Eastwood student recognized with national Aboriginal arts award
By Helen HallKitchener Citizen
July 1, 2016
A Kitchener student mixed her love of writing with solid research to earn herself a national award for a play she wrote called I Remember.
Cyan-Raven Gielewska was one of six winners chosen from 650 entries from across Canada for an Aboriginal Arts and Stories Award. She just completed grade nine at Eastwood Collegiate and is in the Integrated Arts Program.
I Remember tells the tale of a student who is assigned a school project that leads her to learn about the impact attending a Residential School had on her grandmother’s life.
Residential Schools were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Aboriginal children into Canadian culture. The schools were first opened in the late 1880s, and the last residential school closed in Saskatchewan in 1996. Many of the schools offered a poor curriculum with a heavy emphasis on religion. The living conditions were inadequate, with students not fed or clothed properly, and children were often subjected to excessive punishment, including physical abuse.
Gielewska, who is Métis, received her award at a ceremony at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on June 15. She was the youngest person to receive an award at the Hamilton ceremony.
She gave a two-minute acceptance speech at the awards ceremony. Her mother Anya and brother Darby also attended.
Gielewska said she has never entered a contest like this one before, and was “super ecstatic” to learn that she had won.
“It was an honour to meet a lot of renowned writers, artists and community leaders at the ceremony,” she said.
This year, the Aboriginal Arts and Stories Awards judges included journalist and former radio host Brian Maracle, artist Maxine Noel, poet and author Lee Maracle, pianist and composer John Kim Bell, and playwright Drew Hayden Taylor.
“This is the first play I’ve written,” Gielewska said.
She decided to write a play instead of a story because she felt that people would “connect more with the characters” when their story is acted out rather than just appearing on a page.
“I really enjoyed it. It was fun to do,” she said of the process of writing the play.
She said she has been approached by someone who would like to put her play on the stage, which she thinks would be “cool.”
Gielewska is majoring in drama, instrumental and visual arts at Eastwood. She also plays the flute, tenor sax and the trombone.
The Aboriginal Arts and Stories Awards are hosted by Historica Canada, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting awareness of Canada’s history and citizenship. It is best known for its “Heritage Minute” videos and its online Canadian Encyclopedia.
The annual contest invites First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists between the ages of 9 and 29 to interpret an aspect of their culture and heritage through literary and visual arts to win prizes and national recognition.
Journalist and former radio show host Brian Maracle congratulates Cyan-Raven Gielewska of Kitchener for winning an Aboriginal Arts and Stories award for her play called I Remember.
Photo courtesy of Historica Canada
Photo courtesy of Historica Canada
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