About Urban Shaman

*Above image Urban Shaman as it pretty much is today at 290 McDermot Ave location

MISSION STATEMENT
Urban Shaman is an Aboriginal artist-run centre dedicated to meeting the needs of artists by providing a vehicle for artistic expression in all disciplines and at all levels by taking a leadership role in the cultivation of Indigenous art.

VISION
Urban Shaman presents contemporary Indigenous Aboriginal art with integrity while remaining rooted in our diverse Aboriginal cultures.

MANDATE
Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art is a nationally recognized leader in Aboriginal arts programming and one of the foremost venues and voices for Aboriginal art in Canada. Our focus on developing new programming and new ways of presenting it have resulted in increased exposure and the expansion of our activities. Urban Shaman is dedicated to the Aboriginal arts community and arts community at large.

• Committed to serving the needs of emerging, mid-career, and established Aboriginal artists through exhibitions and associated programming, workshops, residencies and curatorial initiatives.
• Dedicated to contributing to art historical and cultural critical discourses on a local, national, and international level.
• Committed to facilitating artistic production, education, and appreciation of contemporary art as an important and empowering tool for Aboriginal peoples.

Admission to the gallery is free.

A Turtles Dream – Landscapes and Mindscapes

The Earth, sky and water has always been the great story tellers. The landscape with its diverse regions and habitats through sounds, color, textures, tastes and smells influences and evokes the languages we speak and how we communicate verbally and creatively.
Through the landscape and language of its inhabitants comes story telling, the rhythm of songs, dance, and arts and craft. The four elements of air, water, fire, earth, and the four directions communicates through our consciousness, voices, hearts, hands and feet.
We are the elements of the earth and they speak through us. Communicating through art is a way of expressing the infinite and diverse potential of our landscape and mindscape.

The North End Arts Centre is part of Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad Inc (Our Relatives Home) NEAC provides art programming facilitated by local visiting artists, and Art City. NEAC provides arts and crafts workshops in printmaking, pottery, painting, sewing, video and traditional crafts.

NEAC/Ndinawe Resource Centre is an integrated Youth organization for ages 13 -24 that focusses on shelter, culture, recreation, outreach, support and the creative arts/crafts. The programs and services of Ndinawe have been developed according to traditional philosophy where love, guidance, respect, are essential values in the community.