We acknowledge that the Pride Arts Festival takes place on the stolen, traditional ancestral territory of the Syilx/Okanagan Nation. Syilx Okanagan People have lived, gathered, occupied, traded, built sustainable economies and responsibly managed this territory since the beginning of people on this land. The Pride Arts Festival is hosted in what is now known as Osoyoos, derived from the word sw̓iw̓s (pronounced "soo-yoos") meaning "narrowing of the waters" in the local Okanagan/Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓) language. sw̓iw̓s (Osoyoos) is within the Osoyoos Indian Band’s area of leadership and business responsibility that extends from the South Okanagan into the Boundary and Kootenay regions.