Indigenous Peoples Weekend is presented by Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society of Salt Spring Island, an Indigenous-led non-profit. Here is the story of how we got here.
2024 · The first weekend. Indigenous Peoples Weekend began in 2024, with Indigenous-led and Indigenous-partnered events held at venues across Salt Spring Island. Many Nations were represented. Songs were sung, stories were told, and a community discovered that this was something it had been waiting for.
2025 · The gathering deepens. In year two, the tipi was raised on the meadow at ArtSpring. New Indigenous partnerships took shape, more Indigenous artists, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders came into the circle, and four days passed in song.
2026 · A handover. This year marks IPW's transition into a fully Indigenous-led festival, guided by an Indigenous Advisory Council. The heart of the gathering moves to the Farmers Institute on Salt Spring Island, with additional events at venues across Salt Spring and the Southern Gulf Islands, and the Indigenous Art Show continuing at ArtSpring through early July. Same circle, wider invitation.
IPW is open to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike. Everyone is welcome to come, witness, and learn. Some ceremonies have protocols, and we name those clearly.
The handover to a fully Indigenous-led festival is anchored by a new Indigenous Advisory Council, formed in 2026 with representation from multiple Nations and Indigenous communities across the region.
The Council guides cultural safety and protocol, shapes the program alongside the festival team, helps us welcome people respectfully in ways that reflect each Nation's teachings, and supports leadership development among local Indigenous organizers.
We do not speak for any Nation we are not from. We listen, and we follow protocol. The Council is one of the ways we try to do this work in good relationship.
Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society of Salt Spring Island is an Indigenous-led, pan-Indigenous non-profit Society that presents IPW. Below: who we are, who founded us, and how we try to work.
Sweetgrass is a registered British Columbia non-profit Society dedicated to fostering community connection, cultural continuity, and healing through Indigenous arts and music. The Society was formed in response to a clear need on Salt Spring Island for Indigenous-led cultural presentation grounded in relationship, protocol, and respect for both Indigenous artists and local communities.
Our mandate is to present professional Indigenous artists and cultural practitioners, create inclusive gathering spaces for Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences, and support opportunities for cultural learning, dialogue, and reconciliation. Programming is guided by an Indigenous Advisory Council and emphasizes accessibility, intergenerational participation, and meaningful engagement.
Sweetgrass has been doing patient, consistent community arts and music work for two years. We are small. The terrain is not always smooth and we do not pretend it is. The work happens because people show up for each other, season after season.
Métis / Nêhiyawak artist, vocalist, and cultural leader.
Sherry Leigh Williams is the founder and President of Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society. She is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, beadwork, music, and storytelling, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria and a three-year diploma from Victoria College of Art.
Sherry is a mother of six, a grandmother, and a working musician who fronts multiple bands on Salt Spring Island. She serves as Entertainment Director for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 92 and on the board of the Salt Spring Jazz and Blues Society. Her work has been supported by SSNAP (Catalyst Grant) and the Salt Spring Island Foundation.
"My goal is always to encourage, uplift, and include all people. Music builds community, and community is vital for all of us."
Whether you are an artist wanting to be part of IPW, a community member with a question, a funder considering a partnership, or someone who just wants to learn more, please reach out. We answer every email, even if it takes us a few days.
IPW 2026 takes place on Salt Spring Island, within the ancestral and unceded homelands of Hul’q’umi’num and SENĆOŦEN-speaking Coast Salish peoples, including Nations with deep cultural, historical, and ongoing relationships to these lands and waters.
