Coming up in Toronto: International Indigenous Music Summit

The International Indigenous Music Summit (IIMS) is set to take place in Toronto June 10-14, 2024 with a wide range of events across Downtown. The participating venues this season are TD Music Hall, Revival, Lula Lounge, The Rivoli, The Royal Conservatory, and 80A The Academy at Universal Music Canada.

The theme for 2024 is “BAWAADAN: Dream Of It, which speaks to the interconnection of past and future through an Indigenous lens, centering Indigenous worldviews in a shared dream of the future, and the role that Indigenous artists and their music must play in shaping this reality.”

This year’s Welcoming Ceremony & Feast, scheduled for Monday, June 10th, open to all registered participants, will be held at Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts on Toronto Island. The Opening Night Gala, open to the public will also be taking place on Monday at the TD Music Hall at Allied Music Centre.

The Opening Night Gala performances will showcase a two-time Polaris Music Prize Short Listed and JUNO Award-winning Snotty Nose Rez Kids,  Manitou Mkwa Singers, Josh Q, Silla, and The Red River Ramblers representing First Nations, Inuit, and Métis excellence from across Northern Turtle Island.

The performances throughout the week will include Logan Staats, who appeared on the national JUNO Awards broadcast alongside previous Summit alumni Julian Taylor, Shawnee Kish, and Aysanabee, Sechile Sedare, a collaboration between songwriter siblings Jay and Leela Gilday, and CCMA winner Kyle McKearney. Cellist and composer Cris Derksen, who recently performed at Carnegie Hall, and Mi’kmaq painter, author, and bandleader Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers bring interdisciplinary excellence to this year’s bill.

IIMS 2024 also welcomes returning performers Miesha and the Spanks, Midnight Shine’s Adrian Sutherland, who recently released his second solo album, hip hop artist and entrepreneur Mamarudegyal MTHC (Women in Music Canada Change Maker of the Year nominee Diana Hellson), and folk-blues powerhouse Celeigh Cardinal, who performed at the inaugural IIMS in New Orleans in 2019.

See the complete schedule and purchase tickets on indigenousmusicsummit.com.

Cover image: Snotty Nose Rez Kids by Kaylee Smoke, courtesy of the artist