SPECIAL INITIATIVES 2020 - 21

Artful Isolation

Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Artful Isolation launched in April 2020 as a four-week online initiative meant to cultivate a sense of community and creativity during unprecedented times.

After an overwhelmingly positive response to these initial activities, we were able to extend the project to 20 weeks thanks to a partnership with Regina’s Heritage Community Association. You can access all of the activities here.

Patuanak Art Camp

In the summer of 2021 Michèle Mackasey engaged in an artistic mentorship with youth in the English River First Nation community of Patuanak. Because of the realities of the COVID-19 fourth wave, the project, though relatively small in scale, has been a lesson on sensitive engagement and perpetual adaptation during times of crisis and how to maintain a commitment to the crucial relationships built with communities over time.

Art for Social Change Network

The Art for Social Change Network (ASCN) officially launched in fall 2021, although planning began over a year prior. Led by community-engaged arts organizations acting as regional hubs, ASCN is designed to connect and support the hundreds of arts for social change (ASC) organizations and independent artists across Canada in service to the needs of diverse communities through artmaking, new forms of dialogue, and collaborative partnerships with both arts and non-arts organizations across a variety of sectors. 

Over the course of the year, former Executive Director Risa Payant and Northern Artistic Director Judy McNaughton joined the dynamic group of ASCN provincial partners for ongoing meetings focused on sharing innovative approaches to the work of ASC organizations and strategies for fostering a national dialogue and connection.

Northern Consultation Partnership

Beginning in December 2019, we partnered with artist researcher Barbara Meneley and the Saskatchewan Art Alliance on a project gathering information about the value, role, and barriers of arts in Northern Saskatchewan communities. This project was part of a province wide collaboration with researcher Amber Fletcher from the University of Regina department of Sociology and Social Studies. We invited resident artist Michèle Mackasey and her daughter Beskkaai Paul to discuss the possibility of bringing the project to the English River First Nation community in Patuanak. For two years, Beskkaai took a leading role in the community-based consultation, meeting regularly with the team to design questions and interviewing a number of community members in Patuanak. You can read the final report of the outcomes from the consultation on Academia.edu under the title Report on Roles of the Arts in a Northern First Nation.