STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2: IMPROVE INCLUSIVENESS, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACCESS OF CULTURAL ACTIVITY
WE INCREASED CONNECTIONS IN THE NORTH
ARTISTS WORKING IN NORTHERN COMMUNITIES GIVEN TRAUMA-INFORMED TRAINING
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IVING IN NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN PRESENTS SOME UNIQUE CHALLENGES. ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING ISSUES AT PRESENT IS RESPONDING TO THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, AND PERSONAL TRAUMAS, FACED BY MANY YOUTH IN COMMUNITIES SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE NORTH. MANY SASKATCHEWAN ARTISTS HAVE WORKED IN THESE COMMUNITIES, ENGAGED YOUTH FACING TRAUMA, AND COPED WITH ANY RESULTING EMOTIONAL IMPACTS ON THEIR OWN. The Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society (SCES), which receives funding from Sask Lotteries has been sending artists to northern communities for outreach programs for more than 30 years. The programs are intended to provide artistic and cultural growth for community members, and opportunities to engage with professional artists. “Probably half of our outreach programs include going to rural and remote areas in the north,” explains John Kennedy, executive director, SCES. The last couple of years, “we decided we wanted to build off our presence in the north and offer something that was more long-lasting, so the communities have more to work with when programming wraps up.” As a result, the SCES started incorporating longer stays, or “mini residencies” as Kennedy calls them, to build longer connections and skills within the community. Artists, such as musician Eliza Doyle, as well as visual and literary artist Carol Rose GoldenEagle, have started doing longer stints in northern communities over the past few years.
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SASKCULTURE A YEAR IN REVIEW / 2020-2021
Shortly after the SCES started incorporating longer residencies in these areas, a pattern started to emerge. “We as artists would be travelling and working with young people in the north and would encounter situations we were not equipped to deal with,” says GoldenEagle. “[Things like] having a youth confide that they had thoughts of suicide. It has happened to so many artists.” ARTISTS BRING ARTS ENGAGEMENT TO YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE NORTH AS PART OF THE SCES PROGRAM. PHOTOS ARE FROM WORKSHOPS HELD IN 2019. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCES.
