Day 1: Saturday, July 17, 2010

A crew of 8 Dalhousie architecture students and 3 Cities & Environment Unit staff arrived in Kinistin late Friday night (after being stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours because of a crazy lightning storm that hit right after landing).

The next morning, the project started off right with a delicious (and huge!) pancake breakfast for the community and Dalhousie crew. After the breakfast a handful of community members stuck around to talk through different design ideas for the arbour. This meeting provided community members who had not yet been involved in previous design discussions to get caught up to speed and to provide input.

The meeting started with a general discussion about what a arbour is and why it is needed and important for pow wows. People explained that arbours:

• Provide shade and weather protection
• Define and frame a dancing area

People also discussed that having an arbour in the community creates opportunities for more people to learn to dance and participate in their culture (which connects perfectly to Kinistin's community vision statement!).

After the large group discussion, small groups broke out to draw their vision and ideas for the arbour based on what they had been hearing from the group. Each group presented their ideas and then the drawings were pinned up in the Band Hall.

Through both the large group and small group discussions we were able to gather more information about elements needed at pow wow's that will help guide design decisions.

• Grand Entry from the east
• MC booth to the south of the Grand Entry (and raised a few feet so that the MC can see the dancers)
• Space underneath the tripods needs to be big enough to house 12 or so drummers (roughly 10 feet in diameter)
• Need space for whistlers (people who like the song) to come up to the drum group and whistle
• Need electricity for speakers and lighting
• Need centre pole to hang eagle staff as well as to hang lighting and speakers
• Site needs to be large enough for vendors to set up outside the arbour

Throughout the day people discussed the importance of designing an arbour that allowed for flexibilty of use over time. People liked that the current tensile structure design allowed for the use of poplar and willow bows and/or the use of canvas. The group also explore the possibility of using the centre pole as a stand for an additional tarp or parachute to cover the dancers if need be.