The Festival
Founded in the mid 1980s, Angela Sidney, one of the last speakers of the Tagish language, had to travel all the way to Toronto in order to tell her stories to a large audience. This prompted two Yukoners to organize the first Storytelling festival in the Yukon in 1988. For the first Festival, storytellers came from six countries on four continents and joined Yukon native elders to tell and sing stories in 23 different languages, 16 Native languages, Dutch, French, Danish, English, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Ukranian. All storytellers were encouraged to tell in their first language, with a summary or full translation in English.
Within two years, it had become an annual international festival, focusing on, but not restricted to, countries from the circumpolar world. Throughout the years, performers have come to join our Yukoners from Chuckotka, Magadan, Sakhalin, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Zimbabwe, Greenland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Japan, China, Australia, Bolivia, Alaska, and the Southern United States as well as every province and territory in Canada. Each year sees more and more storytellers gathering in Whitehorse to celebrate the North's rich storytelling tradition under the midnight sun. Incorporating costume, dance, theatre, drums, mime, and music, the festival transports visitors across miles of land, years of history, and lifetimes of experiences.
One very important mission of the festival is to promote cultural understanding through storytelling. This means, first and foremost, keeping the art and tradition alive. The youth of today have to become more than just listeners, as they alone can carry the tradition forward; their active participation in the festival is an intrinsic part of its success.
Angela Sidney
1902-1991
Ch’onete Ma Stoow
Respected and much loved Tagish Elder of the Delsheetaan Nation, Mrs. Angela Sidney co-authored three important historical documents: “My Stories are My Wealth” and “Tagish Tiaagu”, written narratives of traditional Tagish legends and a document of Tagish place names for southern Yukon.
Inspiration behind the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, Mrs. Sidney spent her entire life working for her community to ensure that her people’s traditions, language, dances and stories were passed on to the next generation. For these endeavors she received the Order of Canada in 1984. Her own words illustrate the beauty and humility of such a generous woman:
“I have no money to leave for my grandchildren. My stories are my wealth!”
