SOLD OUT - Drum Making with Tsawayia Alice Guss

**Due to the current COVID 19 restrictions set out by the Provincial Health Officer (PHO), the workshops will require proof of vaccination.**

Join Tsawayia Alice Guss of the Squamish Nation in a ceremonial and educational drum making workshop.

This hands-on workshop will teach participants how to make their very own ‘sacred drum’ from start to finish while sharing songs and storytelling throughout the workshop. You will be truly amazed and empowered as you use your creativity to transform mother earth’s gifts. In this workshop, we will honour the deer and the maple trees.  No experience necessary. Each participant will leave with their very own drum and stick.

Date: Saturday December 4, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Museum of Vancouver
Tickets: $240 for non-members, $230 for members*, and $215 for Indigenous peoples*

*Please call 604-736-4431 during MOV business hours to obtain a discount code if you are an MOV Member or Indigenous. A service fee and GST is also applied to ticket sales.

Spaces are limited. Register early. Masks are required.

Workshop ticket includes FREE admission to our feature exhibitions Boarder X, That Which Sustains Us, A Seat at the Table, Neon Vancouver Ugly Vancouver, and c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city. Consider arriving early with your event ticket to view exhibits!

If you are having trouble using the embedded form above, please try to purchase your ticket directly on Eventbrite here.

For general inquiries regarding this workshop please contact Indigenous Programs and Community Engagement Coordinator, Jasmine Wilson here.

Workshop Facilitator

Tsawayia Alice Guss

Tsawaysia Spukwus whose English name is known as Alice Guss (nee Harry), is a Squamish Nation member, born and raised in Squamish, BC.  She is (a mother of three and grandmother of twins) who is strong, committed, and active in the preservation of her Culture and Heritage.

Tsawaysia participates in all aspects of First Nations culture, language, community, governance, education, traditional art forms, healing, recreation, singing, drumming, dancing, and storytelling.  With over 20 years working with First Nation’s communities as a Director of Education, 5 years in the Employment Industry along with 15 years delivering Sacred Drum making workshops, Tsawaysia is masterful at bringing innovative learning opportunities to all people through workshops, drumming, singing, dancing, and storytelling.

She is an avid participant in healing Tribal Journeys and more recently co-produced a number of documentaries including Squamish Nation: Stories from the Heart, Tribal Journeys, and Riding with the First Nation’s Snowboard Team. During the 2010 Olympics she coordinated her Family’s Sea Going Canoe Pekultn display and her Family shared songs, dances, history , in honour of her late father Ernie Harry (Pekultn).

Squamish Nation drum beats loudly for Team Canada at Tokyo Olympics

Aug 4, 2021 2:28 PM By: Ben Bengtson (North Shore News)

Canada’s de facto No. 1 fan has been busy beating a drum to celebrate athletes in Tokyo since the beginning of the Games, so much so that Tsewtsáwḵen (Tewanee Joseph) had to keep pausing his TV to catch a glimpse.

“Since Day 1 – I saw it, I paused my PVR, took a picture of it, and shared it with all of our family,” he says with pride.

As much as he’s savoured watching Canada go for gold, he’s not talking about pausing for the athletes themselves necessarily.

Joseph, along with his family from the Squamish Nation, has specifically been drawn to the small screen, hoping to see Marnie McBean, Team Canada’s Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission, carrying around the custom-made hand drum they gave her for the purpose of her mission – to lead Canada’s delegation of athletes at the Tokyo Games.

“It’s just been the most immense pride to see Marnie there in Tokyo,” says Joseph, who was CEO of the Four Host First Nations for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. “It’s like we’re there with her.”

Prior to leaving for Japan, McBean – herself a three-time Olympic gold medallist – reached out to fellow Olympian and Joseph family friend Clara Hughes to see if bringing a traditional Coast Salish drum would be an appropriate way to fete Canadian athletes from the near-empty stands in Tokyo.

Hughes connected McBean with Joseph, who got to work commissioning Squamish drum-maker and artist Alice Guss for the task.

“We wanted something that was made by a Squamish Nation member,” says Joseph