Become a Member

Hello folks,

The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance has been doing some great work and we are starting to see it everywhere we go! Whether it’s delegates quoting our research, invitations from elected officials to discuss the importance of the arts, or members of the public reaching out and becoming part of our collective voice.

Over the past year, we have met with artists, arts administrators, contract workers, and leaders as much as possible to continue to understand the ever-changing picture of the arts in our province, and while there is an immense amount of important, joyful, meaningful art and art work happening in our province, it is not happening without enormous challenge.

With that said, thank you for your continued support of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. Your membership is essential – it strengthens our collective voice and advocacy for the arts in our province.

Several important and exciting initiatives happened this past year:

• SAA’s Podcast, Arts Everywhere now has over twenty-five episodes! It celebrates the importance of the arts in Saskatchewan and focuses on the work being done in our community. To view a complete list of podcasts and to listen, click here.
• We are continuing our partnership with Listen to Dis’ in our Axis of Access project. This initiative is in the review stage and will be launched in 2024.
• Our Research Lead, Ariana Malthaner, in partnership with SK Arts, developed a framework to report on the economic impact of organizations that receive operational funding from SK Arts. The results were incredible – SK Arts-funded organizations have an estimated economic impact of $74 million! You can read the full report on our website.
• Ariana has also been busy crunching numbers and analyzing the results of our 2023 Artist and General public surveys. These comprehensive, informative reports will be launched by summer 2024.
• In January 2024 we initiated in-person meetings with MLAs around the province. These meetings were fantastic outreach opportunities to build connections with decision-makers as well as arts leaders across Saskatchewan. As we build and implement our research-based advocacy strategy, meetings with elected officials will continue to play an important part in the months and years to come.
• We continue our work with the Rural Artist Working Group (RAWG). This group tackles issues around isolation, professional development, and connecting provincial artists and arts communities of all disciplines. If you are interested in participating in the RAWG, please email outreach@saskartsalliance.ca.
• The SAA attended the reading of the 2024-25 provincial budget. It was a status quo budget with funding to SK Arts flat-lined and well below historical levels – approximately $383,000 less than a decade ago. Read SAA’s complete response here. You can also listen to an interview in response to the budget on CBC Saskatchewan’s The Afternoon Edition.

As we continue our advocacy and community engagement work, we recognize that many arts organizations and artists struggle with financial precarity, so we are continuing to offer a “pay what you can” system for SAA membership fees. We ask that you choose from the list of suggested contributions and contribute what your organization is financially capable of.

To view our ongoing work, visit www.saskartsalliance.ca and to stay up to date on what we are up to, please make sure you are signed up for our e-newsletter and follow us on social media – you can find all of that information on our Linktree!

We ask you to please maintain your support of our arts advocacy and research by renewing your membership today.

If you have any questions or concerns or would like to chat, please contact me at director@saskartsalliance.ca or by phone at 306-518-7586.

Sincerely,

Em Ironstar,
Executive Director