In honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Studio Bell will be open with free admission from 10 to 5 pm on September 30. Explore the Speak Up! exhibition and listen to a powerful presentation from residential school survivor Kurt Blind.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation serves as a powerful opportunity to recognize and reflect on the legacy of residential schools, and to listen, learn, and honour the voices of Indigenous people in Canada.
National Music Centre (NMC) is honoured to welcome Kurt Blind, a Plains Cree (nêhiyaw) Two-Spirit from George Gordon First Nation on Treaty 4 in Saskatchewan. He is a residential school survivor, Mental Health & Addictions Worker, and public speaker.
Kurt Blind will deliver a special presentation at 12:00 pm, sharing his journey of healing and truth.
About Kurt Blind:
Kurt Blind was taken to the Gordon Indian Residential School at the age of five in 1974, where he existed until the age of 15. The impacts of that school left him deprived of culture, identity, and in a deep state of trauma for many decades. For 35 years, he masked his trauma with a dependancy to alcohol, drugs, and compulsive behaviours.
In 2020, he made a goal to pursue positive change in his life and go on a journey of discovery. Blind began to search for other residential school survivors, and reached out to others through a friend's Spotify podcast (EZ Conversations: A Closer Look at Canada's Residential Schools, Furkhan Dandia). It was during that journey that he decided to enrol in Bow Valley College's Addictions Studies Diploma program, and graduated in 2023 as valedictorian of the BVC School of Community Studies. He is now a Mental Health & Addictions Worker and has been sober for five years.
About the Speak Up! exhibition:
With the support of TD Bank Group, the award-winning Speak Up! exhibition on Level 3 showcases Indigenous artists who have made a social impact on music in Canada, while motivating a new generation to take action and offering a better understanding of where they come from.
The evolving exhibition currently features Willie Thrasher, the celebrated Inuvialuit musician who has advocated for Inuit and First Nations issues throughout his career; Juno award-winning singer-songwriter Leela Gilday from the Dene Nation; traditional pow wow singer Edmund Bull of the world champion Cree group, Red Bull Singers; and Juno Award-winning traditional trio The Bearhead Sisters from the Paul First Nation in Alberta.