Success Stories

Drum-making teaches youth respect, pride and creative expression

Understanding the Role of Helper - Important to Indigenous Communities

Engaging Youth in Creativity Important to Métis Artist

Rooted in Tradition: How Dream Brokers Created a Medicinal Plant Teaching Project

Métis Mondays with the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club

Mentorship Provides Opportunity to Share Métis Culture

More Than Just Theatre: GTNT Students Connect to Their Cultural Identity

Creating Platforms for Revitalization

Incorporating Land-based Learning into Programming

Gathering Helps Tell the True Story of Chief Big Bear

Community Brings People and Cultures Together

Thought-Provoking Discussions at SaskCulture`s Let`s Talk Event

Keeping Language Alive

Connecting Language with the First Nations World View

Walking the Talk

Raising awareness of Truth and Reconciliation in Swift Current

Traditional Languages Meet New Form of Self Expression

Meme-making workshops help Northern youth reconnect to their roots

Awakening a Spirit of Cross-Cultural Sharing

Bridging cultures

Food Creates Cultural Connection

How a feast helps students share their culture

Spirit Horse Project

Connecting youth to their Indigenous culture

Finding Common Ground

Project aims to bridge cultural difference between Saskatchewan residents

Learning Language from Each Other

An annual Indigenous celebration brings school kids together to restore language and culture

Truth & Reconciliation

Reflection and action needed in Saskatchewan's cultural community

Raising the Bar: Exploring Indigenous culture through game creation

Culture, games and sport all play an important role in a community, and a recent ArtsSmarts initiative set out to explore that connection through art and collaborative learning.

Living Histories – Treaty education in living sky school Division

There is more than one way to tell a story and the living sky school Division is bringing Treaty education to life through cultural experiences.

Entertainment, eating, education and engagement create recipe for success at Folkfest’s Indian & Métis Pavilion

Every year, people in Saskatoon travel around the world learning about different cultures – only to find out what they have in their own backyard.

Retreat helps Aboriginal youth share their stories

In August 2012, the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild (SWG), in partnership with the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC), hosted the first annual Bringing Back the Buffalo: Aboriginal Youth Writers’ Retreat in Regina.

Students recognize First Nations and Métis leaders

Building community ties and connections is challenging for large, rural school divisions. However, some divisions make these connections a vital part of their students’ education.

Balcarres students recognize the role of First Nations and Métis people in their community

In some communities, role models are merely people to be admired. While they also admire their role models in Balcarres, some students at Balcarres Community School are also preserving their role models for “posterity”.

Wanuskewin draws a crowd for Culture Days

“Culture Days at Wanuskewin Heritage Park was a great success this year. We were expecting around 100 people, but throughout the day over 500 people visited the park," says Cameron McRae, visitor services manager, Wanuskewin Heritage Park.

Culture Synk brings out the creative voice of youth

The youth in the northern Saskatchewan Village of Sandy Bay felt they had nothing to do, or at least that is how they saw it until a group of artists known as Culture Synk came to the village for six days to create a collaborative music video project call

Horses important to cultural healing

One Arrow First Nation, a Cree community north of Saskatoon, has retained its ties to its historic horse culture. Over the past year, the band, along with the One Arrow equestrian Centre, has partnered to create a program.

Youth in Sturgeon Lake focus on tradition and justice

Sturgeon Lake First Nation, roughly 55km’s north of Prince Albert, works collaboratively with justice, education, Indian family services, health and administrative service portfolios to provide cultural activities for the community.

Neighbours in southwest create positive opportunities for youth

A partnership between Neekaneet First Nations and the Maple Creek’s Southwest Saskatchewan Oldtimers Museum and Archive builds on the strengths of neighbours to create cultural opportunities for youth and increase cultural awareness and learning.

Engaging Youth in a World of Art

Saskatchewan artist, Gabriel Yahkakeekoot of Beardys and Okemasis First Nations was hard at work this past year helping First Nations youth connect to the arts.

Powwow project empowers youth to lead

Teaching Traditions to Students Important to Cree Knowledge Keeper

Finding Bresaylor: Museum Shares Métis Story

Traditions and Language: Oasis Programs Adapted During Pandemic

Partnership Develops videos to help Share Indigenous Culture

Popular Indigenous Peoples' Day Gathering Goes virtual

Revitalizing Moose-hide Tanning for Youth in Northern Saskatchewan

Gathering Opens Conversation on Care of Ancestral Objects and Knowledge

Reconnecting Youth to Mother Earth

Helping Indigenous Peoples Trace Their Roots

Creating a New Path Through Music

Bridging Distances Through Technology

LIVE Arts goes national

Where are the Buffalo?

How a project brought the buffalo spirit back to the streets of Regina

Important Link in Saskatchewan's North

The Northern Sport, Culture and Recreation District brings community together

Creating Connections in the North

Workshop tour creates an inspiring experience for both artists and students

Bringing Back Tradition

Workshops highlight the importance of the buffalo in First Nations culture

The Kiwek Project

St. Francis School in Saskatoon partners with artists from the Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre to create a Cree language play interpreted from the Hollywood movie Jumanji.

Changing Attitudes through Debate

Youth can have an important voice in important national discussion

Art Workshops Connect Youth to Indigenous Traditions

How SYCAP is transforming lives through creativity

Silent No More

Lessons Learned through Dance

Moving Forward, Never Forgetting - Encouraging intercultural dialogue and empathy through art

It has been said that art has the capacity to express the inexpressible, and a new exhibition at the MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG) hopes to give a voice to what often goes unsaid, and attract a large audience in doing so.

Traditional Parenting Workshop Revives Culture at Island Lake First Nation

This past summer, a unique camp offered parents a chance to learn and explore traditional First Nations parenting practices with their children.

Spoken word brings Cree language to life for students

Some may consider older styles of poetry to be dead, but a Saskatoon education coordinator is using the medium to bring the Cree language to life, and her students are reaping the rewards.

Language festival promotes cultural pride

“Love Your Language, Speak with Pride.” This was the message bestowed on over 450 First Nations students at the province’s first-ever Indigenous language Festival.

Centennial celebration brings communities together

The village of Lestock is moving into the future using music and dance to celebrate differences and bring diverse cultures together.

Yanessa Days celebrating past and modern culture

In the 1980’s, Sam Herman, then mayor of La Loche, encouraged community members to dress up in old-time clothing for a culture day celebration at the local elementary school. Thus, the Yanessa Days were born.

Métissage: collaboration increases reach

Amazing connections can be made, and powerful ideas can blossom when organizations come together to work collaboratively on a project.

Grants make a difference for First Nations and Métis Groups

The Aboriginal Arts and Culture Leadership Grant (AACL) was launched by SaskCulture in 2007 following a funding model developed by the Saskatchewan Arts Board. The AACL grant is aimed at increasing the capacity in Aboriginal communities.

PAVED Arts Outreach: leaving a lasting community legacy

Over the past five years PAVED Arts has made outreach programming a priority for Saskatchewan’s media arts community.

Partners for creative Treaty Education

Students in The Prairie Valley School Division explored their relationship to the land and to the Treaties through a Creative Partnership that had them interviewing community members, visiting outdoor sites and learning about digital film-making.

Duck Lake identity shaped by vivid heritage

Duck Lake has been busy with many projects aimed at bringing its history alive through arts, education and celebration. The area surrounding Duck Lake is rich with culture and the community has been busy working on ways it can reflect its vivid history.

Storytelling important to preserving history & tradition

“So much of contemporary Aboriginal art practice, whether it is visual, media, performing, or interdisciplinary art work, is rooted in our culture’s oral stories and customary knowledge,” explains Elwood Jimmy, Festival co-director.

Giving Youth the Tools They Need to Create

Ramses Calderon is a busy man. The El Salvadorn-born resident of Regina is a writer, musical scholar and innovative musician who incorporates traditional instruments and rhythms into his compositions.

Supporting Truth and Reconciliation practices: Decolonizing begins with building relationships

Honouring the Voices of Descendants of Regina Indian Industrial School Students

New Action Groups Focus on Reconciliation in Saskatoon

Webinars Increase Connection to Language and Culture

Take­-home Arts and Craft Kits Popular During Pandemic

Mapping a Path to Reconciliation

Advancing Reconciliation Beyond Words

How One Newcomer Youth is Championing Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action

Classroom Learning Experience Keep Indigenous Cultures and Traditions Alive

How Rivers West District is Creating Connections and Bridging Gaps

Manitou Sakahīcan: Reviving the Healing Waters

Connecting with your Inner ‘Story-ior’

How the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Writers Circle is building a community of Indigenous Storytellers

History Returns Home

Chief Poundmaker’s belongings came back to the museum that bears his name

Learning to Live on the Land

New Skills Help Northern Youth Share Stories and Culture

Creative project provides technological opportunities

Finding Your Family Roots

Traditional languages provide insight into heritage

Belinda Daniels

Top teacher is a life-long learner

RIIS to the Path of Healing

How a film about uncovering the past unexpectedly brings two filmmakers on a surprising personal journey

Language Key to Culture

Dene Language Immersion Camp teaches the Importance of Language Preservation

The Sixies Scoop Series

The SaskScapes Podcast by Kevin Power, Community Engagement Animateur & Producer/Host of SaskScapes

Bridging the Gap

Young participants recently had the opportunity to spend a week surviving without many of our modern conveniences.

Cultural Arts Camp receives rave reviews from elders and students in Turnor Lake

The Cultural Arts Camp, hosted by the Birch Narrows Dene Community School, has started something they can’t stop, and its positive impact will be long lasting for the community of Turnor Lake.

CARFAC bridges gap with Aboriginal artists

Several years ago, CARFAC Saskatchewan (Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front Des Artistes Canadiens) identified a gap in terms of its service to, and engagement with, the Aboriginal artist community.

Oskayak Culture Camp connects youth to tradition

In May 2013, students from Oskayak High school in Saskatoon travelled north to the shores of Waterhen First Nation by the Meadow Lake Provincial Park.

John Lamodigiere: Aboriginal Myth Buster

John Lagimodiere has been busy myth busting with his Aboriginal Awareness Training sessions.

Art as a catalyst for cultural connections

Art and creativity can be a powerful tool to bring people together and help them to learn from one another. This concept is something that the MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG) in Regina has recognized and has been working with for several years.

Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company’s upcoming production to focus on empowering multicultural themes

This upcoming spring, the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company (SNTC) will be showcasing a touching and inspirational story about a young girl discovering her cultural identity.

Prince Albert Historical Society and Treaty Education

Teachers from local school divisions from across the curriculum and grade levels participated in the two- day workshop to collaboratively create three lessons plans in a given subject and grade level that supported Treaty and Aboriginal education.

Storytelling through digital animation

For many organizations, keeping up with technology can be a daunting task, such as using new tools in the workplace, incorporating new skills into daily life, or keeping up with social media trends.

Students go digital as part of Treaty Learning

Students from Balcarres learned that the art of film, audio and digital photography can create a fascinating opportunity to learn about Treaties in Saskatchewan.

mispon provides opportunities for indigenous filmmakers

In March 2006, the University of Regina’s department of Media Production and Studies brought in wellknown Canadian Aboriginal filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, as a keynote speaker for what would turn out to be mispon’s first biannual film festival.

Tapping into the Northern Spirits

As reality shows, such as Canadian Idol or So Youth Think you Can Dance, continue to capture the attention of aspiring talent, Saskatchewan’s northern youth have an even better opportunity to show their stuff.