SAA Bulletin – July 2004
July 2004
In this issue?
- Notice of SAA Annual General Meeting and Community Forum
Profile of Professional Saskatchewan Arts Organizations
Business and the Arts Success Stories
CCA National Policy Conference
Artist Equity
2004 Arts Congress
SAA Summer Hours
NOTICE OF SAA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND COMMUNITY FORUM
SAA holds its Annual General Meeting and Community Forum on Saturday, September 25th, 2004, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Agra Torchinsky Salon, 3475 Albert Street, Regina. Join your fellow colleagues and the SAA Board to discuss current issues and future initiatives. If you are interested in, or know of someone who is interested in being on the SAA Board of Directors, please forward the names to:
Nominations Committee
Sask. Arts Alliance
#117, 2505-11th Avenue
Regina, Sk. S4P 0K6
Email: info@artsalliance.sk.ca.
PROFILE OF PROFESSIONAL SASKATCHEWAN ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
SAA contracted Sheila Roberts of Connections Consulting to undertake a project to develop a profile of professional Saskatchewan arts organizations. The project will update information compiled in 1993 to give us a current picture of services provided to artists and the number of artists living in Saskatchewan. The study will also identify needs of artists, and provide recommendations for addressing them through status of the artist programs and actions. SAA appreciates your cooperation with this project.
BUSINESS & THE ARTS SUCCESS STORIES
Do you have an interesting story about developing a positive relationship with a business in your community? Have you had a motivating experience in connecting with a business in your region? If so, the SAA would like you to share your story.
As a follow-up to the Business & the Arts: Service Relationship Indicators report, SAA contracted Terry Schwalm to develop a series of stories about successful practices related to arts organizations and businesses working together. We?re interested in hearing your story about how a business got behind your organization by providing in-kind services, products or cash; or how you helped them achieve their corporate goals.
The aim is to distribute these ?case studies? of mutually beneficial interactions over the next year. Our hope is that these stories will help members develop their own ideas about how to enhance business relationships in their area.
Terry will be working with the SAA Business & Arts Committee to identify arts organizations that have a positive experience to share. You can help by contacting Terry via email at terryschwalm@sasktel.net by August 27th.
CCA NATIONAL POLICY CONFERENCE
Plan on attending the Canadian Conference of the Arts national policy conference, From Act to Action: Moving Forward on Status of the Artist which takes place at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, on November 19 and 20, 2004. The conference will examine the federal Status of the Artist Act, the rights it currently gives artists and what more could be done. Circumstances for artists in other provinces and countries will also be examined including the situation here in Saskatchewan.
In conjunction with the conference, SAA issued an Open Call for Proposals inviting professional Saskatchewan artists to submit proposals to provide/perform an artwork that directly connects conference participants to status of the artist issues through the experience of art. Artworks could be interventions, performative works, inter-media, acoustic, built environments, lens media, stations, for example. Proposal deadline is 4:00 p.m., September 9, 2004. Details can be found on this website at Open Call for Proposals.
ARTIST EQUITY
SAA commissioned Dave Margoshes to write an article updating the arts community on what has been happening with status of the artist. The article was distributed at the 2004 Arts Congress. We encourage you to reprint the articles in your newsletters or other correspondence with your members. You will find a copy on this website Status of the Artist — An Update or by contacting the SAA office at info@artsalliance.sk.ca.
2004 ARTS CONGRESS
More than 100 people gathered to network, socialize, and discuss issues of joint concern at the 2004 Art Congress held in Saskatoon on May 7 and 8, 2004. This year, SAA was pleased to hold the Congress in conjunction with the first-ever Lieutenant Governor?s Arts Awards, an annual celebration recognizing the achievements of Saskatchewan artists and arts organizations.
Tim Jones, Executive Director of Artscape, gave the Congress keynote address Unlocking the Potential of the Arts and Creative Sector in Communities. Jones discussed the relationship between creativity and economic development and the need to create environments conducive to creativity. To create this environment, Jones noted that Canada?s strength is its arts councils with programs that support the arts, but suggests that there needs to be a ?new fiscal and financial tool kit to give communities the capacity to support the development of creative clusters?. He goes on to define these clusters as ?not just about physical space, [but] also about networks.? Jones ended his address by challenging us to think about what we would like our community to be like twenty years from now and offered us his vision.
Glen Grismer, an environmental planner and blacksmith, responded to the keynote address, agreeing with Jones? conclusions although for different reasons. Grismer suggested that in Saskatchewan we look at larger geographical areas when considering clustering, and recommended that artists motivate and be the core of development. A panel discussion, moderated by Don Kerr, followed the keynote address and response. Panellist Bonnie Hamilton, a porcupine quillworker who also does other forms of pre contact art, talked about the need for creativity and the over-all place of the arts in communities. Suggesting simple yet very important ways, Hamilton challenged us all to find a way to support an artist. Alan Wallace, Senior Planner with the City of Saskatoon put into perspective the scope and considerations of city planning departments and land use. Agreeing with Jones that clustering must focus on more than land, Wallace advised us to influence the direction of planning by articulating our needs to the functions of government.
The first of two conversations on the Valuing of Arts in the Community featured at this year?s Congress was between the Hon. Joan Beatty, Minister of Culture, Youth and Recreation, and Donna Heimbecker, General Manager of Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company. Beatty spoke about her personal experience with the arts and the need for more inclusiveness of the Aboriginal community in Saskatchewan?s cultural infrastructure. She informed us that the Minister?s Advisory Committee on Status of the Artist final report will be submitted to Cabinet by June and, she hopes, there will be some form of legislation due in the fall.
The second conversation between Brad Wall, Leader of the Official Opposition and Allen Lefebvre, Manager Finance and Operations MacKenzie Art Gallery ranged from Wall?s personal experiences with the arts to Saskatchewan Party positions on art issues. Wall invited the arts community to continue a dialogue with the Sask. Party as it undergoes its policy review.
Award winning playwright, journalist, scriptwriter and filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor gave the luncheon address. Taylor spoke about how he came to be a playwright and the phenomenal development of native theatre in Canada.
Throughout the two days artists told stories about their lives as artists and their work. Artists heard from were Jane Billinghurst, writer and editor; Marcia Chickeness, artisan; Cynthia Dyck, actor; Jackie Latendresse, dance artist; Kris Moffat, visual/urban artist, graphic designer and youth worker; Charles Atlas Sheppard, new media artist; and Donnie Speidel, First Nations song and dance artist.
There was an opportunity for community consultation with the Saskatchewan Arts Board and SaskCulture during a session in which they gave an update on their activity and answered questions from conference delegates. Later, the SAA gave an update on its activities for the year and received suggestions for future direction from delegates.
The Congress concluded with Gary Young, visual, new media artist and arts administrator recounting the main points of discussion over the two days. Young observed that themes of ?seeking balance? and ?nurturing? were woven throughout the Congress. His ?word search? revealed recurring ideas of voice, independence, community, history and tradition, values, integrity = authenticity, language, culture, and change. Young noted the necessity of people maintaining equilibrium and practise within their own communities and concluded that no matter what the environment, the values and individual practise of artists flourish.
SUMMER OFFICE HOURS
SAA office will be closed from July 29th to August 31st.
SAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lori Green, President
Allen Lefebvre, Past President
Skip Kutz, Vice-President
Jill Reid, Secretary
Brenda Niskala, Treasurer
Marnie Badham
Sandra Grismer
Donna Heimbecker
Kim Houghtaling
Christie Saas
Saskatchewan Arts Alliance is supported by its members, and
the Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture Inc. and Saskatchewan Lotteries.
