Experience Indigenous Storytelling This Winter at Fort Edmonton Park.
Step into the warmth of the 1846 Fort while our storytellers share captivating tales in the Indigenous storytelling tradition. These sessions offer guests the chance to learn the importance of the relationship between culture, Indigenous storytelling, and oral history.
The Experience
Hosted by our knowledgeable team from the Indigenous Peoples Experience, storytelling is an opportunity for our team to share and have conversations that provide a unique opportunity to explore the protocols of storytelling and engage with the deeper, sometimes unexpected, dialogues of Indigenous culture.
Like all cultures, Indigenous Peoples have stories that range in maturity. Traditionally, stories were passed down orally, and they ranged from children's stories to Creation stories, stories meant to warn, and stories meant to entertain.
This is our chance to share some of those stories with you.
Why You Should Join
Storytelling gives guests the chance to talk and ask questions. Not to interrupt or to insert yourself into the narrative, but to ask why or what something means within a safe place to have these conversations.
Storytelling keeps people safe. How you might ask? By creating a community. It also sends subtle messages about good and bad, things that were okay and aren’t anymore, how to understand a tricky person, and how to stand up for yourself in small and big ways.
Meet our Storytellers
Anna Cousins (Muskego) Is a mixed-blood Dene artist. She loves working with the public and is especially invested in engaging with people of all ages and communicating First Nations history. This has led to many opportunities and engagements, sharing traditional knowledge, history, art and stories to build connection and kinship with the public and community.
Gen Oliver is a mixed Anishinaabe woman who currently resides in Parkland County with roots in Winnipeg and Fort William First Nation, Thunder Bay, ON.
She is new to storytelling but has been with Fort Edmonton for the last year as both an Indigenous Cultural Interpreter as well as working on the Education team.
Her passions are foraging for local plants and fungi, as well as small handicrafts.
Lex Wolfe - is a Cree storyteller, educator, and artist from Ermineskin Cree Nation. She loves sharing her knowledge through stories, weaving together cultural traditions, personal experiences, and timeless lessons to connect with people of all backgrounds. As a visual artist, Lex also expresses her creativity through painting and beadwork, blending traditional techniques with contemporary forms to tell stories in new and vibrant ways. With a passion for preserving her heritage and fostering a deeper understanding of Indigenous worldviews, Lex uses both her art and storytelling to empower, educate, and inspire others.
We invite you to join Anna, Gen, and Lex in this cultural experience that connects stories of the past with conversations today.
Dates and Times:
- February 1, 8, 15 and 22
- March 1, 8 and 15
- Session 1: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
- Session 2: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Reminder: This season will be a mix of stories, and as such this experience is intended for a mature audience (18+). The topics of this series are a variety of stories, some with mature themes (i.e. spooky, cheeky, sexual content, violence, death, uplifting) curated and intended for adult audiences.