Join our panelists for discussion on systemic racism in the music industry. 

This panel will be moderated by artist and facilitator, Rup Sidhu with panelists; Tarun Nayar, Khari McClelland, Anna Morgan, Eugene Boulanger and Nancy Lee. 

Anna Morgan is a DJ, producer, promoter and label head from New York City, who has recently moved to LA. She has been working professionally in the music industry for the past 6 years. During this period she has co-created and run several platforms and club nights and a label with the intention of cross pollinating underground dance communities and creating inclusive platforms for freedom of expression that specifically holds space for up and coming artists. In California she has been working with an event called Resonate to offer free DJ workshops prioritizing femme and non-binary individuals. Her relationship to music is about exploration, expression and community. Prior to a career in music she was working in the healing arts as a yoga teacher and massage therapist. She sees her work in music as a continuation of her personal healing while facilitating space for others to explore their relationship to self and each other as we work toward collective authenticity and healing.

Eugene Boulanger is Shúhtagot’ınę from Tulit'a, in Denendeh, the so-called (Northwest Territories), in the Sahtu region of Treaty 11. Eugene is also a founding member of Dene Nahjo, a northern Indigenous leadership development collective advancing self-determination in land, language and culture.
Eugene is a visual designer and digital media artist by trade who is also a trained facilitator, a DJ and emerging producer, and a performing artist. Eugene is passionate about Indigenous research methods that harness the strengths and the ancestral wisdom within our communities to produce balanced solutions for challenging issues, particularly as they affect young people. Currently, Eugene is based in the Pacific Northwest and works in the public sector, designing and producing programs and initiatives advancing healing and suicide prevention for Indigenous communities.

Rup Sidhu is an interdisciplinary artist and facilitator currently residing on unceded Coast Salish Territories, Vancouver BC.  Rup’s work meets at the intersection of social justice and the arts, for the past 13 years he has been growing his understanding of anti-oppression and empowerment work.  He has created and led hundreds of programs and trainings with youth and adults.   Rup brings a focused presence, strong leadership skills and a contagious enthusiasm, which effectively engages, inspires and guides participants.  He leads programs with a variety of organizations including the Access to Media Education Society, an organization dedicated to anti-oppression training and putting media tools in the hands of marginalized people: the Power of Hope; an art’s based empowerment organization; Reel Youth, a media empowerment project supporting youth, adults and organizations to create and distribute engaging films about the issues they care about most. the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a free music school for inner city youth; and he co-founded Metaphor, a program dedicated to bringing hip hop workshops and performances into schools, detention centers and rural communities.

Imaginative. Bold. Genuine. Hopeful. Khari Wendell McClelland is an award-winning musician and creative facilitator who uses the arts and experiential activities for transformational learning. 

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Khari has worked with communities across Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and the Caribbean. 

In a world with increasingly complex societal challenges, the need for values-based creative solutions is paramount. 

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Khari helps youth and adults explore core values and creativity as a means to self-actualization, community building and problem solving.

His approach is warm, insightful and engaging.

Nancy Lee is a Taiwanese-Canadian electronic music curator, interdisciplinary media artist, independent cultural producer and filmmaker. Her work stimulates and enlivens space, making a provocative statement about how inescapably interconnected we are with our surroundings. The notion of staging is a constant in Nancy’s work and underpins her projects from a more traditional filmmaker, through her conception and planning of live events, and into the realms of VR and new media performance and installation, where her art practices continue to coalesce and evolve. Nancy is a co-founder of electronic music and art collective Chapel Sound - a collective supporting emerging artists in Vancouver by offering workshops and funding opportunities. Nancy is also a co-producer and co-founder of CURRENT: Feminist Electronic Art Symposium, an intersectional and multidisciplinary initiative featuring artistic and educational programming by women, nonbinary artists and artists of colour. In 2019, CURRENT evolved into a 3-day mentorship program offering emerging cultural producers local internship opportunities. Nancy’s films and performances have showcased at SXSW, Mutek, Cannes Film Festival, Bass Coast Festival, AEMCON, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, International Symposium on Electronic Art, and the conference New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

Join Bass Coast harm reduction managers Farah and Stacey as they have a conversation about Mental Health in the wild ride that has been 2020 so far. From managing COVID-related anxiety to caring for yourself while engaging in political movements, and tips for safer substance use in these times, Farah and Stacey will touch on a variety of aspects of mental wellness in this chat. 

Stacey Forrester is an established writer, sexual health educator and harm reduction advocate. Stacey worked as a public health nurse for 10 years before her interest in safe public spaces led her to transition into the field of cultural and social planning, where she makes use of her nursing education, her BA major in Gender, Race and Social Justice, and her passion for DIY music and art spaces. Stacey is co-founder of Good Night Out, a BC based non-profit that has emerged as a leader in helping the music industry to build capacity around issues of consent, harassment and safer nightlife.   

Stacey has been nominated for a City of Vancouver Diversity and Inclusion Award, a Government of BC Community Safety and Crime Prevention Award, and shared in a 2017 National Community Radio Award for Breaking  Barriers - discussing overdose management at music festivals over the radio.

Farah is the co-manager of our Harm Reduction Team. She is a psychiatric nurse (and professional partier) from Toronto, who first joined us at Bass Coast in 2017 with a passion for consent culture and safer partying strategies. Since then, Farah has spread those happy, healthy, Bass Coast Harm Reduction vibes to several festivals in the country, training staff and creating sanctuary spaces for those organizers willing to listen and love. As Farah migrates between festivals and regions, she collects and shares her knowledge, emerging as a collaborative expert in the Harm Reduction field. 

To Infinity, And Beyond!

“Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.”

― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Journey with Victoria Grace and Doug into the body, mind & breath as we gather in community to make steps towards honouring the sacred space that resides within us and around us at all times. Through the specific focus on space and time travel, we will explore the various paths of unifying with spirit. In this beautifully curated Ashtanga and Jivamukti class, Victoria Grace and Doug will leave you stunned and pulsating in sound and silence. This class emphasizes the importance of energetic alignment within movement, intention, bandha, drishti, and of course breath itself - all the pillars of vinyasa. In this immersion, we will explore the connection of yoga to the wild and cosmic world. Yoga renews our energy, illuminates connections and generates energy in the world, and inspires us to be our highest selves. We are all a part of nature, a part of the Earth and beyond. We are a dynamic and self sustaining little system within the larger ecosphere.

All body types, ages and skill levels are welcome. No yoga experience necessary. The only requirements - show up and have a willingness to explore and free up your life! 

Victoria & Doug call the beautiful, mountainous landscapes of Whistler, BC, home. They have had the privilege to teach and learn alongside their beloved teachers and mentors, Tina Pashumati James & Manju P. Jois at Loka Yoga Whistler since 2011. They continue to draw influence from their knowledge and experience in nutrition, bodywork, music and sacred ceremony, weaving those into their offerings to all beings.

Both Doug and Victoria were teachers at Loka Yoga Whistler from 2011-2019.

Victoria was the manager of that yoga studio during that time as well.

Since closing the studio in February 2019, Doug and Victoria have been teaching privately in Whistler.

Doug has also been offering monthly Deep House Yoga classes in Whistler.

Holistic Yoga  
Explore foundational postures, breathing and meditation practices that can support your mental health on a daily basis. In times of change, yoga practice provides stress relief by relaxing tense muscles, slowing down the breath, and calming the mind. In this all levels home yoga practice, rediscover your inner strength, power and resilience on and off the mat. 
Naseem Gulamhusein, MEd, is a health educator, certified yoga therapist, mentor and mom. She is passionate about integrative healthcare and active learning. Naseem developed the first Yoga Teacher Training program in a Canadian college, and has been training yoga teachers since 2008. She has written a comprehensive training manual to guide students in the holistic, and traditional practices of yoga. Her work has received awards, and been featured in the media. 

The Opportunity of Art panel will be moderated by Bass Coast’s art director, Liz Thomson and Art Grant exhibit manager, David Houghton. 5 Bass Coast Art Grant alumni will discuss the social and environmental responsibilities that come with creating art.

Join Wongelawit Dessalegn, Rob Spring, Olivia Many Guns (Raven), Dave Petko and Tonya Kong 

"Global Nomads Art's purpose is to leave places better than found. As the founder of Global Nomads, I have had the privilege of growing up in multiple countries, and recognized the importance of contributing to the communities you got to visit, and learning more in the process. So far, Global Nomads has been a nonprofit that raises funds and awareness on localized issues and has been present in Tanzania, Uganda, Costa Rica and Canada. Our most recent activity is Time Nomads, an interactive installation that lets you travel back in time by sending postcards to your future self.
Time nomads: 
As a natural extension of Global Nomads, Time Nomads intends to explore two prominent issues in Canada: cultural identity and mental health. While the message will serve as an uplifting reminder of sun-kissed joy in the dead of winter, it also holds a deeper meaning. Every year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental health or addiction problem, and 10-15% experience mild to clinical forms of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Mental disorders and substance abuse often go hand in hand, and can affect our thought processes, causing us to focus on our current misery and forget the times we felt great or even normal. Time Nomads is a harm reduction tool that attempts to link our good past experiences to our future mental health. After all, when the dark and formidable winter comes around, no one can brighten your day better than your kinder self. 
Thank you!"

Partners in Art and in Love, Dave and Tanya share a home in Whistler with their dog Frang. Dave's history as a professional artist reaches back decades. It was his unique eye for flow, color and symmetry that caught the adoration of Tanya and similarly, it was Tanya's poetry with words that left Dave speechless when they first met at Bass Coast 2015. The duality of their skill-sets is oddly what makes them an ideal match. By trade, Dave is a tattoo artist and owns and operates Black Ohm Tattoos. Tanya is a lawyer and owns and operates Kong Law in Function Junction, Whistler.

"Raven Terra Art comes from the traditional minds of the Blackfoot tribe. Using materials the provoke the mind to untangle the mess between need and want, necessity and over consumption, the artist aims to create awareness in the viewers personal understanding of materials and the origin of whence they came. Working out of Siksika Nation, Blackfoot nation, this halfbreed artist contributes in expanding the dialogue of first nations fine art and craft."

Robert Spring is a member of the AR Sandscapes team that brings the interactive augmented reality sandbox to Bass Coast year after year. He is a technology and DIY art enthusiast. He splits his time between the Merritt area and Vancouver and is a father of two young daughters. One of his great joys in life is being able to build and share the AR Sandscapes project with all of you and be a part of the Bass Coast artist community.