Saskatchewan Arts Board - Supporting Indigenous Artists

Supporting Indigenous Artists

Grant Programs for Indigenous Artists

• The Indigenous Pathways Initiative – Grants to Artists is designed to increase participation in, and access to public funding by Indigenous artists in the province. The Indigenous Pathways Initiative seeks to address these issues while also increasing public access to high-quality Indigenous art.

One or more of the grants provided by this program may be funded through the 2005 Canada Games Building Dreams and Champions Legacy Program: Emerging Aboriginal Artists Award. This initiative provides support to young emerging Aboriginal artists in the province who are just starting out on a career path in the arts.

Clearing a Path: An Exhibition of Traditional Indigenous Art

Clearing a Path was first launched in fall 2005 and has been appreciated by thousands of people across the province and premiered on a world stage at the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad in February 2009. The exhibit includes close to 30 works by 20 artists, celebrates the talent of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous artists working in traditional media and features a wide range of Indigenous art forms, including carving and bead and quill work. The artwork itself is made from traditional materials gathered in Saskatchewan and is an expression of Indigenous cultural practices that are unique to the province and not found anywhere else in the world.

Exhibit Locations and Dates:

• First Nations University of Canada Gallery (Regina Campus) – Nov. to Dec. 2005
• Wanuskewin Heritage Park Gallery – Dec. 2005 to Feb. 2006
• Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils Tour – Apr. 2006 to Apr. 2008
• Regina International Airport – June to Nov. 2008
• Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad – Feb. 2009
• 2009 Buffalo Days – the Queen City Ex – Aug. 2009
• RCMP Heritage Museum, Regina – Nov. 2009 to Mar. 2010

Detailed Background:

In 2004, the Saskatchewan Arts Board piloted a new program, the Indigenous Pathways Initiative - Traditional Arts Grant. It was the first in a series of programs designed by the Arts Board to increase participation and access to its public funding by the Indigenous artists of the province.

The purpose of the Traditional Arts Grant program is to facilitate access to funding by Indigenous cultural workers: Indigenous artists, whose work is primarily in a traditional cultural art medium such as beading, birch bark biting, dancing, storytelling, drumming etc. Two objectives of the Traditional Arts Grant program are to raise the profile of traditional arts and artists working in a traditional media and support traditional art that is passed from one generation to the next.

During one of the initial peer assessment juries (a panel of Indigenous artists with expertise in the appropriate art forms), a recommendation was made that all the new artwork created through this grant should be promoted and put on display, helping to achieve two of the programs objectives: the general public would have access to this unique work, and the artists who have worked in obscurity for most of their lives would be recognized. In addition, the work could also be shared with Indigenous artists from different areas, creating an artistic exchange.

It was acknowledged that these arts forms are often relegated to the category of “craft” and not recognized by western European tradition as “real art.” So, the Arts Board developed an exhibition of work by recipients of the Traditional Arts Grant that would challenge people’s perceptions, while providing increased visibility for Indigenous traditional art.

In summer 2005, curators Sherry Farrell-Racette and Carmen Robertson were hired to select the art work for the show, and a partnership with the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils ensured the exhibition would be widely toured in the province. In Nov. 2005, Clearing a Path: An Exhibition of Traditional Indigenous Arts opened at the First Nations University of Canada Gallery in Regina. With an impressive review by Leader-Post Arts Critic Jack Anderson and several feature interviews on CBC and APTN, the show continued to gain momentum and moved to Wanuskewin Heritage Park for a two-month run. Bookings for the OSAC tour immediately filled up and the demand for the show was so great that the Arts Board extended the exhibition touring dates another year. Upon expiration of the tour, the show was re-curated for the Regina International Airport, where it showed until Nov. 30, 2008.

Clearing a Path then premiered on a world stage at the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad in February 2009 as Saskatchewan’s inaugural event at the Olympics. After this milestone event, the exhibit moved on to 2009 Buffalo Days in Regina in August 2009 and on to the RCMP Heritage Centre until March 2010.

A catalogue of the works in the exhibit was prepared for the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and is available for sale.

A second exhibition curated by Carmen Robertson and Sherry Farrell-Racette, Cherished Things, had its national debut at Harbourfront Centre's Love, Saskatchewan festival in Toronto in July 2010. Cherished Things is a dynamic exhibition that thoughtfully examines the relationship between traditional and contemporary Indigenous art practices in Saskatchewan. It brings together exquisitely crafted objects either produced through grants from the Arts Board or drawn from the Arts Board’s Permanent Collection. Cherished Things was also featured at the Saskatoon EX in August 2010.