(ANNews) – The National Indigenous Cultural Expo is Canada’s historic celebration of First Nation, Métis and Inuit culture, taking place from September 28-30, 2018 in Edmonton.
Join thousands of Indigenous people from across the Turtle Island for the first ever National Indigenous Cultural Expo (NICE), featuring Canada’s largest Pow Wow, Metis Festival, and Inuit Showcase, all in one venue – the Edmonton Expo Centre, located at 7515 118 Avenue in Edmonton. It will be a vibrant display of storytelling, dance, sports and culture that you absolutely do not want to miss.
NICE will include not only a traditional and competition Powwow but Metis and Inuit Sport and Cultural showcases and competitions, Indigenous fashion show, trade show, gala and more! The inaugural Indigenous Child and Family Services Summit will also be taking place.
Early bird registration is open until September 15th, 2018 ($45 for the weekend for adults), $20/ child 7-17). Download the app (National Gathering of Elders) – iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/…/national-gathering…/id1389363579… Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…
Click on “Registration and Documents” and fill out the form full name, affiliation and email or phone would be best. don’t worry about hotel and other info.
If you do not have a credit card to pay, you can still register on the app and pay with CASH at the venue on (pick pay by cheque on the registration form) Wednesday Sept. 26, 2018 from 12-8 pm, Thursday Sept. 27, 2018 from 12-8 pm and Friday morning from 8 AM all day. There will be separate lines for those that have pre-registered!
If you are a dancer or Metis competitor, event organizers highly recommend that you pre-register because there will be separate registrations for competing once you pay the entry fee.
On site, tickets will be available at the Concierge desk by the Alberta Ballroom in the Edmonton EXPO Centre from 12pm-8pm on Sept 26 and 27. Admission cost for adults is $20 daily, for children (age 7-17) it is $10 daily and children 6 and under get in free. Please pre-register on the app to avoid lining up on the day of the event.
Grand Entries will be held on Friday, September 28th at 1pm; on Saturday, September 29th at noon and on Sunday, September 30th at noon.
The Powwow MCs are Ruben Littlehead and Hal Eagletail and the Arena Directors are George Desjarlais, Vincent Rain and Stan Isador. It will feature an amazing display and competition of drumming and dancing with cash prizes in each category. The tabulators for the event will be C& T Tabulating.
The Drum contest will yield cash prizes to the top ten drum groups with a total payout of $121,000.
The Dance contest will provide generous cash prizes to the top ten competitors in each age category for male dancers that include Junior Men (age 18-35), Senior Men (36-49), Golden Age (50+), Teen Boys (13-17) and Junior Boys (7-12) in four dance genres: traditional, chicken, grass and fancy dance. Comparable prizes will be provided for females in the same age categories in 3 dance genres: traditional, jingle and fancy dance.
Some special dance competitions will also be featured; a women’s fancy contest and a men’s fancy contest are Orange Shirt Specials in observance of Residential School Survivors Awareness. A special men’s/boy’s traditional is a Frank Fox Morin and Baby Geo Memorial and a special women’s/girl’s traditional dance contest is to honour Mothers and Grandmothers. Specials will also be held for Junior Boy’s chicken dance and Junior Girl’s oldstyle jingle.
The Metis Festival will feature Jigging and Fiddling contests with cash prizes for the top 5 competitors in each age and gender category including: Adult Male and Female (19+), Youth Male and Female (13-18), Junior Male and Female (7-12), Senior Male and Female (50+), Golden Age Male and Female combined (75+), Performers: Male and Female Combined, Tiny Tots (<4).
The event will also feature special performances of the duck dance and the red river jig, as well as a special presentation of “Metis Settlements History of Alberta.” Cultural workshops will be held on jigging, beading, capote making, moccasin making, storytelling, finger weaving, fiddle lessons and square dancing.
The Inuit Traditional Showcase will feature Arctic Sports Displays, a drum and dance competition, a performance of throat singers and traditional singers as well as Elder storytelling sessions focusing on “Where we have come and where we are going.” It will also include circumpolar jam sessions and universal jam sessions.
The festival will also feature a three-day conference on the theme of “Honouring our Indigenous Families and Children.” A conference ticket is required to participate in this event. 
The inaugural NICE Indigenous Fashion Show and Gala will be presented on Saturday September 29 at 4 pm and will bring together some of Turtle Islands best Indigenous fashion designers and models. This will be a fabulous event. Tickets are $150 per person or $1500 for a table of ten. For information contact [email protected].
The countdown is on – the National Indigenous Cultural Expo is just around the corner. For registration information and discounts on travel and accommodation visit ngekanata.com or facebook.
Deadline for early bird pass ends September 15th. The organizers recommend that you can avoid long line ups, by pre-registering online. Please note the same steps to register online will be administered at the door if you did not pre-register. Dancer and drummer pre-registration with C & T Tabulation does not include weekend pass. Download the gathering of elders app to pre-pay for your passes.
It’s going to be an amazing National Indigenous Cultural Expo! See you there.
How do i register for drum contest