Indigenous artists at the 2011 Winnipeg Folk Festival

Samantha Crain, Cassidy Mann, Christa Couture, Shayne Koyczan, Sonia Eidse, and the Puppet Folk are the Indigenous artists performing at the Winnipeg Folk Festival this year. Mann and Eidse will be participating in the Young Performers Program, while the others have concerts and workshop appearances set for various stages at Birds Hill Park this weekend.

The Winnipeg Folk Festival’s Aboriginal advisory group will host a traditional welcoming ceremony for the Indigenous artists, international acts, staff and volunteers this year. Elder Dave Courchene Jr. will lead the ceremony and the festival cooks will prepare a feast for the group backstage. The ceremony and feast won’t be open to the public.

The festival starts on Wednesday, July 6 and wraps up on the 10th. Tickets are available at the gate and prices are listed on the www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca website.

The performance times and locations for the Indigenous artists are listed below.

Friday, July 8

Shayne Koyczan and the Short Story Long (Breakfast of Champions workshop) @ 11:00am, Green Ash
Sonia Eidse (Young Performers Program) @ 11:00am, Shady Grove
Samantha Crain (Fables of the Reconstruction workshop) @ 12:30pm, Bur Oak
Puppet Folk @ 1:00pm, Reading Tent
Christa Couture (An Introduction to the Art of Songwriting) @ 2:30pm, Folk School
Cassidy Mann (Young Performers Program) @ 3:20pm, Shady Grove
Samantha Crain (concert) @ 4:30pm, Bur Oak
Christa Couture (tweener) @ 6:50pm, Main Stage

Saturday, July 9

Puppet Folk (concert) @ 11:00am, Chickadee Bigtop
Christa Couture (concert) @ 3:30pm, Little Stage
Christa Couture (autograph signing) @ 4:30pm, Music Store Tent
Shayne Koyczan and the Short Story Long (BC Buds workshop) @ 4:15pm, Big Bluestem

Sunday, July 10

Samantha Crain (The Harder They Strum workshop) @ 11:00am, Snowberry
Puppet Folk @ 12:30pm, Reading Tent
Shayne Koyczan and the Short Story Long (concert) @ 4:15pm, Green Ash
Christa Couture (The Song Retains the Name workshop) @ 4:15pm, Bur Oak
Shayne Koyczan and the Short Story Long (autograph signing) @ 5:30pm, Music Store Tent
Samantha Crain (tweener) @ 8:30pm, Main Stage