Indigenous Peoples Experience
A 32,000 square-foot immersive cultural facility exploring the rich histories, cultures, and perspectives of First Nations and Métis Peoples at Fort Edmonton Park.
Role
Sound Design · Co-Composer · Mixer
Client
Fort Edmonton Park
Location
Edmonton, AB
Year
2021
The Story
The Indigenous Peoples Experience was one of the most important and meaningful projects we've ever been a part of. It's a 32,000 square-foot immersive walkthrough, not a museum in the traditional sense, but a living environment where sound fills the room with music and stories told by Elders from Indigenous communities across the region, where six languages flow through the space representing over forty local peoples, and where the architecture itself becomes part of the sonic experience.
Audio Coara had the honour of producing, recording, mixing and integrating the musical content for the final exhibition space, The Meeting Place. Together with the team from Hidden Story, we coordinated and hosted a 10-day residency at the Banff Centre on the edge of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain on Treaty 7 land.
The group assembled was led under the musical direction of Cris Derksen, the lyrical direction of Moe Clark, and was guided by Ekti Cardinal.
The music created together is a declaration: kahkiyaw kâtahkotanânaw, "We have arrived."
Mixed on a 10.2 playback system, with each speaker pairing a screen position in the space, the resulting mix combines immersive and point source techniques to envelop and guide the listener through the ultimate artistic offering of the Experience.
The IPE won the Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement, Heritage Center in 2022, the themed entertainment industry's most prestigious international honour. It also received the ULI Americas Award for Excellence.