A Year In Review - The 2025 Report
- Shay
- Jan 4
- 7 min read
This past year marked a period of growth, grounding, and momentum for the Indigenous Resurgence Project (IRP). Through gatherings, workshops, collaborations, and opening of the community-focused Stínesten Gallery, we strengthened connections between artists, sector professionals, and community members across disciplines and generations.
This year in review reflects both the visible milestones and the quieter, foundational work that sustains our vision—relationship-building, trust, and the collective commitment to resurgence as an ongoing, living practice. As we move toward incorporation and expanded programming, IRP remains guided by the same core belief: that creativity, culture, and community are powerful tools for reclaiming voice, fostering belonging, and imagining futures rooted in Indigenous self-determination.
BUILDING A NETWORK THROUGH PARTNERSHIP
Indigenous Youth Roots awarded the IRP with a Short-Term Project Grant to assist with community engagement and strategic planning initiatives.
The Kamloops Arts Council continues an ongoing and steady partner with the IRP, supporting group programming and offering gallery space and resources for exhibition programming.
The Kamloops United Church has donated the physical space and location of the Stínesten Gallery and allows for the IRP to operate the space completely autonomously from church ministry services while supporting the IRP's work in their mandates towards reconciliation.
Arts BC helped the IRP connect with arts and culture strategist for planning consultation through their Insight program services.
The BC Interior Community Services partnered with the IRP to host the Indigenous section of their community pop-up programming in July. This event supported approximately 7 independent Indigenous artists through event services.
Our building neighbour, Mount Paul Community Food Center, has partnered to help support an Indigenous artist with a public art installation in their community center.
The Music for the People Celebration partnered with IRP to host an Indigenous artisan market.
The 4th Annual Stseptékwles re Sk’elép Indigenous Film Festival (IFF) partnered with the IRP on sourcing Indigenous vendors for the event, supporting Indigenous filmmakers, and engaging in local Indigenous community engagement.
Bringing Artists Together and Creating Community
Over the course of this project term, community outreach and engagement were a main priority. It was vital to work with artists operating in the community to better understand what artists needed, where they were spending their time, and what they were engaging with.
Overall, the IRP engaged over 300 people through a variety of public events, registered workshops, and community engagement sessions. Out of those, approximately 39% of participants were youth aged between 16 and 29 years old, and 23% were over the age of 55. Regular workshop programming indicated representation from varied age groups, resulting in consistent inter-generational participation and collaboration.
Underrepresented, underappreciated, underestimated: The Fight for Recognition for Indigenous Artists in Tk̓emlúps (Kamloops)
As a component of the environmental scan and strategic planning, a 26-page research paper was created to examine the underrepresentation and undervaluation of Indigenous arts in the Tk̓emlúps (Kamloops) cultural landscape, which has a notable negative impact on Indigenous artists’ identity and connectedness to place.
This paper interviewed 9 Indigenous artists working in Kamloops and examined publicly available data from 72 exhibitions at the two professional public art galleries in the city. The research was guided by the Two-Eyed Seeing approach and thematic analysis, which pointed towards the importance of place-identity among the urban-Indigenous diaspora and the need for artistic visual sovereignty when representing Indigenous arts and culture.
Statistical analysis indicated that approximately 70% of the Kamloops-area Indigenous population is not tied to local nations, creating a majority urban-Indigenous demographic who either have other tribal affiliations or relocated to Kamloops sometime in their life.
The findings and analyzed data raise critical questions about who is being represented in public arts, whose stories are centred in public spaces, and whether current levels of inclusion meaningfully reflect the diverse Indigenous population living in Tk̓emlúps today.
Showcasing Artists
One of the most important aspects and pillars of the IRP is showcasing and celebrating our Indigenous artists through public events and exhibitions. This is usually done in partnership or collaboration with other local community organizations.
This year, we hosted the 3rd Annual Redefining the Perspective: the many forms of Indigenous art, and had 17 artists of varying age ranges, artistic experiences, and creative mediums participate. This was hosted at the Kamloops Arts Council and was a part of an ongoing partnership to celebrate Indigenous voices and challenge stereotypes in the month of June (Indigenous History Month).
IRP also entered a collaboration with the Kamloops Art Gallery to create a group exhibition titled Time & Space to have a dialogue on the urban-Indigenous experience in Kamloops and how that intersects with Indigenous identity and artistic practice. That exhibition runs from December 6, 2025 - February 10, 2026.
Going back to its roots, IRP also hosted an Indigenous artisan market in tandem with the 2025 Music for the People celebration, which brings together Indigenous musicians and the Kamloops Symphony to promote healing through art and music. This FREE outdoor concert welcomed 1,500 attendees, and had 35 local vendors and artisan businesses, with about 60% of vendors being Indigenous, and about 25% of those vendors being youth (16-29).
Finally, the largest collaboration was the 4th Annual Stseptékwles re Sk’elép Indigenous Film Festival (IFF). The IRP sat as a committee member on this festival and provided contact for local Indigenous talent, services, and vendors. The festival had 6 feature films, two shorts showcases, and 4 school screenings, totalling attendance of over 2000 patrons.
This year, the IFF hosted a juried short-film selection and showcased 7 Canadian-Indigenous films. The IRP awarded a $250 prize to a contemporary western, Fistful of Vodka (dir. Robert Joe) with Outstanding Indigenous Narrative Sovereignty.
Stínesten Gallery Grand Opening
The inaugural exhibition of the new Indigenous led and operated Stínesten Gallery saw 70 attendees over three opening events. A private VIP opening, a public grand opening, and a casual afternoon open-house.
The opening exhibition showcases Sayisi Dene photographer and filmmaker, Gina Bussidor in her debut solo exhibition. Using photographic storytelling and short film, Bussidor reflects on the intersections of memory, identity, and environment. Rooted in the Bussidor’s experience as an Indigenous person, the work also extends an invitation to all people to rediscover their relationship with the land as a source of resilience, reflection, and renewal.
The inclusion of Gina’s work in our inaugural exhibition was tone-setting for the gallery, emphasizing our continued support for Indigenous artists of all backgrounds and practices. As explored previously, there is now community-based evidence of the symbolic exclusion of urban-Indigenous folks within the local arts scene, and it was important for this gallery to be seen as a place that is working to fill that gap.
Our opening show featured an urban-Indigenous artist, not from the local nation, with an art style that is outside of the common preconceptions of professional gallery showcases. Stínesten is meant to be a welcoming space for everyone, and a way to allow our local artists the freedom to explore their creative styles.
Public Art
Our public art inclusion worked with two youth artists to design and develop artwork to be put up in the gallery. The work by Harmony Simon, “Resurgence”, was custom-designed and made for the new gallery, tying in values of the traditional with the contemporary. As the Stínesten Gallery is graciously donated to us to operate out of, the mural is temporary, printed on durable vinyl and framed on the wall of our community workshop space.
Our second muralist, Autumn Christopher, is working with Interior Community Services Society and the Mount Paul Community Food Center to install a permanent, large-scale mural in the building’s central hallway. This opportunity for public exposure, recognition, and skill-building is something we appreciate greatly from our neighbours.
CONNECTING WITH THE BROADER COMMUNITY
The IRP team attended the 2 Rivers Remix Confluence gatherings in Victoria and Enderby, BC, this spring. The Confluence was a gathering of arts and culture professionals, seeking to come together to “(re)discover and (re)vitalize Indigenous governance, laws and protocols through our stories, histories, languages, and territories, with a focus on knowledge sharing through various forms of art and music.”
While in Victoria, the team visited the Royal BC Museum, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, scheduled an in-person strategic planning session with Patricia Huntsman, and met with representatives of Arts BC.
In August, IRP hit the road and travelled to the Kootenay Region of BC. This included stops in Saskatchewan Crossing, Golden, Radium, Invermere, Cranbrook, and Nelson. In Invermere, we participated in the Art Spots Art Walk, which had 11 participating independently owned and operated art galleries and studios. We met and visited with several artists and gallery curators about their gallery structures and the tourism industry.
Finally, we attended the Nelson International Mural Festival. Our contacts down in Nelson also helped to organize meetings with the Nelson & District Arts Council, the Nelson Art Gallery, and the Nelson Civic Theatre.
It is thanks to our generous partners, dedicated artists, and the many community allies and supporters who walked alongside us that we were able to make such meaningful impact throughout 2025. The time, energy, and resources shared with the Indigenous Resurgence Project were essential to everything we accomplished this year. Each contribution helped strengthen our work, deepen our relationships, and reaffirm the collective effort required to build spaces rooted in community care, creativity, and resurgence.
None of this work happens in isolation, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who made this year possible.
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