Riding Mountain National Park hosted its first presentation as part of the Riding Mountain Artists Residency Program this past Sunday at the Wasagaming Visitors Centre.
There are currently ten residency programs in National Parks across Canada. The Riding Mountain Program started in 2006 and has hosted over 120 artists.
The program, which is a joint effort by the Manitoba Arts Council and Parks Canada, allows artists to reside in the Deep Bay Cabin at RMNP for two weeks, giving them a chance to isolate themselves from the world and focus on their work.
The first artist of this year’s program was Kevin Nikkel. Nikkel is an accomplished documentary filmmaker from Winnipeg who is currently focusing on the history of documentary film-making in Manitoba.
At his presentation, he showed his documentary on the legendary York Factory.
The Riding Mountain Artists Residency program hosts 10 elite artists, from various mediums, at the Deep Bay Cabin. The only condition is that the artist hosts a presentation of their work at the end of their residency.
This year’s artists will showcase things like slam poetry, pinhole photography, bead art, a “Museum of Fallen Objects, and a reading form a playwright
Artists interested in the program can apply through the Manitoba Arts Council.
