Stories - with Sam Whelan and Walter White Bear
May 27, 8pm
Village Brewery, 5000 12a St SE
Tickets available soon
Walter MacDonald White Bear is a Cree singer-songwriter originally from the First Nation of Moose Factory, Ontario. In addition, Walter is an educator, performer and motivational speaker. He has been performing acoustic and flute music for several years. Performance highlights include The Edmonton Folk Music Festival, The Chiefs Summit with Tom Jackson, The Dream Speakers Festival, The Mountain Song Native Theater, World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education and more. Walter has been featured as a keynote speaker at various conferences with topics including Social Services, Justice, Education, Wellness and the Environment.
Walter’s music is a reflection of his personal journey as a First Nations person in Canada. He has shared his cultural knowledge with various audiences that range from correctional services to principals, teachers and students. Walter is currently working with Samantha Whelan Kotkas as an artist in residence at Edgemont Elementary School with Kindergarten to Grade 5 students.
Samantha Whelan Kotkas is a professional trumpet player, teaching artist, storyteller and award-winning children’s book producer with over 20 years working in the Alberta, Canada and International Arts communities. She is the second trumpet player in the Red Deer Symphony and performs regularly with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Rosa Barocca, Altius Brass. She has authored several works which she narrates with Symphony Orchestras and Canada’s top jazz and classical musicians. She was very honoured to be asked to serve as the “Distinguished Graduate” at the University of Calgary’s convocation ceremony in June of 2018.
In conjunction with her active career as a performer, Samantha is the education advisor for Calgary Pro Musica and a teaching artist for the National Arts Centre of Canada (NAC) where she finds the cross-cultural work she does with Walter MacDonald White Bear, as part of the Arts Alive Program, very meaningful. She has written outreach and music teaching guides for the NAC, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Samantha just completed writing and producing “Wandering with Wonder”: an immersive outdoor musical storytelling experience with original live and recorded music, story, puppetry and dance which was successfully premiered to a sold-out audience in September 2021 at the Leighton Arts Centre and then made into a film by the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, that won the Rosie award for best Musical Film from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association in 2023. For more information about Samantha please visit her website at www.samanthawhelankotkas.com