Christi Belcourt: Indigenous Arts & Storytelling

Dr. Lindsay Lachance is honoured and very proud to be the Artistic Associate of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre. Lindsay is from an Algonquin Anishinabe and settler Canadian family and has loved storytelling and theatre from a young age. She earned a PhD in Theatre from the University of British Columbia and in January 2018 successfully defended her dissertation titled “The Embodied Politics of Relational Indigenous Dramaturgies.” Lindsay’s academic work exists at the intersections of Indigenous Theatre and Critical Indigenous Studies, where she celebrates and supports Indigenous theatre art and artists. Her dissertation explores Indigenous approaches to developing Indigenous theatre, as practiced by her in her dramaturgical processes with Indigenous and non-Indigenous theatre artists and students. Lindsay works as a dramaturg, supporting new play development, through a practice that centers the knowledges, skills and gifts of her collaborators that honours each process. She has published articles, shared her ideas at various conferences and offered responses to performances she has witnessed.

Lindsay has developed and taught courses in both First Nations & Indigenous Studies and Theatre Studies at the University of British Columbia and at Simon Fraser University. She is the first in her family to have attended university and she recognizes both the privileges and difficulties in attending post-secondary institutions. So in the classroom, in workshops and in her everyday actions, Lindsay practices and presences the 7 Sacred Teachings of the Anishinabeg as a way to ensure good relationships with those she is involved with. Lindsay has been working with youth for over 15 years at summer camps, community centres, The Native Youth Program at the UBC Museum of Anthropology and the Indigenous Youth Residency Program at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  She has participated at events hosted by The National Arts Centre, The PuSh Festival, Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance, the Audain Gallery at SFU, Carleton University and The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Association.

Lindsay is a granddaughter, a daughter, a niece, a cousin, a sister, an auntie and a partner. She honours the gifts, offerings and teachings that Indigenous women before her have offered and is motivated to honour and support the next generation of leaders.