The National Music Centre is adding five new honourees to its Speak Up! exhibition, which celebrates Indigenous artists who have used music to preserve culture and inspire future generations. The updated exhibition opens June 17 at Studio Bell.

This year's additions include Tudjaat, a Nunavut vocal duo who helped reintroduce Inuit throat singing to the world in the 1990s; country, blues, and soul vocalist Crystal Shawanda from Wiikwemkoong First Nation; Métis singer-songwriter and actor Andrea Menard; Jerry Alfred, a Northern Tutchone musician and hereditary keeper of ceremonial songs for the Selkirk First Nation's Crow Clan; and the Stoney Park Singers, a family drum group from Mînî Thnî, Alberta, considered one of the most respected drum groups on the powwow trail.

The exhibition features personal artifacts, immersive audio, and storytelling, including a dress worn by Andrea Menard during her one-woman musical The Velvet Devil and Tudjaat's 1997 American Indian Film Institute Award for Best Song. An interactive kiosk lets visitors explore stories from all 36 Indigenous artists honoured since the exhibit launched in 2019.

On June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Studio Bell will offer free admission and host a live event featuring a performance by Tudjaat, alongside Black Crow Funk and electronic artist sean beaver, plus a vendor market featuring Indigenous artists.