In 2024, the SaskCulture Board decided to extend its 2020-2025 Strategic Plan until 2026. The strategic focus of this plan is to help ensure that Saskatchewan people are actively supporting culture and that the cultural eco-system is more accessible, inclusive and sustainable.
The work underway, including the Funding Program Renewal Project, as well as advancing Truth and Reconciliation and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA), is still the work needed to address these long-term Ends.
While the impact of COVID slowed down progress, initial work on these strategies increased opportunities for learning, piloting ideas and making new connections. Reports, such as Identification of Leading Equity Funding Practices, Funding the Rainbow: Informing Queer and Trans Inclusive Funding Practices, and Identification of Equity Funding Practices to Support People with Disabilities, helped SaskCulture better understand funding gaps and potential for change. Pilot grants, including Share & Connect grant and Building Arts Equity for BPOC artists, which were created in partnership with SK Arts, demonstrated the benefits of the participatory grant-making process. And, the introduction of SaskCulture’s Small Grant Accessibility Program helped to connect with new cultural groups and understand different type of funding needed going forward.
Over the next two years, SaskCulture will continue with this strategy, which includes comprehensive consultation designed to engage the network in the process. Later in 2025, the Board will begin working on a new Strategic Plan for the years to come.