{"id":794776,"date":"2026-07-11T10:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794776\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:02:11","slug":"indigenous-theatre-founder-gets-nod-for-prestigious-prize-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794776\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous theatre founder gets nod for prestigious prize \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

For her work as the founding artistic director of Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, Winnipeg\u2019s Nova Courchene has been named the recipient of one of Manitoba theatre\u2019s highest honours for emerging arts leaders.<\/p>\n

Since 2023, the Cherry Karpyshin Arts Management Prize has been given out by Prairie Theatre Exchange to early-career or aspiring arts managers. Named for PTE\u2019s longtime general manager, for whom the company\u2019s mainstage is also named, the Cherry Prize is accompanied by professional supports and a $2,500 cash award.<\/p>\n

Meaning \u201cnew moon\u201d in Anishinaabemowin, Oshkagoojin runs a variety of initiatives in Winnipeg, including the teen-focused Rising Voices, the middle years Growing Voices, and the early years Young Voices programs. Through storytelling, movement, narrative games and guided play, the Young Voices program introduces Indigenous children aged five through nine to the fundamentals of collaborative and co-operative theatre with a curriculum devised through a cultural lens.<\/p>\n

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Supplied<\/p>\n

Nova Courchene<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I continue to grow Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, I look forward to strengthening the organization\u2019s capacity, sustainability, and national reach so that more Indigenous young people can access theatre, cultural learning, and artistic leadership opportunities in their own communities,\u201d says Courchene in a release. \u201cI believe that when Indigenous youth are empowered to tell their stories, entire communities benefit, and I am excited to continue building these pathways for future generations.<\/p>\n

Since beginning in 2024, Oshkagoojin has been led by Courchene and a staff of five programmers and educators to develop training and education modules while also creating avenues for new work to reach the public stage.<\/p>\n

The organization has participated in Winnipeg\u2019s Kiyanaan Festival, developed by Echo Theatre and hosted at PTE. Last February, Oshkagoojin presented a staging of its family show Nanabush and the Spirit of Thunder, written by Dezarae Meade and adapted from the book by artist Daphne Odjig.<\/p>\n

Next season at the Portage Place theatre, PTE will produce a five-day run of Nanabush, the first time the company will present a show in friendship with Oshkagoojin. Recommended for children in grades 3 through 8, Nanabush and the Spirit of Thunder is set to run May 12-16, 2027.<\/p>\n

Previous winners of the Cherry Karpyshin Arts Management Prize include the Winnipeg Studio Theatre\u2019s Kara Joseph (2023), Walk&Talk Theatre\u2019s Tanner Manson (2024) and Hood & Dagger Productions impresario Crystal Hood (2025).<\/p>\n

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n

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Ben Waldman
Reporter
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Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University\u2019s (now Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For her work as the founding artistic director of Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, Winnipeg\u2019s Nova Courchene has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-794776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}