South Asian Arts Festival

OKGN Mela will be transforming Lake Country’s Creekside Theater on September 16 withyoung artists celebrating South Asian cultures and identities. The event will have musicalperformances, a local artisan market, and food and drinks from local businesses. One ofPunjabi music’s rising star’s from Surrey, B.C. singer Cinnamon Sandhu will be performing atthe event. There will also be performance’s from Surrey’s acoustic singing and drumming duoGurmukh Musafir & Swaraj and Kelowna’s Deepak Bhatti.“We are so grateful for the support we received to grow the OKGN Mela into a two day festivalthis year. During some incredibly difficult weeks this past summer, we saw our community cometogether in a way that made us proud to call the Okanagan home. We decided to move forwardwith the Mela as we believe art is a tool for healing and bringing people together.”- Sami Brar, FounderOn Sunday September 17th, Kelowna’s Innovation Centre will be hosting an immersive eventexploring the South Asian arts scene with spoken word poetry, an art gallery and artists talk.Surrey’s Kirn Gill, who grew up in the Okanagan will be showcasing her art, alongside otherartists like Rattan Singh and West Kelowna’s Simran Sidhu. You can also expect a spoken wordpoetry performance from Harpreet Dayal, Gurpreet Bassi, and Sandeep Gill.Kiran Sandhu participated in the OKGN Mela last year and shared that it was a one of a kindexperience for her. “It felt like we had become part of a special family. Everyone from the artiststo the volunteers laid out what’s to come in the years ahead – a family first approach to honoringand celebrating South Asian art.”South Asians have had a large community presence in the Okanagan since the 1900’s andOKGN Mela is excited to celebrate the rich culture and artists from this community.Day one of OKGN Mela will be happening on September 16th at Creekside Theatre with themarket starting at 5pm and the show at 6pm. On September 17th, day two of the event will be atThe Innovation Centre from 11am-2pm.Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at: https://linktr.ee/okgnmela