land, body, community

Dream River Arts Society

We exist to facilitate land-, body- and community-guided arts & culture programming that orients us within social ecologies of mutual presence, communal care and response-ability

We are a volunteer run not-for-profit and we work in partnership & collaboration with other artists, cultural workers, collectives & organizations to host artistic activities that grow us deeper and wider

We follow, and weave threads of learning, transforming, and worlding ~ together

Why we began

Dream River Arts Society was founded mid-2026 by 3 urban 2Spirit mixed ancestries Indigenous artists, Suna Galay-Tamang, Sacha Ouellet and Karmella Benedito de Barros. After collaborating casually on ancestral knowledge & land reclamation artistic projects for over 5 years, we decided to ground down together. We are based on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh & səlilwətaɬ (MST) territories, in so-called Vancouver.

We believe in the arts as communal tools for inner recovery, navigation, joy, gestation and co-creation.

And we know that more of our communities need access, time, and to feel genuinely welcomed into specialized artistic trainings and immersive experiences. We want to hear the voices of other folks from diverse and marginalized communities. We make space for Indigenous, Black, People of Colour + Culture, immigrant, refugee, neurodiverse, disabled, queer, trans and 2Spirit community members, in positions of knowledge sharing and participation.

What we do

Our artistic activities follow the thread of cultural rematriation and communal transformation. We support opportunities for training, research, mentorship, development, creation, presentation & facilitation of embodied artistic knowledge systems and forms.

By pooling our resources with collaborators and partners, we expand our capacity to host: classes, workshops, residencies, community projects, celebrations, culture camps, events, screenings, artist talks & more.