Sept 23

Sarah Prosper

Wisunn na Sarah Prosper (she/they/nekmow), Mikmaw/L’nu e’pite’s of the We’kwistoqnik (Eskasoni) Mi’kmaq First Nation. Amalkewinu (dancer) holds a BSc in Therapeutic Recreation, is a Masters in Leisure Studies student, and a proclaimed community artist of the Wabanaki east coast.

Prosper’s practice encompasses an Indigenous/Mi’kmaq lens that deepens the threads of respect and reciprocity to dance, movement, social sciences, social justice, mental health & the land. Prosper’s community work varies in community need. Often, she shares her curated workshop “Moving in Mi’kma’ki.”

Prosper collaborates, creates, and moves with ms+t no’kmaq, all her relations, in a fluid identity uplifting pursuit. Prosper was recognized with a 2022 Nova Scotia Indigenous Artist Recognition Award and performs and creates on National stages in collaboration with world-renowned artists.

Samqwan

Spotlight Project

Samqwan is the Mi’kmaq word for water and this multi-disciplinary show, created and choreographed by Eskasoni artist Sarah Prosper, inspires and welcomes you to experience the value of water from an indigenous perspective; its sacredness, purposes, and to show the gift of walking in two worlds but also the responsibilities.

This show was originally performed at the Highland Arts Theatre and The Neptune Theatre. This recorded performance will be screened at the Drive-In event on Thursday as well as screened as part of the art-at-night festival.

Lumiere Arts Festival 2024 // The Art of Caring

Lumiere Arts Festival invites artists and community members to reflect on the concept of care.

In a polarized landscape, care can lap like a brook, or pound like large waves crashing ashore. To care is to tend, to root, to rebel, to share and to endure. This year, the festival is encouraging artists to submit works rooted in solidarity, with community building as resistance, that explores the need to care for ourselves, others, and the earth, both locally and globally. The Lumiere Arts Festival makes space for joy, contemporary art, and meaningful dialogue.

Land Acknowledgement

Lumière Arts Festival, on behalf of the board, the artists, and the communities we represent, acknowledges that we work, live and play in the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people, in Unama’ki Cape Breton, who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.

We are grateful not only for the strong and ongoing stewardship of these lands we call home, but also for the stories, music, and art that Mi’kmaq people continue to create and share, carrying ancestral voices, sacred teachings, and legacies of interconnectedness and resilience forward into the present and on to the future.

We aspire to reflect that sense of connection between past and present in our festival. We are inspired by L’nu artists to foster connection and self-reflection in our work. We will work to ensure that art is accessible, inclusive, and integrated into public spaces so that we can share our collective stories, recognizing the challenges of our past and imagining brighter futures.

We are all Treaty people.