three people sitting around a table drinking coffee.

Retreating Forward: The Benefits of Retreats for Non-Profit Boards

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In April the board of directors of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance gathered in Saskatoon for our annual retreat. The agenda for the weekend included, among other things, a discussion about finances and the initial work to revise policies regarding…
A music concert in hands reaching to the sky towards the word community

“How Hip-Hop Can Save the World” – Part 3: Community

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This is the last of three articles in the series How Hip-Hop Can Save the World by Khodi Dill. This edition focuses on hip-hop’s potential to strengthen community. Community. It may be difficult to admit, but, as of late, we seem to be…
black and white image of the back of a person on a stage performing for an audience

“How Hip-Hop Can Save the World” – Part 2: Mindfulness and Creativity

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This is the second of three articles in the series How Hip-Hop Can Save the World by Khodi Dill. This edition focuses on hip-hop’s potential to uplift mindfulness and creativity. It’s no secret that we are living amid constant distraction.…

Chalk and Cheese

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Chalk and Cheese by dee Hobsbawn-Smith This op-ed is followed by a response written by Dave Margoshes, Rural Life Together. My husband Dave Margoshes and I are among the six million Canadians – seventeen percent of the population – who…
dancer in mid-air

The Future of Professional Dancers in Saskatchewan

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What does it truly mean to be a professional dancer in Saskatchewan? Is it about completing a professional training program or is it more about earning your livelihood through performances or choreographic endeavors or simply your passion for…

What’s so important about recreational adult performance dance?

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We tend to associate formal performance dance training with children or professional adults. But each year, more and more adults are falling in love with performance dance training as a hobby and a lifestyle. However, many adult dancers are…

Is Your Public Art Gallery Serving Visual Artists and the Community?

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The word “gallery” is a term from the 1600s and describes a church porch. Currently, a veranda, corridor, a raised platform as in a theatre, or a large space can all be a gallery. These meanings describe space, something that is immobile.…

Stormy Weather

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by Mark Turner In five short days, our friends and colleagues at the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony (KWS) went from canceling a season to filing for bankruptcy and ceasing operations. And only a few weeks ago, ArtSpace in Toronto announced it…
jumbled up letters in a pile from red to brass

Part One: Contract Labour and Saskatchewan’s Creative Ecology.

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An Overview of the Increased Need for Education, Advocacy, and Sustainability for Independent Contractors in the Arts after the Pandemic.   Edith Skeard for the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance  Introduction In Saskatchewan, independent…
coloured drawing by Marsha Schuld of a golden prairie field with a tree in the background with a blue clouded sky

Making Art in the Middle of Nowhere – Challenges of being a Rural Artist

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Making Art in the Middle of Nowhere - Challenges of being a Rural Artist Art can be made everywhere. But being an artist also involves being a part of a community, exposing oneself to new ideas and other forms of art and expression, and receiving…
Red lighting against a black background reading "All we have is words. All we have is worlds"

We started with an acknowledgement of wind

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We started with an acknowledgement of wind By Ariana Malthaner I have always been obsessed with words. Whether it was voraciously absorbing them through the endless stream of library books that passed through my greedy hands, or the way…
glass art with blue circles - one large and many small. Right top corner covered with blue triangle and rose gold sparkles

The Future of Saskatchewan’s Arts Ecosystem: Rebuilding a Community

The Future of Saskatchewan’s Arts Ecosystem: Rebuilding a Community by Jeremy Morgan At the 2022 Sask Arts Awards I had the chance to make a few remarks about my experience in Saskatchewan since coming from Nova Scotia in 1989. I want…

On Boredom; reflections on isolation and creativity

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On Boredom; reflections on isolation and creativity.  Edith Skeard “I am alone, so I dream of the being who has cured my solitude, who would be cured by solitudes.” ― Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Reverie The long hours…

Hybrid Identity: Toward an Unknown

Hybrid Identity: Toward an Unknown Written by Mohadese Movahed On a cold evening in mid-February on the streets of Regina, a memory of Persian gardens came flooding back to me as I was walking on snow and trying to stay upright to avoid…

Investing in the Arts: Process over Production

Investing in the Arts: Process over Production Written by Carla Harris Over the last 10 years, I have noticed real progress being made to diversify the artists who receive funding in Saskatchewan. However, new artists need more than just an…

Circling Back

Circling Back by Em Ironstar Almost five years exactly before I started as Executive Director at the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance (SAA), in 2016, I wrote an op-ed for the SAA about the importance of scalable, responsive funding for emerging arts…
Spark Centre in Weyburn

Integration: Credit Union Spark Centre

Integration: Credit Union Spark Centre Regan Lanning, Curator for the City of Weyburn writes about their innovative Spark Centre where they believe believe that by integrating the two we are doubling our reach, creating opportunities for…
Black and white image of waves hitting the shores - viewpoint from the top.

Personal Essay on being a Disabled Artist by John Loeppky

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Personal Essay on being a Disabled Artist by John Loeppky Working as an emerging disabled artist in Saskatchewan gave me a nervous breakdown. I have cerebral palsy (CP), but it is safe to say I have never been in the business of collecting…