Picture of a ribbon skirt being made at workshop
The artsPlace in Canmore is home to a unique Indigenous craft workshop, The Ribbon Skirt project. This project aims to have (ideally) non-Indigenous people, volunteering materials and labor, to create ribbon skirts under the teachings of Anna Poucette. These ribbon skirts are then taken to the community of Mînî Thnî and gifted to women and girls who may not have the means or access to create their own ribbon skirts.
In 2025, on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, artsPlace held a ribbon skirt workshop, that just so happened to be attended by the Canmore mayors wife, who discovered, after some research, a staggering number of Indigenous women don’t have their own ribbon skirt.
For Anna, the chance to get to bring her culture back into the community, and have it celebrated in the town of Canmore, means the world. Anna’s late grandmother attended residential schools, and had many of her family members, including her father, attend day school. For her, giving the community and young girls something she never had access to, like regalia and teachings, is the most meaningful part of what she does.
Anna is all about protocol, and her father had hosted a weekend for women, including a four day fast, a sweat lodge and teachings, all from Anna’s father, which was a big part of how the program developed and evolved, and it meant a lot to everyone to see how he cares for the women of his community.
We got to speak with Tessa Mendoza, associate manager of programs, who works on all Indigenous connection programming, and Anna Poucette about this project. We asked Tessa about how the project came to be.
Tessa talked about how this program leans into “reconcili-action”, instead of reconciliation.
We asked Anna about what the program means to her.
Tessa talked about the experience with Anna’s father.
artsPlace is donation based, and people are encouraged to donate if possible, only through the generosity of people is it possible, you can click here to find out more.
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