Past Events

Cultural Connections Regina · archived page

India Night 2024

The 2024 India Night event took place on October 5, 2024, in partnership with Cultural Connections Regina Inc. (CCR) and celebrated diversity, community and culture. CCR hosted this year’s event to its largest crowd ever, over 700 attendees! Featured performers at the event included the Regina Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players, award-winning vocalist Teaghan Littlechief, and traditional Indian dance performances by Regina’s own Mohana Das and the Bhangra Crew. This year marked the 7

Annual India Night. Having grown exponentially since its inception, this signature fundraising event has raised over $900,000 for a wide range of causes essential to the Regina community. With the help of community and Supporters Cultural Connection was able to raise $142,220 for the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s RSO in Schools program.

India Night 2023

2023 India Night was presented by SaskMilk. Early Learning Centre, Regina was selected for 2023 charity. Event took place on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Event was oversold in advance. Many dignitaries including Saskatchewan Premier “Hon. Scott Moe”, Hon. Andrew Scheer, Hon. Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty, Regina Mayor Sandra Masters, and many other MLAs. With the help of community and Supporters Cultural Connection was able to raise $145,000. Cheque was presented to the Early Learning Centre on November 21, 2023

Video of 2023 India Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geDiCfdNlNw

An Evening of Classical Indian Music

CCR and Tero Parbon brought Indian Classical Music ” Shehnai & Tabla” to Regina. An unforgettable event with two of the most talented artists from India – Ashwani Shankar on the shehnai (Flute) and Ramdas Palsule on the Tabla took place at the University of Regina Education Building on Saturday, May 27th, 2023. After three long years, Ashwani Shankar and Ramdas Palsule finally decided to tour the USA and Canada.

Glimpse of the evening: https://fb.watch/qpgFY1dy33/

Thank you for the partners: Snacks and Tea Bar
: “iDine “Indian Cuisine” |
Partners
: Spic Macay, and University of Regina |
Friends
: India Curry House
India Night 2022
With the help of community and our supporters, CCR had raised a whopping $167, 826 during India Night 2022 for Creative Kids to support kids facing barriers to participating in cultural activities and exploring their creativity.
India Night 2020
Event was postponed to October 2nd, 2021 due to COVID-19.
Life of Pie
The Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) kicked off its 2019-2020 season with a Masterworks concert featuring Canadian composer Mychael Danna’s Academy-Award winning score from the film Life of Pi.
The co ncert took place
Saturday, September 21 at the Conexus Arts Centre at 7:30 pm
– a new start time for the RSO this season. This first concert of the RSO’s 111th season was an eclectic program that also featured Debussy’s La Mer, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Based on the novel by Canadian author Yann Martel, the film, Life of Pi, is based in India and tells the story of a young boy Pi, the lone human survivor of a terrible shipwreck of a boat that was transporting his family’s zoo animals. Pi, who finds refuge on a lifeboat along with a Bengal tiger, must pass weeks and months learning to surv ive.

Martel was in attendance for a pre-concert chat at 6:45 pm

, hosted by RSO concertmaster Christian Robinson.

The score for Life of Pi features a variety of traditional Indian instruments including the tabla (drums) and bansuri (flute).

Thanks to a partnership with Cultural Connections Regina, several guest artists joined RSO Music Director Gordon Gerrard to accompany the orchestra on these traditional instruments.

These guest artists include: Divyalakshmi Iyer, vocalist; Jatinder Parkash, bansuri; Shawn Mativetsky, tabla; and, Michael Bridge on accordion. Parkash, scored the bansuri part for the official soundtrack from Life of Pi, and also performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in its presentation of the Life of Pi score in 2015.

Farewell Ceremony for Goddess Annapoorna Statue Being Repatriated to India

(Dec 2020)

Varanasi, India will soon get back an antique idol of the Goddess
Annapoorna, which was stolen over a century ago from a local shrine on the banks of the Ganges River and found its way to the University of Regina.
The repatriation of the statue from the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina coincided with the beginning of World Heritage Week from November 19 to 25.
Kathak Ensemble- directly from India to Celebrate India’s Independence Day in Regina
August 10, 2018

Cultural Connections Regina was proud to host the Sandip Mallick and Anuj Misra Kathak Ensemble on at the Shumiatcher Theatre (McKenzie Art Gallery). This was part of India Independence day celebrations for this year. We were very fortunate to be able to bring such wonderful talent to Regina for an evening of beautiful and exciting dance.

Kutiyattam Dance Concert

– July 14th, 2018
Regina, July 14, 2018 – We had the rare opportunity to see one of the oldest forms of Sanskrit theatre on July 14th, 2018. in the Schumiatcher Theatre at the Mackenzie Art Gallery.
Koodiyattam dates back over 2200 years in the Indian state of Kerala. Preserved for centuries by the temples, Koodiyattam has only very recently emerged for public audiences.

Presentations combine dance and drama to tell stories from Hindu mythology. Elaborate makeup requires several hours to apply. Hosted by Cultural Connections Regina, the 12-member ensemble visited Regina as a part of a multi-city Canadian tour coinciding with its participation in the World Sanskrit Conference taking place in Vancouver earlier this month.

Some media coverage of the event: https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/regina-gets-a-taste-of-2000-year-old-indian-art-form-sanskrit-theatre http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-getting-rare-chance-ancient-indian-performance-1.4747318

Tarangini – An Odissi Dance performance

October 6, 2017 – A multicultural evening of dance was presented at Conexus Arts Centre by Cultural Connections Regina. The evening featured dances by North Central Family Centre; Kolos Dance Academy; Maharlika Group. (First nations, Ukrainian and Filipino dance groups) as well as a renowned Odissi dance group from India called Tarangini. (brought as part of Canada 150 celebrations). It was an evening of thrilling dance art, celebrating the diverse reality of Canada today.

India Night 2017

September 30th, 2017 at Ballroom, Delta Hotel Regina.

Our annual fundraising gala India Night 2017 was a huge success and completely sold out! Guests were treated to an evening of delectable Indian cuisine, graceful classical Indian dances, a scintillating First Nations dance and a memorable speech by the Honourable

Harjit Singh Sajjan

– Minister of National Defense. Greetings were brought by the Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Vaughn Solomon Schofield, and other local politicians.
A cheque presentation ceremony was held on Tuesday November 7, 2017 at North Central Family Center. A cheque for $100,000 was presented by the board of Cultural Connections Regina to Sandy Wankel, Executive Director and Founder of North Central Family Centre.
CHITRAVALI – a Classical Dance Performance
A Classical Dance performance by a visiting classical dancer with 5 musicians (as part of Canada 150 celebrations) was held on Friday August 18, 2017 at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum All net proceeds went to the Hare Krishna Temple, Regina.
CLASSICAL DANCE WORKSHOP

We had a well known Bharatnatyam dance artist, a visiting classical dancer, coming directly from India on August 18, 2017. She graciously agreed to do a worship in conjunction with New Dance Horizons, Regina to enhance & educate about the classical dance styles & music of India.

MEDIA ADVISORY

New Non-Profit Launches to Support Local Charities
REGINA, April 18, 2017 – Media are invited to attend a press conference to launch Cultural Connections Regina, a new non-profit with a goal of hosting a high quality, inclusive cultural events and empowering grassroots charities.
Date: 10 am, April 19, 2017 | Location: Campania A, Delta Hotel, [address removed]
The following officials will bring congratulations: -
Hon. Ralph Goodale – Minister of Public Safety
Mayor Michael Fougere
Cultural Connections Regina will announce which local charity will be the beneficiary of its first fundraising event, the India Night Gala to occur September 30, 2017.