Early Registration Contest Winners

/in , , , /by

Congratulations to the Early Registration Contest Winners!

Thank you to all the Saskatchewan communities and activity organizers who entered their Culture Days events on the Culture Days website – there was a terrific response!

Congratulations to our winners, who were randomly drawn from early registrants, to receive a tailor-made video to help promote their Culture Days activities online and through social media. Click on the community names to watch their videos!

The winners, by community, are:

Allan, SK – the community is boasting a myriad of heritage-themed Culture Days activities which include blacksmithing, pine cone bird feeders, quilting and cross-stitching, carpentry, button sewing, hanky dolls and gift bags, butter churning, and bannock-making.

Lloydminster, SK – Lloydminster’s Culture Days weekend includes learning greetings in different languages, science experiments, henna tattoos, Hijab dressing and information sharing, fence weaving and Métis dancing.

Nipawin, SK – Nipawin Oasis Community Centre is offering a variety of interactive, educational and fun events that revolve around the celebration and sharing of Cree culture and language such as Elders’ teachings, teepee teachings and raising, Cree bingo, beadwork and children’s activities, to name just a few.

Prince Albert, SK – Culture Days in Prince Albert this year centres around storytelling through activities like dancing, writing, painting and a Cultural Cafe.

Regina, SK – The Dunlop Art Gallery’s Culture Days focus is Native Kids Ride Bikes: Panel Presentation and Bike Riding featuring four community artists who worked with youth from four community groups to build and decorate low-rider bikes in the spirit of the teachings shared by Métis artist Dylan Miner. Participants will hear about cultural learnings, and be able to view and ride the bikes on display.

Bunting_Image

Culture Days 2016 – Resources

/in , /by

Culture Days in Saskatchewan is less than a month away and already there are nearly 200 fun, interesting and interactive cultural activities planned in communities across the province!

To help you make your Culture Days activity extra fun and memorable, we have a couple templates for you:

Culture Days Bunting Flag Design

Click on the template below for a bunting flag design that you can print off in colour on legal-sized (8.5″ X 14″) paper, colour photocopy and then assemble yourself.

Grab your scissors, a glue stick/tape/or stapler and some string and get busy creating your own bunting flag to add a little flair to your Culture Days activity!

Try Something New @ Culture Days Paper Fortune Teller

Check out this super fun activity for the young and young-at-heart that will give you ideas to try for Culture Days! Just click on the template for a paper fortune teller design and then print it off in colour on letter-sized paper (8.5″ X 11″) to have extras on hand for your Culture Days weekend. PS: you can colour photocopy as many as you like!

Fortune_teller_image

Have fun!

Culture Days 2016 – Early Registration Contest

/in , , , /by

eSignature_15_FNL

Register and publish your 2016 Culture Days in Saskatchewan event by July 17, 2016* and you could win a tailor-made video like the one below to promote your Culture Day activity.

 

Details:

It’s easy to enter! Just visit the Culture Days registration site to register and publish your Culture Days in Saskatchewan event bymidnight on July 17, 2016 and you’ll be automatically entered to win!

Up to four registered and published Saskatchewan Culture Days activities will be randomly drawn. Winners will contacted within three business days of the draw to make arrangements for interviews and videoing. Videos will be delivered to event organizers for Culture Days activity promotion by September 1, 2016.

* Events registered and published prior to the contest launch date are automatically entered to win.

SaskScapes – Culture Days in Kamsack

/in , , , , /by

Join Kevin Power in this 3rd episode during the Culture Days weekend in Saskatchewan. In this episode Kevin visits the community of Kamsack where once again food is front and centre; baked goods, ethnic cuisine and even lessons in butter churning. Bannock making, lessons in history, First Nations song and dance, and Doukhobor tradition are all part of Kamsack’s rich cultural fabric.

==============================================

SaskScapes is a podcast featuring the stories of arts, culture and heritage in Saskatchewan. The series is produced and hosted by Kevin Power.  Visit www.iheartculture.ca. Click on the Community Engagement Animateur link to view the work being done by all three of the SaskCulture CEA’s.

Host: Kevin Power www.kevinpower.net

Music provided by Jeffery Straker www.jefferystraker.com

SaskScapes is also available through the iTunes Store on Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio. SaskScapes now has its own app for both apple and android devices available in the iTunes store and Google Play.

Follow SaskScapes on Twitter @saskscapes

SaskScapes – Culture Days in Preeceville

/in , , , , /by

It’s another Culture Days episode! Join Kevin Power as he heads to Preeceville, SK after spending time in Yorkton (episode 65). The Preeceville Heritage Museum committee pulls out all the stops with an “Ethnic Desert Night”. Prepare to have your salivary glands activated as several of Kevin’s guests talk about their cultural background and how the dishes they’ve prepared tie in with their heritage. You’ll also hear from Lorne, one of Preeceville’s former history teachers who talks about how this town came to be, how it has changed over the years, and the history of the Doukhobour’s in this part of the province. And as far as all of those calories on display at this event, I’m told that it is only fattening if you swallow!

IMG_0800

SaskScapes – Culture Days in Yorkton

/in , , , , /by

It’s a Culture Days 2015 retrospective as Kevin Power travels to Yorkton to explore how that community celebrates during the nation wide movement honouring our culture. This is Kevin’s first stop during the weekend, but as you’ll see, there is a common theme in all three of the Culture Day’s podcast episodes coming up. That theme is FOOD! This episode features coffee talk and the sounds and smells in the kitchen where East Indian food is prepared by locals, and shared with dozens of Yorkton residents. You’ll also learn a bit about soapbox derby races.  Thanks to SaskCulture for the support given to help these events happen.

 

IMG_0792IMG_0793IMG_0795

 

==============================================

SaskScapes is a podcast featuring the stories of arts, culture and heritage in Saskatchewan. The series is produced and hosted by Kevin Power.  Visit www.iheartculture.ca. Click on the Community Engagement Animateur link to view the work being done by all three of the SaskCulture CEA’s.

Host: Kevin Power www.kevinpower.net

Music provided by Jeffery Straker www.jefferystraker.com

SaskScapes is also available through the iTunes Store on Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio. SaskScapes now has its own app for both apple and android devices available in the iTunes store and Google Play.

Follow SaskScapes on Twitter @saskscapes

Culture Days in Saskatchewan – 5 Years and Growing

/in , , /by

Clay workshop at the MacKenzie Art Gallery - Photo by Shawn Fulton Highland Dancing - Photo by Shawn Fulton

It’s been over five years since Saskatchewan joined forces with other provinces across the country to host Culture Days – a three-day celebration, held annually the last weekend in September, which encourages the public to engage in the cultural life of our communities.

“Culture Days emerged as a way to highlight the diversity of cultural activity available in the province, and as a proactive idea to help develop new audiences,” explains Rose Gilks, general manager, SaskCulture and member of the national Culture Days Board of Directors. “After five years, the numbers and testimonies show that Culture Days has contributed to a steady growth in cultural awareness, and increased participation by residents in the cultural life of their communities.”

Thanks to SaskCulture’s Culture Days Funding Assistance Grant, many organizations have received grants to help them engage new audiences in interactive cultural experiences during the Culture Days weekend.  Since its inception in 2012, SaskCulture has given out over $400,000 to groups supporting Culture Days.  “Thanks to this grant, we have also had many new groups learn more about what SaskCulture has to offer,” adds Gilks.  And, this support continues.

2014 Culture Days in Saskatchewan

In 2014, Culture Days continued to gain momentum in Saskatchewan.  The number of registered activities grew, social media connections flourished, animateur liaisons developed, and participation increased.  Promotion of the 2014 campaign included a participation guide flyer, “save the date” postcards, a promotional insert which was delivered to over 300,000 Saskatchewan households with SaskEnergy bills, paid Facebook and Twitter campaigns, ads placed in rural Saskatchewan weekly newspapers, comprehensive event guides for Saskatoon and Regina which were inserted in the Prairie Dog, Planet S, the QC and Bridges, highway billboards as well as reusable vinyl banners and blank posters for use by activity organizers.

Culture Days 2014 by the numbers:

  • 263 registered activities
  • 50 communities
  • 91 activity organizers
  • 960 new Facebook likes, 645 new Twitter followers
  • 870 video views on YouTube with an estimated 1,423 minutes watched by viewers
  • 44 episodes of the SaskScapes podcast produced with over 12,000 downloads
  • 26,264 total estimated attendance at Culture Days activities in Saskatchewan

Click on the graphs below to enlarge them…

 

Number of Participants

Culture Days Activities Registered

 

Capturing Our Stories by Evie

/in , , , , /by

I had an incredible time traveling the province these past several months, meeting and working with people who created powerful personal digital stories. To give you a glimpse of what I experienced as a Culture Days Animateur, I’ve put together this digital story. Thank you, Saskatchewan, for the wonderful adventure.

Materials used to make this story:

Camera: iPhone 4S & 5

Recorder: Zoom H4n

Computer: MacBook Pro

Audio Editing Software: Audacity

Video Editing Software: iMovie

Copyright-Free Music: Jamendo

 

The Things Bea Arthur Ate by Coby

/in , , /by

Many people, mostly kids, who’ve taken my digital storytelling workshops have done their stories on their family pets. At my final workshop as a Culture Days Animateur, held at the Queen City Hub, Coby Stephenson wrote, voiced and produced this funny and touching digital story about her dog, Bea Arthur. Bea Arthur is a Labrador Retriever who has destroyed many of Coby’s belongings, but, as Coby puts it, “out of destruction comes the strength to let things go.”

Bea Arthur

Youth Mural Project in Shaunavon

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

On a warm, sunny morning in July, about a dozen youth gathered in front of the Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre to paint a mural. Over the next several weeks, youth from a variety of cultural backgrounds came together to transform a blank sheet of plywood on the side of a local building into a vibrant painting. While I was in Shaunavon this summer, I met up with some of the youth and organizers of this project, and produced this digital story.

IMG_5560