A local area man active in the arts and cultural communities has been honoured with the Saskatchewan Multicultural Leadership Award.
Floyd Favel has been announced as the winner of the Saskatchewan Multicultural Leadership Award on Nov. 21. The award was part of the first virtual Multicultural Honours Awards by the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan.
Favel is being honoured for his leadership role in creating the Poundmaker Indigenous Performance Festival. According to the Multicultural Council of Canada鈥檚 website: 鈥淭hrough this festival, Floyd Favel emphasizes the strength of welcoming multicultural communities by allowing collaborations, sharing, and cultural retention, as well as diversity within the arts community.
鈥淔loyd is a champion of open dialogue and has demonstrated multiculturalism over the course of his career. He is curator of the award-winning Poundmaker Museum, which tells important stories of Chief Poundmaker, Chief Big Bear, and other local heroes. They have repatriated important art and artifacts, and were the site of the Prime Minister鈥檚 exoneration of Chief Poundmaker. He also starred on CBC Radio鈥檚 Dead Dog Caf茅. His $500 will be donated to a charity of choice.鈥�
Favel has issued the following statement about his honours.听
鈥淚 am very honoured by this award. We have worked hard at creating a festival for all peoples, as many Indigenous people and visible minorities do not have equal access to creative work opportunities. And so to have a festival in our community that is broadcast through the online component brings the voice of Indigenous people to the world. This festival is built on the premise that Indigenous performance is a genre with its own methods, techniques and body of knowledge and not defined by identity, and thus we are able to incorporate all peoples into our process. As far as I know we are the only Indigenous festival in this country with that ethos. This festival is part of our overall tourism strategy and along with the Museum, we are bringing the world to our people and our people to the world. ... this year, 2020, the pandemic prevented the public live component but through the Internet we had over 50,000 confirmed viewers of our presentations.鈥�
The festival鈥檚 website can be found at听
听
