOU GO
What: The Gathering of the Good Minds

When: Today to Sunday

Events - Sunrise ceremonies: Today and Saturday, Museum London lawn, 421 Ridout St.N., and Sunday, London Museum of Archeology, 1600 Attawandaron Rd., 6 a.m, followed by breakfast - Opening ceremony: Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Museum London - Performances and workshops: tomorrow, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Museum London; Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., London Museum of Archaeology - Traditional feast: tomorrow, 5 p.m., Museum London -
Craft sales: Covent Garden Market, 130 King St., tomorrow and Sunday

More information: Go to www.thegatheringofgoodminds.netfirms.com

Illustration: photo by Susan Bradnam, The London Free Press

GOOD MINDS: Mary Lou Smoke and her husband Dan are two of the organizers of
the weekend festival at Museum London and the Archaeology Museum offering "healing energy" to the native community.

Notes:
DATE: SEPTEMBER 23, 2003