The Northern Arts & Cultural Centre is seeking artists to help develop its new logo.

NACC says the new logo will be representative of the NWT, its performing arts and will have both traditional and modern elements.

Three artists will be chosen who will be paid to come up with a concept sketch.

One of those sketches will then be chosen to be refined and the artist will be compensated for their design.

Once selected, NACC says they will own all copyrights to the final logo for print, marketing and on-line use.

“This is an exciting opportunity to create something beautiful and timeless and NACC will proudly use your logo across all platforms,” they add.

NACC is looking for the final design to be completed in time to coincide with the launch of their new website in September.

Anyone interested is asked to send examples of their work for consideration. Deadline for art example submissions is 5:00 p.m. on July 26th.

Artists are asked to send three examples of their art to ead@naccnt.ca.

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The Juno-nominated Canadian Chamber Choir is coming to the NWT for the very first time. Local composer Carmen Braden and her company, Black Ice Sound, are bringing the 24-person choir up north, with assistance from Yellowknife Choral Society and conductor Margo Nightingale.

Where Waters Meet, Braden’s newest piece, was commissioned by the CCC and will premiere on Saturday, October 12th at 7:30 p.m. at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre in Yellowknife. The composition showcases the work of Indigenous poet Yolanda Bonnell and explores various Canadian perspectives on water and water security.

Braden, who was recently named Western Canada’s Songwriter of the Year for 2019, explains that Where Waters Meet is a set of five movements that touch on water in different ways but that come from a blood-deep knowledge that we all need water, are made of water, and have impacts on water

“At the places where waters meet, there is turbulence. There is a mixing, sometimes a muddying, maybe the waters get rough. And then the two waters move on together.”

In final creative rehearsals, the CCC will partner with Dene fiddler Wesley Hardisty in bringing Braden's score to performance. The 15-minute work will be unveiled alongside a program of all-Canadian repertoire that features both emerging and established composers. Aurora Chorealis will appear as special guests.

Artistic Director, Dr. Julia Davids notes that the CCC is so pleased to be realizing a longtime dream of coming to the North.

“Yellowknife is a vibrant singing community and it will be an honour to work with some outstanding artists, both individuals and ensembles.”

As part of its initiatives for singers of all ages and stages, the CCC will present workshops in Yellowknife for Aurora Chorealis, Fireweed Children's Chorus and students at Sir John Franklin High School. They will also mentor three Apprentice Singers: Raven Mutford, Anna Pontin and Olivia Rockwell, while several local conductors will benefit from the tutelage of the CCC’s artistic team.

Nightingale, in addition to her duties with Aurora Chorealis, has been invited to serve as the CCC's Conducting Fellow and will guest conduct the ensemble for a brief tour of Edmonton October 15-19 following its appearances in Yellowknife.

Tickets for the event are $35 at the door, $30 in advance and $10 for students. They are available online at carmenbraden.com.

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Two local talents will perform on the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre's Yellowknife stage this weekend.

Friday Brian Weadick, 'Baby Brian', will perform original folk and country ballads on guitar Friday, May 24th at 7:30 p.m. Described as a 'honey dipped croonin' drawl' Weadick's vocals will soon be heard on his forthcoming debut record 'Talk with the Honky Tonk Psychiatrist.'

Saturday, May 25th at 7:30 p.m. Norm Glowach, seen on stage with Priscilla's Revenge, will take on the persona of Johnny Cole in a musical based on his family history. 'Meet me at the Rex' tells the stories of Cole a.k.a. Glowach' ancestors and their journey to Canada and to Yellowknife, where they settled in 1940.

The two events are part of the NACC's Northern Scene Series, which has previously showcased NWT talents including Sahtu's Crook the Kid and MIRAJ (Harrison Roberts a.k.a. DJ Flora and Sami Blanco a.k.a. Temple Volant).

READ MORE: Locals only: Sahtu artist brings new album to NACC stage

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Dylan Jones, a.k.a Crook the Kid, has never stopped speaking to people from his hometown deep in the Sahtu through his music.

"No matter how you listen to it or look at it, you know I'm speaking of Fort Good Hope," he says of his new album, Locals Only, which he will debut on the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre stage in Yellowknife Friday.

"The people - in every story, in every line - should know who they are and this album about Fort Good Hope will make it so that we don't disappear in a sense, well what my generation went through anyway."

Sharing his message, what he calls his addition to the oral history of the North, is urgent for Jones. "A lot of my friends are dead and most of them died of helplessness," he says bluntly.

His own start in music began in his hometown, population 570, during a time when he and many of those around him were struggling with mental health. "It gets hard to see past those dirty gravel roads," he says. So he began to write rap music and share it with those around him.

"It was built on needing to speak about something before I joined the popular statistic," Jones says. "I was sort of voicing things that had happened to me, sort of saying them out loud for the first time." He received messages from people thanking him for speaking out about "death and suicide and everything else that comes along with isolated life."

Music is an important part of life in small, isolated communities, Jones says. Social gatherings, feasts, drum dances are infused with music whether it be drumming, traditional music or fiddle. The blunt messaging of hip hop and rap spoke to him.

"As our generation existed in one of Fort Good Hope's hardest times...a lot of us just connected to hip hop music and felt as though a lot of the things rap artists at the time (were saying) hit home for us."

From budding hip hop artists asking him for advice to young people creating artwork or building careers, Jones sees hope in the new generation in his community.

“I notice the change in where I’m from, the change in the mindset of what you can accomplish, that there is a hell of a lot more out there in the world than a dirt road."

Jones is part of NACC's mentorship program - through it, he created and launched Locals Only in November 2018. The title track features fellow NWTers Tiffany Ayalik and Casey Koyczan (Nahga). He is now lining up tour dates across the country for the next year.

With four children, his wife and studies in Fort Smith, being on the road can be a challenge Jones says. "At times you're sitting in a hotel room waiting for a performance and worried about an animal life history report at the same time. And trying to get a minute to facetime the kids and make sure you bring home a nice trinket."

There is even a tour of Eastern Europe set for next year. "I've never left Canada, you crazy?," when asked if this will be his first time traveling there. "I'm just raised in the bush. I'm from Fort Good Hope, born and raised."

Crook the Kid will perform Friday, February 22nd on the NACC stage starting at 7:30 p.m., in a show where audience members are encouraged to get close to the stage and dance.

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Jeremy Dutcher doesn't put much stock in the word reconciliation.

Rather, the classically trained musician from Tobique First Nation who exploded onto the Canadian music scene after winning the 2018 Polaris Music Prize, says it's about gathering and experiencing sound together.

"I'm more interested in relationship and creating shared space and so that's what I hope these shows will do."

Dutcher played to an audience of 80 Saturday at Hay River's Our Lady of Assumption church. The February 9th show was the last on a tour of five NWT communities with the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.

READ MORE: POLARIS PRIZE-WINNING OPERA SINGER TOURS NWT

Dutcher says he has witnessed 'the true diversity' of the region on his NWT tour. He has also heard stories of how people relate to their Indigenous languages.

Dutcher performs entirely in Wolastoqey, the language of the Wolastoqiyik whose traditional lands are along the Saint John River. Around 350 people identified the language as their mother tongue in 2016, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

A classically trained musician, Dutcher found inspiration for his break-out album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in wax cylinder recordings of early 1900s Wolastoq songs.

'All artists are problem solvers,' Dutcher says. The problem he saw was these songs stored away at the Canadian Museum of History rather than alive in his community.

"These archives were just sitting in the museum, and they weren't actually being lived and witnessed in the community. And so for me, it was about presenting them in a way that people could connect with, that was accessible."

Dutcher says it's all about presentation, referencing the words of Indigenous musician and fellow Polaris Prize winner Buffy St. Marie. "She says, you know, if you don't like what's on the menu, go into the kitchen and cook it up for them and show them how good it tastes."

Creating the album has also been his own personal journey of reclaiming a language which was suppressed for generations who attended residential schools. "This whole record process is a culmination of five years of work, but probably more accurately 28 years of work. This is me, this whole project, this has been my journey of reclamation of language," he says.

"I do this work for people like my mother, who went into the schools when she was six and they were not kind in those places. They were beaten for speaking their language."

Shame for one's culture and identity was taught in the schools, Dutcher says. He sees himself as part of the first generation to be doing 'incredible things' without this shame.

"We're the first generation that didn't grow up in that shame, the culture of shame of who one is. And that, I think, is powerful medicine."

The praise for Dutcher and his work are far from over. CBC announced January 29th his Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa is up for a Juno for Indigenous Music Album of the Year.

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Jeremy Dutcher, a classically trained composer and opera singer who blends early 20th century recordings in the Wolastoqey language into his music, will be touring five NWT communities starting Thursday.

Dutcher has quickly risen to fame after winning the 2018 Polaris Music Prize with his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa. Executive director of the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre Marie Coderre says Dutcher represents what it is to be part of the 'Indigenous renaissance' happening in the Canadian music scene.

"Jeremy does a really good job of blending arts and what he believes in," she says. He is part of a generation of Indigenous people who are vocal advocates for their rights and culture Coderre adds.

"He is strongly rooted in his culture and he has a foot in modernity, so it is very interesting to see how he integrates both influences into his music."

Dutcher integrates wax cylinder recordings from the Wolastoq First Nation from the early 1900s into his music. The work of delving into songs and a language which had been suppressed and much of it lost is crucial Dutcher states.

"I'm doing this work as there are only about a hundred Wolastoqey speakers left. It's crucial that we're using our language because, if you lose the language, you're losing an entire distinct way of experiencing the world.”

Schools in the communities will also get a visit from Dutcher. Coderre says this is part of an outreach effort by NACC since 2012.

"We go there to show them 'hey, it's possible to become a full time artist...You have options, and follow your dreams - it's the most important."

Dutcher will perform in Norman Wells January 31st, Inuvik February 2nd, Fort Smith February 5th, Fort Simpson February 7th and Hay River February 9th. Special rates for families and seniors are available.

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The NACC is looking for help.

After a more expensive last few months than expected, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre is launching a crowdfunding campaign.

An ambitious Northern play "featuring perspectives from a range of Indigenous women" has cost the Centre $120 000. They are asking for $5 000 to help finish the payment.

Another $65 000 has been relegated to safety repairs of the building. $20 000 is needed for the repairs.

The NACC is asking for $25 000 in total.

The campaign is expected to run until next March.

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