About
Created in 2004 by the Atikamekw Nation Council, the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Youth Network and filmmaker Manon Barbeau, Wapikoni is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the creative expression of First Nations, Inuit and Métis members, with an emphasis on the importance of indigenous narrative sovereignty.
With its mobile and virtual creation studios, Wapikoni offers culturally adapted support to indigenous artists in the individual or collective realization of various audiovisual, musical and XR creation projects.
The organization offers its artists’ collective a space for personal, professional and creative development in the form of mentoring, in addition to offering various workshops aimed at training the mentors and indigenous leaders of tomorrow!
Wapikoni also provides its collective with a distribution service to promote their work throughout Canada and the world. All these initiatives contribute, through various means of dissemination, to the transmission of knowledge, education and awareness of indigenous realities.
By favouring the hiring of indigenous or culturally, sexually and gender-diverse personnel as well as those with disabilities, Wapikoni creates an inclusive and adaptive work environment.
Information: Laurence Richard – laurencerichard@wapikoni.ca
Our Impact
Since its creation, Wapikoni has allowed more than 6,000 participants from 28 nations and 89 communities around the world to express themselves through a creative project. More than 2,000 audiovisual works have been produced and 217 prizes have been awarded to our collective of artists. Each year, Wapikoni participates in more than 300 distribution activities and offers approximately 70 awareness workshops on indigenous realities.
By offering them creative space and culturally appropriate support, our organization has a significant influence on our artists’ collective, but also on indigenous communities and cultures by:
- Contributing to the emergence of new indigenous talents.
- Promoting the use of indigenous languages in creative projects.
- Promoting the creation and maintenance of intergenerational links.
- Strengthening individual and collective pride and empowerment.
- Encouraging young and old to become involved and active in their community.
- Collaborating in the valorization and safeguarding of indigenous cultural heritage through our important collection of audiovisual works.
How your gift will be used
Wapikoni believes in the creative process as a vector of social and societal transformation. By making a planned donation to our organization, you are contributing to the maintenance of circularity, according to the principles of our vision:
Inspiring & Belonging
- To inspire and develop a sense of belonging, self-esteem and empowerment in our artist collective.
- Foster leadership and community engagement.
Creating & Existing
- Support our mobile and virtual creative studios.
- To provide the necessary resources for the realization of audiovisual projects.
- Allow the members of the collective to tell their story in their own way.
- To assert the copyright of the artists.
Learning & Growing
- Train more indigenous mentors.
- Provide culturally appropriate continuing education and development workshops.
Transmission & Sharing
- Transmit indigenous knowledge through the distribution and circulation of our works.
- Offer awareness workshops on indigenous realities.
- Support our international development activities.
- To improve the accessibility of the works and to create opportunities for cultural mediation via our travelling projections.
To give to Wapikoni is to contribute to making the expressions and talents of the First Peoples shine!
To make a donation now: https://www.actionwapikoni.ca/