Weesageechak Begins to Dance
Submissions Due: Friday, April 10, 2026
ABOUT WEESAGEECHAK BEGINS TO DANCE 39
Weesageechak Begins to Dance is an annual performing arts festival showcasing new works and works-in-development by Indigenous artists across Turtle Island and beyond, hosted in the heart of Regent Park in t'karonto. Every November, Native Earth Performing Arts is proud to welcome new theatrical, dance, music, and multidisciplinary works reflecting the breadth of Indigenous experiences, the richness of Indigenous arts, and offering a peek into Indigenous storytelling today and to come. These curated works, selected by an internal jury of Native Earth staff and guest artists, receive artistic and dramaturgical support, rehearsal time and space with performers, and public presentations.
Weesageechak Begins to Dance 39 will take place between November 19-29, 2026 with presentations and ancillary programming in our Aki Studio and Minogitoon Workspace.
Selected Weesageechak Begins to Dance artists are paired with a Mentor, who takes on a directorial and dramaturgical capacity to best support the development of their project through workshop and/or presentation processes. Weesageechak Begins to Dance artists will also receive an artist fee for their participation in the festival.
We will continue to offer two festival streams: Presentation for completed new works or for projects further along in development and Workshop for projects in early stages of development and/or for artists who may not feel ready for presentation or who want to develop their project without the pressure of presentation.
Presentation artists will receive studio time in addition to technical, production, promotional, and artistic support. Artists/projects are typically offered a minimum of 12-hours of rehearsal, four hours of tech time, and one public presentation of up to 60-minutes.
Workshop stream artists/projects will receive studio time in addition to artistic support. Please note that for Weesageechak Begins to Dance 39, only two projects will be considered for Workshop, to be held from October 12-25, 2026.
Please note that support may vary depending on the needs and scale of the project.
Click here to access a PDF of this artist call
Click here to access the Submission Form.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
For the 39th annual Weesageechak Begins to Dance, we’re interested in submissions for work that shift the expectations of Indigenous stories in the performing arts landscape across Turtle Island and beyond. We’re putting Indigenous artists and their creative impulses at the forefront, asking,
What are Indigenous artists compelled to create rather than what is palatable to audiences and programmers?
What are Indigenous artists feeling the need to respond to? How are Indigenous artists responding to each other?
We want to give platform to creators, trusting that they know the stories they’re trying and wanting to tell, and we are excited to see fun, challenging, messy, and/or unconventional work, full of possibility! Weesageechak Begins to Dance 39 will explore our festival theme, RESURGENCE, celebrating the ever-urgent necessity for Indigenous storytelling in an inspirational and revitalizing gathering of stories, conversations, and workshops.
Eligible works include (but are not limited to) theatre, dance, opera, musicals, standup comedy, burlesque, cabaret, music or spoken word sets, and radio plays. Dynamic and multidisciplinary art forms are highly encouraged. We also encourage national and international Indigenous performance artists of all disciplines, and at any stage in their career, to apply! Please note that for a submission to be eligible, the primary artist (or artists) must identify as Indigenous.
*Native Earth Performing Arts uses the term Indigenous to encompass the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit of Turtle Island (North America). We also include Indigenous peoples from other regions including South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Greenland.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Artistic Merit
Programming Fit
Production Capacity and Viability
If you have any questions or require an alternate submission method, please email our Festival Producer, Yago Mesquita, at yago@nativeearth.ca.
*Native Earth Performing Arts uses the term Indigenous to encompass the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit of Turtle Island (North America). We also include Indigenous peoples from other regions including South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Greenland.