 My name is Dana Warren. I'm from the Acombeq Cognition, which is in Alberta. I'm a contemporary Aboriginal curator. I've been a curator for almost, I guess almost 20 years now, so I can't believe it. Just to remember that first day of getting that letter of acceptance from Emily Carr, and that was probably one of the most exciting things I had in my life, and I knew that there was going to be like a huge change. It was such a crazy experience just working with so many other artists and students, apologists doing the same thing. When I first got accepted, I was originally doing photography at the time. I thought I was going to be a photographer, and I decided to go into the Fine Arts program. I was accepted actually to both degrees, which was amazing. I couldn't believe it. I quickly transitioned from photography to dimensional painting, oil, and into the sculpture department. I think that was probably where I really challenged myself the most, and I was really excited that I could see that change happen. But then in the end, at the end I decided to go into curating, so I think it was for a reason to get to try all the disciplines and understand what they're about, and be able to work with artists who work in all various kinds of mediums. The Aboriginal students all kind of pulled together, and that had been the first time that Emily Carr had a real Aboriginal student body in several years. The group came together, and we worked a lot together, and we still are working a lot together with exhibitions and shows across Canada. I started working with Grant Gallery as soon as I graduated from Emily Carr. That's where I really just started becoming a professional curator. I had a chance to do a couple shows with them. I got one year of training through the County Council's Aboriginal Curatorial Residency program, so that was a really kind of big leg up into moving into the professional art world after leaving the beautiful nest of Emily Carr and the students and teachers. Ruben Shaman was just looking for some help. Amber Don Barrow at the time was the director, and she wanted some extra help with running the gallery, so she asked me to move to Winnipeg, and I quickly drove over from Ottawa to Winnipeg. I was trying to figure out how to put the shows together. A lot of times it feels a bit more experimental than it is in the institutions, so that's what I find more exciting about it. The best piece of advice I give to other current students or new students is just to try and enjoy the experience there. It's such a great place to start figuring out things. I think a lot of people feel like they have to have everything already down. They have to have their career and what they're going to do, figured out right away. And I think that's just the time to be able to explore and try new ideas, try new things. I mean, that's what I did. I tried all the disciplines and ended up somewhere else, but yeah, so I think that's the best part, just to enjoy it.