The art of academic success: Mikw Chiyâm high-school arts residencies off to a good start in Mistissini

The Cree School Board launched an arts residency program for high school students at Mistissini’s Voyageur Memorial School in September. Dubbed the Mikw Chiyâm project, the program is a collaboration between N’we Jinan Records founder David Hodges and CSB director general Serge Béliveau. The two have teamed up with Art Education masters students Katie Green and Melissa-Ann Ledo to develop and implement the new curriculum with hopes of eventually expanding to other communities.

Mikw Chiyâm means to “move forward without hesitation.” The program consists of four intensive, seven-week residencies for students from Secondary 1 to 4 aimed at increasing student retention by promoting Cree and individual identity through artistic expression. Successful applicants explore a different form of art each school term – music, visual arts, drama/multimedia and dance.

Established artists in various artistic media visit schools to work with students throughout each session. Chris Robertson, a screen printer, painter and designer, joined fellow painter, sculptor and DJ Jamie Bradbury at Voyageur Memorial to guide students through an exploration of visual arts during the fall. Mikw Chiyâm’s second term looked at songwriting, recording and musical production with DJ/producer Classic Roots (a.k.a. Joshua Deperry) and popular singer/songwriter IsKwé. Each cycle culminates in an arts showcase, where the students share or perform their productions with the rest of their community.

According to Hodges, Béliveau deserves most of the credit for getting the project off the ground.

“This was all Serge Béliveau’s idea really,” Hodges said in an interview with the Nation. “He has a big background in art concentration implementation and when he started working in Eeyou Istchee he saw that there wasn’t any arts concentration programming. He and Kim Quinn [CSB Director of School Operations] were sitting in front of me on an Air Creebec flight and overheard me talking to Nik Keca, the director of Recording Arts of Canada. I was sort of going off about N’we Jinan and all my dreams, saying I’d like to plant a studio in every school in Quebec.”

Béliveau and Hodges both laughed when they recalled the chance encounter flying from Chisasibi to Val-d’Or. After landing, Béliveau approached the artist and asked him if he’d be interested in working with the Cree School Board.

“He came up to me and was like, ‘Who are you?’” Hodges exclaimed. “I told him about N’we Jinan and gave him and Kim a CD to listen to on their drive to Montreal.”

Shortly after Hodges sat down for a preliminary meeting with Béliveau and Quinn. He was given six months to come up with the framework for Mikw Chiyâm. He immediately set to work finding the right people to make the project a reality.

“There were only two people I could think of,” Hodges said. “Melissa-Ann Ledo, who was working at the Montreal English School Board, and Katie Green, the director of En Masse Pour Les Masses, a Montreal black-and-white mural collective.”

Initially only Green responded. But she insisted she could only make it work with one other person – Melissa-Ann Ledo.

“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Hodges laughed. “I didn’t even know that they knew each other!”

With two experts in arts education on board, Hodges, Green and Ledo signed a contract with the CSB and the team got to work designing the Mikw Chiyâm curriculum. Once the initial framework was submitted to the principals of each Eeyou Istchee school at a meeting in Whapmagoostui, a call was put out for those interested in having the program implemented into their curriculum.

Willie J. Happyjack Memorial in Waswanipi, James Bay Eeyou in Chisasibi and Voyageur Memorial in Mistissini all applied, with the option of choosing which art forms they would like to have offered to their students. Only one of the three schools could be selected for the pilot project and based on the eagerness and readiness of Voyageur Memorial, which wanted to implement all four art programs, Mistissini was chosen to kick things off.

So far things are going well but Hodges, his team and the CSB are all looking for ways to improve.

“There was a lot of initial excitement,” said Hodges. “But it’s still a pilot project and there have been some ups and downs. The first term in visual arts was very successful, but we lost a few students in the second term with music production.”

The team is monitoring students based on how they’re performing, their attendance, how they’re doing in the program compared to other classes and in previous years.

Béliveau says the initial impact is positive. He stressed that the students involved need to be reminded that Mikw Chiyâm is about preparing for the future and developing the skills that will allow them to realize their own identity while expressing themselves in a positive way.

“What’s important is to help students understand how to project themselves into the future with the things they’re learning,” he said. “It’s about having fun, but learning while you’re doing it. Creating art keeps you focused on positive values and it boosts your self-esteem. You and the people around you have the opportunity to benefit from the energy you create.”

Ultimately Béliveau would like all schools in Eeyou Istchee to develop concentration programs, including arts, science or sports.

“[Mikw Chiyâm] students are learning to appreciate who they are; how they can contribute in their own environment but also finding their own voice,” he emphasized. “They’re building talents they already have or sometimes discovering talents they may not have even known about. It’s allowed them to become taller, reassured and self-confident in their abilities and we have statistics that show improved attendance and better overall marks. When that happens you’re already becoming a young role model in your immediate community.”