Dancers of Damelahamid, in partnership with MOA and the Anvil Centre, present the 19^th annual Coastal Dance Festival.  The Festival is a celebration of the stories, songs and dances of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast with guest national and international artists.

Schedule

March 4 + 5: School Programs (paid programs)
March 5 + 6: Artist Sharing Series (free with museum admission)
March 6 + 7: Signature Performances (ticketed events)
March 7: So Surreal: Behind the Masks film screening (free with museum admission)
March 7 + 8: Festival Stage Performances (free with museum admission)

The Coastal Dance Festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the qəyqəyt (Qayqayt), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), q̓ʷainƛ̓ən (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) peoples.

Dancers of Damelahamid, in partnership with MOA and the Anvil Centre, present the 19^th annual Coastal Dance Festival. The Festival is a celebration of the stories, songs and dances of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast with guest national and international artists.

Signature Evening Performances take place within the powerful setting of the museum’s Great Hall, enhanced by special lighting. These ticketed events spotlight the artistic excellence of Indigenous dance, offering a memorable evening of cultural performance.

Friday March 6  | 7:30 pm – SOLD OUT

Performance program (approx. 75 mins, no intermission) includes dances by:

• Spakwus Slolem
• ‘Yisya’winuxw
• Dancers Of Damelahamid
• Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska / Lawra Somby

Saturday March 7  | 7:30 pm – SOLD OUT

Performance program (approx. 75 mins, no intermission) includes dances by:

• Coastal Wolf Pack
• Git Hoan Dancers
• Dancers Of Damelahamid
• Cedar Woman

Please note: Doors to the Great Hall will open at 7:15 pm. Seating is risers and first-come, first-served. Photography or videography of the event is not permitted.

The Coastal Dance Festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the qəyqəyt (Qayqayt), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), q̓ʷainƛ̓ən (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) peoples.

The Coastal Dance Festival is presented in partnership with Dancers of Damelahamid, Coastal Dance Festival, and the Anvil Centre.

Dancers of Damelahamid, in partnership with MOA and the Anvil Centre, present the 19^th annual Coastal Dance Festival. The Festival is a celebration of the stories, songs and dances of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast with guest national and international artists.

Drop in to MOA’s Presentation Circle for a screening of So Surreal: Behind the Masks. This feature documentary traces the storied journey of Indigenous masks from the far reaches of Turtle Island (North America) into the hands of European Surrealists, influencing the work of some of the most well-known modern artists and writers of all time including Max Ernst, André Breton and Joan Miró—all while following the dramatic quest to return a mask that was brutally stolen from Canada’s northwest coast over a century ago.

Part caper, part road trip, part spiritual journey, Behind the Mask follows award-winning Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond (Reel Injun) as he travels coast-to-coast and across the Atlantic and back, gradually piecing together this groundbreaking global story of influence and hopeful restitution.

The Coastal Dance Festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the qəyqəyt (Qayqayt), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), q̓ʷainƛ̓ən (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) peoples.

Dancers of Damelahamid, in partnership with MOA and the Anvil Centre, present the 19^th annual Coastal Dance Festival. The Festival is a celebration of the stories, songs and dances of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast with guest national and international artists.

In the Artist Sharing Series, artists will share their processes and practices by way of discourse, movement, song, story, and multimedia. Re-envisioning Relationships in Respect of Lived Practices looks at decolonizing existing relationships with spaces such as MOA’s galleries and collections through song and dance, as well as reshaping the lens through which dance regalia and masks are perceived to better understand these art pieces as lived practice. The discourse will address Indigenizing spaces by asserting ways of knowing that are embedded in Indigenous song and dance, as well as preparing oneself for active witnessing to reshape the lens through which Indigenous arts are acknowledged. 

The Artist Sharing Series is an opportunity to actively learn about Indigenous dance through the vast histories and stories of the Indigenous artists and communities represented at the festival.

Schedule

Thursday March 5 | 3 pm
Screening of So Surreal: Behind the Masks, followed by a discussion with Dr. Sarah Hunt, Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw writer, scholar, and activist

Friday March 6 | 3 pm
Lawra Somby + Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, Indigenous Sámi joik artists from Sápmi, the traditional Sámi homeland (spanning Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia)

The Coastal Dance Festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the qəyqəyt (Qayqayt), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), q̓ʷainƛ̓ən (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) peoples.

The Artist Sharing Series is presented in partnership with Dancers of Damelahamid, Coastal Dance Festival, and the Anvil Centre.

This February, we welcome families to the museum to reflect on the bits, bobs, and knickknacks that spark your playfulness, curiosity, and creativity. Learn how to make your own personal pieces of decorative ephemera–create custom buttons, design your own stickers, and practice scrapbooking in a junk journal. All-ages storybooks and colouring sheets will also be available.

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

About Culture Club at MOA

Join MOA on the last Sunday of each month for Culture Club! Drop in and enjoy engaging art-making activities designed for families. This series offers young visitors artful learning opportunities, allowing families to get creative and connect with MOA’s diverse collections and exhibitions. See the full schedule.

Culture Club at MOA is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning

Looking for a new family activity for Family Day? Take home a free hands-on kit created by MOA’s Conservation Team and learn how to mount and display a comic book page like a museum professional.

Each kit includes materials plus step-by-step written and video tutorials that guide you through the process, while introducing some of the careful techniques conservators use to protect and present paper objects.

Perfect for curious kids, budding artists, and anyone who loves comics, craft, or behind-the-scenes museum work.

Free kits available for pickup February 4 – 15 at MOA. Limited quantities available. Pick up your kit at the MOA Admissions Desk during regular museum hours.

To reserve your kit please e-mail Mauray Toutloff at mauray.toutloff@ubc.ca.

A free video tutorial will be available via the MOA Conservation Instagram (@moa_conservation) on Family Day (February 16).

Bios

Telka Pesklevits is an undergraduate student in their final year of study in the Anthropology honours program at UBC. As a disabled student, health equity and disability resistance are prominent themes in all of the work they do. Telka is currently undertaking research at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology exploring the topics of museum conservation, public conservation as programming, and access in museum spaces.

Mauray Katherine Toutloff is a conservator at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. She holds an M.A.C. from Queen’s University (Ontario) and a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Regina (Saskatchewan), and she has also studied art at the First Nations University of Canada. At MOA, Mauray’s work focuses on collaborative research in preventive and treatment-oriented conservation strategies. She co-teaches the conservation course in the Department of Anthropology and is actively engaged in sustainable museum practices and research. An advocate for sharing conservation knowledge, she contributes to public and educational programming. Since 2019, her research has centred on the investigation of pollutants in museum environments.

For Kids Take Over UBC 2026, discover Mini-MOA! The Museum can feel big—even to grown-ups—but for one special day, we’re transforming it into a fun-sized world designed just for kids and families. MOA invites young explorers to dive into hands-on activities, creative play, and immersive cultural experiences throughout the day.

Kids can step into the role of junior conservators in our Kids Conservation Lab, celebrate Losar (Tibetan New Year) with a colourful craft inspired by MOA’s feature exhibition Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images, and watch Coast Salish weaving demonstrations led by Indigenous Cultural Interpreters. They can also explore an interactive table of touchable belongings from MOA’s collections and follow an imaginative activity booklet designed to spark curiosity, creativity, and storytelling.

Plus, don’t miss the Proud Little Warriors, youth from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), performing in the Great Hall at 1 pm. Bring the whole family and experience MOA in a whole new way—small, playful, and full of discovery.

The event is open to children of all ages. Kids under 12 should be accompanied by an adult.

The event is free with museum admission, or with Kids Take Over UBC pre-registration.

Schedule

Performance by Proud Little Warriors (youth Sḵwx̱wú7mesh drummers)
Great Hall |  1 – 1:30 pm

Kids Conservation Lab
Borden Research Room | 11 am – 3 pm (closed 1 – 1:30 pm for the performance)

Touch and Teach: explore and interact with belongings from the collection
Ceramics Research Room | 11 am – 3 pm (closed 1 – 1:30 pm for the performance)

Celebrate Losar: learn about Tibetan New Year and craft a keepsake
Learning Lab | 11 am – 3 pm (closed 1 – 1:30 pm for the performance)

Woven Together: Join one of our cultural interpreters for a Coast Salish weaving demonstration
Textile Research Room | 11 am – 3 pm (closed 1 – 1:30 pm for the performance)

Collective Curiosity: Share with others what you learned today!
Bill Reid Rotunda | 11 am – 3 pm (closed 1 – 1:30 pm for the performance)

The February session of Art Club draws inspiration from MOA’s feature exhibition Jaad Kuujus: Everyone Says I Look Like My Mother which focuses on the intersection of tradition and technology in weaving. At this session, learn weaving techniques with one of MOA’s Cultural Interpreters,  Joshua Rolland (Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw).

Art Club at MOA is a new monthly evening series for adult visitors who are curious about using craft as a way to connect—both with the Museum’s collections and exhibitions, and with one another. Part creative workshop, part social gathering, Art Club offers a relaxed space to slow down, experiment, and make meaning through art. See the full schedule.

Art Club sessions are free and located in the Cedar Café at MOA (does not include admission into the museum).

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

MOA welcomes Akofena Afro-Theatre Society for a vibrant, immersive performance rooted in Anansesem—the Spider Tales storytelling tradition of the Akan peoples of Ghana and, the diasporic communities of the Caribbean and the Americas. Drawing on the legendary trickster Kweku Ananse, this one-of-a-kind experience weaves together theatre, music, dance, and oral narrative to explore how stories travel, transform, and sustain communities across generations and diasporas.

Audiences are invited into a world charged with humour, wisdom, resistance, and creative energy, as artists reinterpret classic Ananse tales through bold contemporary lenses. Centring Black artistry and innovation, this performance honours ancestral knowledge while imagining liberated Black futures.

Bio

Akofena Afro-Theatre Society is a Black-led cultural organization based in British Columbia dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and innovating African and Black storytelling traditions. The society creates theatre that integrates music, dance, oral narrative, and contemporary performance, drawing on African Total Theatre principles to centre Black voices and histories. Akofena collaborates with artists, scholars, and community groups to present works that inspire dialogue, cultural education, and creative empowerment. Recent productions, including King Musu and Through a Film Darkly, reflect the society’s commitment to artist development and to amplifying African diasporic perspectives on Canadian stages.

To welcome the New Year, families are invited to celebrate the past while imagining good fortune for the future. Create a decorative mixed-media ornament featuring a papercraft New Moon and an artful portrait of one of your family’s cherished elders. Visit our pop-up photobooth, where a MOA staff member will take a family photo to attach to your ornament—a keepsake to display at home.

All-ages storybooks and colouring sheets will be available throughout the program, making it a welcoming and creative experience for the whole family.

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

About Culture Club at MOA

Join MOA on the last Sunday of each month for Culture Club! Drop in and enjoy engaging art-making activities designed for families. This series offers young visitors artful learning opportunities, allowing families to get creative and connect with MOA’s diverse collections and exhibitions. See the full schedule.

Culture Club at MOA is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning