Community News

In the first video of the Artful Place series, AFA grant recipient Ashley Laurenson, a resident of Fort McMurray/Wood Buffalo, shares insight into the uniqueness of her local arts community.

About the artists

From Whangarei, New Zealand to a fifteen-year creative journey in Canada, Ashley is an award-winning talent recognized for both design and acting. With nine years invested in creating independent films and series, she is the driving force behind M'Guphynn Media's production design, crafting the sets, props, and costumes for projects like the fan film "Miles Behind: A Spider-Man Fan Film." Ashley also showcased her acting chops starring as Ash and Evil Ash in "Nerdvana: the Web Series." More recently, she turned her sights backstage in theatre, designing vibrant costumes and props for Waypoints Dinner Theatre shows ("AHOY! A Pirate's Life for Me!", "Ultimate Reality: 90's Edition!") and lending her skills to set design for Keyano Theatre Company's youth productions ("Disney's Moana Jr.", "Disney's Newsies Jr.").

The Artful Place

The Artful Place is an exploration of Alberta’s unique arts communities through the eyes of the artists that call these communities home. They provide their perspective on what makes their community special and what their communities mean to them.

En ce dernier jour du Mois de la francophonie albertaine, l'AFA est heureuse de partager la version française de son plan stratégique triennal. Instauré en 2018, le Mois de la francophonie nous donne l'occasion de souligner le dynamisme et l'énergie de la francophonie en l'Alberta. 

Le plan affirme l'engagement de la Fondation envers la communauté artistique diversifiée de l'Alberta, y compris les artistes francophones et francophiles de la province. Le français est la langue maternelle d'un Canadien et d’une Canadienne sur cinq et d'environ 88 000 Albertaines et Albertains, et l'AFA est heureuse de rendre son plan stratégique accessible à ces communautés dans leur langue. 

Pour découvrir comment nous soutenons les arts, visitez : affta.ab.ca/about-afa/mission-and-mandate

English

On this last day of the annual Mois de la francophonie albertaine (Alberta Francophonie Month), the AFA is pleased to share its three-year Strategic Plan en français. Established in 2018, the month of March provides an opportunity to highlight the vibrancy and energy the Francophonie brings to Alberta. 

The plan affirms the foundation’s commitment to Alberta's diverse arts community, including French-speaking and Francophone artists across the province. French is the mother tongue of 1 in 5 Canadians and approximately 88,000 Albertans, and the AFA is pleased to make its Strategic Plan accessible to these communities in their language. 

 See how we are supporting the arts: affta.ab.ca/about-afa/mission-and-mandate

Faye HeavyShield
blood, 2004
cotton, cotton string, acrylic

In celebration of International Women's Day we are proud to share, blood—the work of  Kainai artist Faye HeavyShield. 

Bold Women

Two of HeavyShield’s installation artworks, blood and homecoming, from the AFA’s Art Collection have been selected for Bold Women, a landmark exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. 

The show features over forty primarily Indigenous, Black, Newcomers and LGBT women artists as well as those of gender non-conforming identities whose visionary ideas and experimentation demonstrate the concept of boldness through challenging dominant institutional, cultural and social boundaries and reshaping historical narratives. 

Set to open February 18 and running through to July 6, 2025, the exhibition includes 75 artworks from various disciplines including photography, sculpture, textiles, paintings, video, installations and is organized across four galleries each exploring one element of boldness:

• Portrayal / Resistance: ways that portrayals can deny visibility
• Collective Preservation / Liberation: women preserving, healing, and liberating communities across generations
• Nature / Erasure: the erasure of women’s contributions, in conversation with nature
• Wisdom / Knowledge-keeping: transmitting knowledge and women as connectors

The exhibition was curated by Susan Earle, the Spencer Museum’s curator of European and American Art, along with a team of diverse curatorial collaborators from across North America including the Brooklyn Museum’s Curator Dr. Kimberli Grant and Wanda Nanibush, an Anishinaabe curator from the Beausoleil First Nation in Ontario among others. 

About the artist

Faye HeavyShield is a member of the Blood Nation. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art in 1985, and continued her studies at the University of Calgary. Gaining prominence and recognition in the past few years, her work has been the subject of many solo shows including major exhibitions of First Nations contemporary art. HeavyShield's work is a fusion of highly evolved personal and powerful imagery influenced by her Christian and Blood upbringing. Her minimalist installations are metaphors of the human body and a reflection of her personal experiences.

Bold women accelerating action at the AFA

Meet the bold women of the AFA's Board of Directors that are passionate about the arts and work steadfastly to support a vibrant Alberta arts community that sparks innovation, bursts with creativity, fosters understanding, and promotes belonging.  

Click the names of the board members and watch as they share their personal takes on the importance of the arts in Alberta.

Cynthia P. Moore AFA Board Chair Calgary	Yasmin Jivraj Edmonton	Melody McKnight Red Deer	Shana Yang Calgary

About International Women's Day

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8 around the globe. IWD has been celebrated globally since 1911 and is an important day that highlights the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

This year’s IWD theme focuses on accelerating action for gender equality. We encourage you to take part in an IWD event within your community and continue supporting women in the arts throughout the year.

A Message from AFA Board Chair Cynthia P. Moore

On February 27, 2025, the Alberta government announced Budget 2025. I am pleased to share that funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) was again increased by $4.5 million or by 15 percent to $34.6 million for 2025-26.

This is the second year that the AFA’s funding has been increased by $4.5 million. This is part of the Alberta Government’s commitment to increase the AFA’s funding to nearly $40 million by 2026. The AFA board is pleased to build on the work that was started last year in increasing support for the arts community.

Our results thus far this year have been very positive. As of December 31, 2024, the AFA has provided 726 grants totalling approximately $21.2 million – nearly a 40 per cent increase in the number of grants at this time in 2023.

There is more work to do. Soon, the AFA board will approve a 2025-26 spending plan. In line with the AFA’s mandate, this plan will continue to prioritize and invest in artists, art, and cultural materials, and will adhere to the priorities outlined in the 2024-2027 Strategic Plan.

I am also pleased to share that in the upcoming fiscal year, we will begin to implement new and refreshed funding programs that have been in development since we began reviewing our grant programs in 2022.

The AFA is modernizing its grant programs to provide more targeted funding support to arts organizations and individual artists. More information will be made available on our website at affta.ab.ca. The AFA will communicate directly with clients as changes start to take effect.

It is exciting times for the AFA and the arts community!

Cynthia P. Moore
Chair, Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Budget 2025 information

• Budget 2025
• Alberta Arts, Culture and Status of Women 2024-25Business Plan (PDF) – English | French
• 2025-26 Government Estimates (PDF) – Expense Vote by Program: Operating Expense 4.2 Assistance to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts on page 54

This initiative builds on the commitment by the Canada Council for the Arts to address historical funding imbalances experienced by Alberta’s arts communities. Past related efforts have included organizing in-person outreach sessions in Lethbridge, Canmore, Edmonton and Calgary, including dedicated sessions for artists and arts organizations from Indigenous, Deaf and disability and racialized communities.

Starting in the spring of 2025, two Alberta-based arts liaison consultants will be retained to establish an on-the-ground presence for the Canada Council in Alberta. The consultants will engage with communities across the province to increase awareness of and access to funding opportunities and provide the Council with field intelligence with a view to ensuring impactful support of Alberta’s arts sector.

This latest two-year initiative will build on the Council’s previous investment in programs like Future Focus in Calgary and Invent and Adapt in Edmonton. Through ongoing collaboration with the Alberta arts sector, this initiative will expand the Council’s reach and impact in Alberta for the benefit of the entire arts ecosystem.

Learn more: canadacouncil.ca/about/requests-for-proposals