Literary arts

A Message from AFA Chair Cynthia Moore

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) Board of Directors is pleased to have approved its 2025-26 annual budget based on the increased provincial allocation of $34.6 million. I am pleased to share highlights of our plan with Alberta’s arts community. We are grateful for the government’s continued commitment to increase funding for the arts and its second consecutive increase of $4.5 million to the AFA in Budget 2025. 

This year, the AFA will focus on increasing support for arts organizations. Total spending allocated to operational and project grants for organizations will increase by 10 per cent. At the same time, I am pleased to share that increased support for individual artists announced last year will be maintained. The AFA will be sharing information with operational clients about how their funding may be impacted through its regular grant notifications.  

The AFA will begin rolling out new and updated grant programs this year based on the findings of our program review begun in 2022. This year AFA is beginning the process of modernizing its grant programs to provide more targeted and appropriate funding support to arts organizations and individual artists. While the grant review is unrelated to the AFA’s 2025-26 budget, increased funding from Alberta’s government has well-positioned the AFA to effectively update its programs to reflect today’s provincial arts sector.

We will continue to make the AFA Art Collection more accessible to more Albertans, including through additional support for the Travelling Exhibition (TREX) program. TREX providers will be curating additional AFA artworks into more exhibitions, expand their outreach and increase opportunities for new communities to book exhibitions.

I want to express our appreciation for the government’s continued commitment to increase funding for the arts with the second consecutive increase of our budget. Our commitment is to prioritize and invest in artists, art and cultural materials. This work is in line with the AFA’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, which is available to read in both English and French on our website. 

We look forward to continuing to support and contribute to the growth of Alberta’s arts sector.

Cynthia P. Moore, Chair
Contact the Chair at afacontact@gov.ab.ca  
 

Application intake for the Alberta Artist in Residence/Arts Ambassador grant is now open. The deadline to apply is June 16. The maximum eligible amount you can apply for is $50,000. This opportunity is open to individual artists from all disciplines.

Program guidelines and application materials can be downloaded from the Artist in Residence website at www.alberta.ca/alberta-artist-residence-apply.

This program seeks to inspire innovation in the arts and to promote a wider understanding and appreciation of the arts and artists in Alberta.

Artists are encouraged to apply for this grant to become Alberta’s Artist in Residence / Arts Ambassador for a one-year term.

Through this grant, the successful artist will:

• work with communities across Alberta as an Arts Ambassador to promote the importance of Alberta artists and the arts
• communicate and share personal perspectives on the artistic process, the role of artists, and the contributions that artists make to Alberta
• act as an advocate for greater understanding of the realities of artists and the communities in which they work
• complete an art project that promotes the value of the arts in Alberta

March 20, 2025 - the official first day of Spring. Yet I just drove to work with snow on the ground. This dichotomy used to cause me grief until I started to take note of the small local changes in season and appreciate natures more subtle brushstrokes.

This practice was one of the inspirations of “Nom Chomp”, our upcoming video game where the Nom makes their way through painted landscapes representing Alberta’s seasons.Following the inspiration of seasons has led to us to the art of Haiku. This form of poetry historically includes allusions to the seasons and we would like to incorporate a poem at the end of each round of gameplay.

The challenge for this competition is to write a traditional or modern haiku (not requiring the 5-7-5 structure) reflecting on your personal experience of ‘Spring in Alberta’. As the Nom moves through the world by eating, additional consideration will be given to poems that reference related terms (such as savouring, tasting, eating, etc.).

The submission period opens May 1, 2025, and will close May 28, 2025, at 11:59 pm. MST. Each participant may enter only once, submitting a maximum of two original, self-authored haiku via email to hoby@copperkettlegameoworks.ca . Please submit unpublished work.

There will be one official winner and four honourable mentions chosen by the crew at Copper Kettle with the guidance of Haiku author Tim Sampson. Winners will be notified by e-mail in early June and then publicly announced June 5th, 2025.

The official winner will receive: Their poetry featured in the game. Their poetry featured on a printed art poster. A cash prize of $120 CAD. A copy of the game upon release. A copy of the printed art poster Various features across social media.

The four honourable mentions will receive: Their poetry included in the game. A cash prize of $20 CAD Various features across social media.

Announcing the third year of The Prairie Grindstone Prize — a $50,000 literary award that acknowledges a hardworking, engaged prairie writer. 

Nominations for The Prairie Grindstone Prize open on April 1 and will close on May 15 at midnight.

This annual prize, funded by an anonymous donor committee, alternates between the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This year, the prize will be awarded to an Alberta writer. The Prairie Grindstone Prize recognizes prairie writers of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction with a cash prize of $50,000 that will enable the writer to focus on their work for a year or more.

This is not a book prize. It is awarded in acknowledgement of an author’s body of work and their contribution to the public’s appreciation for and understanding of Western Canada’s landscape, people, history, and culture.

The writer must have been a resident of the province of Alberta for the past five years, have a minimum of four professionally published books, and be an active member of the local writing community.

Authors may not self nominate and recipients will be selected by a jury of peers.

Full nomination guidelines can be found here: www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca/nominate Letters of nomination and inquiries can be sent to grindstoneprize@gmail.com 

For more information, please contact
Lisa Murphy Lamb, Jury Chair
Jun Lee, Marketing
e: grindstoneprize@gmail.com 

www.prairiegrindstoneprize.ca
IG: @prairiegrindstoneprize
FB: Prairie Grindstone Prize

WordsWorth 2025: OURTIME is open for registration!

Week 1 (ages 11 – 14): July 13-18, 2025
Week 2 (ages 15 – 19): July 20-25, 2025

Early Bird rate: $630
Regular rate: $655

Location: Red Deer Polytechnic, Red Deer, AB

WordsWorth is a week-long sleepover creative writing residency for young artists who believe in the power of words and storytelling. Campers will be completely immersed in the creative and diverse world of writing. Guided by established and respected artist-instructors, the young artists will experience writing through fiction, nonfiction, poetry, spoken word, music, movement, and more. But the experiences don’t begin and end with the classes; WordsWorth is a place where young artists come together to celebrate writing through friendship, campfire stories and songs, concerts, open mic sessions, hikes, haiku, and semi-competitive games outside of class.

Register and learn more: writersguild.ca/programs-services/wordsworth