Article by Jay Sanni
Alberta Culture Days which took place this year from September 28th to September 30th “began in 2008 as Alberta Arts Day, a one-day event to recognize the value of Alberta’s arts and cultural communities. Since then, it has expanded into a vibrant, three day, province-wide celebration that has helped inspire the creation of Culture Days – a pan-Canadian movement to raise awareness accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.” This year, communities all over Alberta celebrated Alberta Culture Day in one form or the other. In Calgary for instance, the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre hosted the Alberta Culture Days Multicultural Fall Festival which, began on September 29th and ended on September 30th. The two-day event which took place in downtown Calgary at 197 1st street began with an opening ceremony and featured a number of dances such as Chinese traditional dance, Malaysian folk dance, Tai Chi dance, Jazz dance and Modern dance. The event also included a history of the First Nations people of Canada, a history of Chinese figures, Chinese opera, as well as Martial Arts. According to a representative at the cultural centre, the purpose of the event was to “celebrate or honour the Fall harvest season, to bring different cultures together by showcasing different aspects of different cultures, to showcase Chinese arts(in the form of Chinese Calligraphy), to enlighten the public about different cultures and, most importantly, to promote the positive aspects of Chinese culture and multiculturalism in general.” Also, in Wood Buffalo, Fort MacMurray, the Multicultural Association of Wood Buffalo helped organize an Alberta Culture Days event that took place on September 30th at the Suncor Energy Centre for Performing Arts. The event featured cultural foods from different cultures, dancing, drumming, poetry and singing.
