Community News

Image provided by the Citadel Theatre

Alberta’s government is investing in the Citadel Theatre so that Albertans of all ages will be able to continue to enjoy the performing arts in Edmonton.

Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre is a performing arts hub in downtown Edmonton and an important partner in Alberta’s vibrant arts and culture scene. It draws both local and international visitors and productions to Edmonton while also offering programs to teach and encourage the next generation of creative voices.

As part of the Budget 2023 Capital Plan, Alberta’s government would provide the Citadel Theatre with $4 million to help fund its renewal project. Supporting the theatre’s renewal project will ensure it remains in top condition to provide a high-quality performance space for Alberta’s talented performers and continues to be a destination for world-renowned productions for years to come.

“The Citadel Theatre is a hub for the performing arts in Alberta. Through development of cultural infrastructure like the Citadel, we are creating jobs, helping to diversify our economy and building vibrant communities for all Albertans to enjoy.”

Jason Luan, Minister of Culture 

“This funding is absolutely transformational for the Citadel Theatre! As one of the gems of downtown Edmonton, the funds will be put towards capital infrastructure costs. We are really delighted, as this building has long needed this level of support. Thank you to the Government of Alberta for recognizing the Citadel Theatre and for their support of arts and culture in Edmonton.”

Sarah Pocklington, executive director, Citadel Theatre

Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre provides nearly 170,000 square feet of community space, and the project will see upgrades throughout the building.

Quick facts

•  The Citadel Theatre is one of the largest theatres in Canada and home to the Foote Theatre School.
• The Citadel Theatre renewal project includes: 
  • replacing elevators, window glazing and skylights, flooring and mechanical systems
  • renovating washrooms and adding stairlifts to increase accessibility
  • renovating the flexible hospitality venue

Related information

• The Citadel Theatre - Edmonton Theatre, Musicals & Plays
   

The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarships for Performing and Visual Arts honours two students who demonstrate talent, potential and a clear vision to realize their artistic goals through education and training. Students can apply for the arts scholarship through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. View our Scholarships page for more information.

Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarships for Performing and Visual Arts recipients

Emma Rach-Syslak

Emma is an up and coming fine artist from Calgary who specializes in portraiture. She is currently studying at The Florence Academy of Art as a full-time artist and student. Emily graduated from Central Memorial High School in Calgary in 2019 with honors in the Visual Arts Program. She received an Alexandra Rutherford Scholarship, a Portrait Society of America Annual Portrait Conference Scholarship, and an Honourable Mention in L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future contest.  Emma works mainly in oil paint but also does printmaking and some ceramics and sculpting. Her artwork invites the viewer to experience a variety of diversities in technique and texture through the teachings of masters.

Wesley O'Brien

Hailing from Calgary, Wesley is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, GA. Wesley began studying viola at age 6. In 2019, he won the Alberta Provincial Music Festival for viola 16 and under and his string quartet won the Provincial Music Festival in 2018 and 2019. In June 2019, he attended the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute as the youngest participant ever accepted into the program and he has performed with Rosa Barocca, Alberta’s professional baroque orchestra. Wesley received a Fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival this summer.

Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal Award recipients

The Golden Jubilee Citizenship award honours students who have shown themselves to be community builders and leaders, civically minded, passionate about volunteering and who whole-heartedly embrace the spirit of their cause. Each year, eight young Albertans receive a medal and a $5,000 scholarship.

• Annika Kruger, Calgary
• Asha Nathoo, Calgary
• Azaad Gill, Calgary
• Eric Au, Edmonton
• Erin Walker, La Corey
• Jessica Hadwin, Consort
• Joshua Kroker, Lethbridge
• Precious Majekodunmi, Fort McMurray

A selection committee chooses recipients for the citizenship award from the Alberta high school students who received the Premier’s Citizenship Award that year.

The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award was established in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ascension of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. Since then, 153 individuals have received the citizenship award and 39 have received the arts award.

Visit Alberta.ca for more information.

Indigenous relation to the land in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton) is the subject of a new artwork, Sipikiskisiw (Remembers Far Back) by Michelle Sound, which was coordinated by the Edmonton Arts Council and is currently being installed this week at the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) shelter located at 10020-100 Street NW.

The transit shelter was recently renewed as the City of Edmonton works toward creating more safe, inclusive, and attractive public spaces for transit riders and the public.

Commissioned in 2022 under the City of Edmonton’s new Public Art Policy, the Edmonton Arts Council worked with three local Indigenous artists/curators to select an artist for this project. Edmonton Arts Council's Public Art Director David Turnbull said, “the new policy allows us to be flexible, responsive, and use curatorially-driven approaches to intentionally grow and develop a public art collection that is high quality, accessible, relevant, and representative of Edmonton’s diverse communities.” 

“We are pleased to partner with Edmonton Arts Council and artist Michelle Sound to display this Indigenous art – which tells a meaningful story of those who were here before Edmonton was a city – in our transit space,” said Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, Branch Manager of Edmonton Transit Service. “Supporting talented artists and displaying their beautiful works of art helps to create more vibrant transit spaces for everyone to enjoy, and this work adds to the inventory of public art and murals in transit spaces.”

Like Sound’s artwork often does, Sipikiskisiw (Remembers Far Back) explores her Cree and Métis identity from a personal experience rooted in family, place and history.

Her artwork for the ETS shelter uses torn copies of archival images of an Indian Affairs Papaschase reserve survey map from 1899 and a photograph taken prior to 1907 of Indigenous men and tipis on the grounds of Fort Edmonton. The artist then mended the torn imagery using embroidery thread, caribou tufting, porcupine quills and beadwork.

The rips in the images are meant to “show the colonial violence that Indigenous people have experienced, including residential schools, intergenerational trauma, loss of language, and displacement from our territories,” explains the artist.

The mending of the images doesn’t fully obscure the rips, shares Sound, just as “the loss, grief, longing, and memory cannot be fully mended and the resiliency required to survive colonialism is also messy and fragile. These losses can never be fully healed but we can process our histories and realities through art, culture and stories.”

In an article about the artwork, Emily Riddle – one of the curators of the project – writes that the land on which the ETS shelter now sits was an important outlook for Indigenous Peoples prior to the construction of downtown Edmonton. Said Riddle, “When the jury met, Michelle Sound was at the top of each of our lists of artists whose work we wanted to see in Edmonton...in stitching together these two archival records with threads, beads, rick rack and tufts, Michelle Sound asks us to imagine a restitched present while we are in transit. On the hill above the site of both these photos, we are very much embedded in this history and in the forever now of a Nehiyaw present.”
 

Title image credit: Photography by Heather Saitz.

Vivek Shraya’s How to Fail as a Popstar heads to CBC 

The theatrical one-person show, created by Albertan artist Vivek Shraya, will feature as an original series on CBC’s free streaming service, Gem. How to Fail as a Popstar is a comedic coming-of-age tale based on the artist’s life.

Shraya will write and star in the show, which will be filmed in Toronto and set for release later this year.

From stage to paperback to screen

The play was originally commissioned and produced by Canadian Stage in Toronto. Shraya’s play debuted in 2020 with a print edition of the script released in 2021. The show has appeared on several Canadian stages with upcoming tour dates in Quebec in February 2023 and played internationally in Ireland and Germany.

Multi-disciplinary artist

Shraya’s many talents are showcased in literature, music, film, visual art, theatre and fashion. The Edmonton-born artist has music featured in the HBO Max show Sort Of and her book, I’m Afraid of Men, was profiled in Vanity Fair.

Representation in the AFA Art Collection 

The AFA acquired Shraya’s work Trauma Clown in 2020, adding to our ever-growing and increasingly diverse collection.

Vivek Shraya  
Trauma Clown, 2019 
Photograph on paper 
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

IWD 2023: Canada’s population of artists led by women

On a day we celebrate the many amazing women in our communities, we focus on women in the arts.

What the numbers say

Most of the makers, entertainers, and creators in Canada, who spend more time practicing their art than any other occupation, are women.

A study of Canada’s 2021 census by Hill Strategies revealed that 54% of professional Canadian artists are women. While women make up 48% of the Canadian labour force, this statistic means that 1.1%, or one out of every 91 working women, is an artist.

The arts as a foundation for diversity

The arts can provide a platform for the talents, stories, and histories of the many unique individuals within our communities.

While we continue to work to improve representation in the arts, on International Women’s Day we remember and celebrate key figures in Alberta’s community, like:

• Joan Chapman, who was at the heart of the resurgence of studio and design potteries in Alberta
• Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert, who helped the AFA build new bridges with artists
• Vivek Shraya, whose talents span across multiple disciplines 
• Autumn Whiteway (“Night Singing Woman”), who focuses on elevating the voices of Indigenous creatives
• Dr. Jane Ash Poitras, who dedicated her life's work to the creation of art in spite of multiple barriers

For these and many, many more, we laud the artists that lead us with their dedication, who push our boundaries, and who show us life from an artist's point of view.

The AFA continues to support and celebrate the many women who help shape the arts community throughout Alberta and Canada, today and throughout the year.

About IWD

International Women’s Day (IWD) 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.

In recognition of IWD we have highlighted a few events throughout the month of March that celebrate women in the arts.

Introducing Alberta’s Arts Ambassador 2023

April 12, 2023 Media inquiries

Métis Cree artist Sharon Rose Kootenay has been selected as the fourth Artist in Residence and Arts Ambassador to promote the value of the arts in Alberta.

Hailing from central Alberta, the Treaty 6 artist is a lifelong maker of traditional art forms and finds her inspiration in the Prairie landscapes. Using geometric and floral beadwork design, Kootenay’s art tells a story of cultural identity and place, and affirms Indigenous world views, environmental stewardship and solidarity among humans.

Through her residency, Kootenay will create a two-part beadwork and mixed medium project titled Kihohkewin/Gone Visiting and Pihtikwe/Come In! The first part will interpret the highlights of travel, visiting with friends and family, picking up the threads of conversation and exploring traditions and landscapes along the way. The second part will encompass the Métis Cree concept of “Home Fire.”

“The arts enrich our lives and our vibrant culture and economy. I am pleased to announce Sharon Rose Kootenay as Alberta’s Artist in Residence. Sharon will enrich Alberta’s art scene through her talent and wisdom, as well as bring joy and inspiration to other artists and patrons of the arts. I also want to extend a sincere thank you and appreciation to Aeris Osborne, 2022 Artist in Residence and Ambassador. During her residency, Aeris created 10 bold impressionist paintings of historical buildings in cities and villages from across Alberta.”

Jason Luan, Minister of Culture

“As an artist of Métis Cree and Ukrainian ancestry, I am honoured and humbled to have been selected as the 2023 Alberta Artist in Residence and Arts Ambassador. Our lives are enriched by creative practice, and craft is a medium that articulates memories, celebrates relationships, and contains stories, hopes and wishes. I look forward to meeting many Albertans and gaining a deeper appreciation and understanding of the diversity of our shared artistic practices and expression of cultural perspectives.”

Sharon Rose Kootenay, Alberta’s Artist in Residence/Arts Ambassador

Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada to offer a provincial artist in residence program. This program seeks to inspire innovation in and increase appreciation of the arts and artists in Alberta. The residency comes with a $25,000 grant for artist compensation and up to $25,000 for artist expenses. Kootenay’s term began April 1 and runs to March 31, 2024. She was selected from a short list of seven applicants.

The short-listed artists received $1,000 grants to begin their projects and/or advance their artistic practices and careers. Short-listed artists for this intake are:

• Lisa La Touche, dance, Calgary
• Janita Frantsi, dance, Edmonton
• Tia A Kushniruk, dance and theatre, Edmonton
• Shumaila Hemani, music (soundscape composition), Calgary
• Kelsey Merkeley, visual arts (fine craft), Calgary
• Tara Vahab, visual arts (sculpture), Calgary

Host the Artist in Residence

As an arts ambassador and a voice for artists across the province, Kootenay will connect with Alberta communities through her project and program activities. Communities can invite the Artist in Residence to speak about the arts in Alberta at local or cultural events. An online application is available on the Artist in Residence web page.  

Quick facts

• The maximum grant for the artist in residence program is $50,000, one of the largest individual artist grants available in Alberta.
• According to analysis by Hill Strategies of the 2021 census, there were 18,100 artists living in Alberta (nine per cent of all artists in the country).
• In 2020, the visual and applied arts and live performance industries contributed about $1.1 billion in gross domestic product and sustained nearly 15,000 jobs in Alberta.

Related information

• Alberta’s Artist in Residence
• Sharon Rose Kootenay
• Host Alberta's Artist in Residence

Media inquiries

Jason Kwong

587-785-9676
Acting Press Secretary, Ministry of Culture

Building a Collection – Celebrating 50 Years of the AFA Art Collection

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) continues to celebrate 50 years of supporting Alberta arts and culture. 

Inspiring, insightful and nostalgic, Building a Collection shares the story of the AFA Art Collection, a time capsule of Albertan creativity. See how the Alberta Art Foundation, created to purchase Albertan art with a budget of $50, 000, transformed into a foundation that supports Alberta’s ever-growing art community with one of the strongest, most active provincial art collections in Canada.

Watch:

Collecting the first of many artworks in 1972, the AFA Art Collection is a unique representation of the history, development and achievements of our provincial visual arts community. Today, the AFA is proud to manage one of the strongest, most active provincial art collections in Canada. Holding over 9000 artworks made by over 1,700 creative Albertans.

September is Month of the Artist in Alberta. Alberta is the first and remains the only province in Canada to dedicate a month to artists. It is an annual celebration of artists, and the value they bring to the province, both socially and economically.

Results from the Government of Alberta’s Survey of Albertans show that Albertans value the arts and that arts activities make an impact on their communities.

In 2022-23, 70.3% of Albertans attended arts and culture activities and 54% participated in arts activities.

The survey also indicates that 76.3% of Albertans feel that arts and culture that arts and culture activities make their community a better place to live.

Activity and Event Attendance:

• 70.3% of Albertans attended arts and culture activities or events in the past 12 months.
• 61.7% of Albertans attended a live performance, including musical performances (45.1%), theatrical performances (35.2%), and dance performances (14.1%).
• 34.9% of Albertans attended a visual arts event, including visiting art galleries and studios (25.8%).
• 33% of Albertans attended an arts and culture festival or fair, including cultural performances and events (21.1%) and community arts (16.7%).

Activity and Training Participation

• 54% of Albertans participated in arts activities or training in the past 12 months.
• 36.9% of Albertans participated in the visual arts, including painting (16.3%), crafting (14.7%), and photography (14.3%).
• 24.9% participating in the performing arts, including singing (12.9%), playing a musical instrument (12.6%), and dancing (10.6%).

The Survey of Albertans is an annual survey on Albertans’ perceptions of various topics, including arts and culture.

Read the full report on the Government of Alberta’s website.

Published on the AFA website (AFA News) September 21, 2023

In December 2023, Hill Strategies Research Inc. released data on the profile of professional artists in Alberta in their Statistical Insights on the Arts series.

Based on the 2021 census, the post examines the number and incomes of artists in Alberta. The post also provides a brief summary of the situation of cultural workers in Alberta.

How many artists are in Alberta?

There are 18,100 artists in Alberta, representing 9% of the 202,900 professional artists in Canada.

Artists in Alberta represent 0.7% of the 2.4 million workers in the province. One in every 134 Alberta workers is an artist!

Working conditions and education

The post provides three measures of artists’ incomes: employment income, personal income, and household income.

• Employment income shows work-related earnings of artists. In 2020 the median employment income of Alberta artists was $10,700, about a quarter of the median employment income of all Alberta workers ($45,200).
• Personal income includes all sources of income. In 2020, the median personal income of Alberta artists was $28,000, 47% below that of all Alberta workers ($53,200).
• Household income provides a measure of the family situation of artists. In 2020 the median household income of Alberta artists was $100,000, 21% lower than that of all Alberta workers ($126,000).

The median, or midpoint, of the data is used as it provides a better indication of the typical situation of professional artists than the average. It should be noted that income statistics in the 2021 census relate to the 2020 calendar year.

• 72% of Alberta artists are self-employed, nearly five times higher than the percentage of all Alberta workers (16%).
• 40% of Alberta artists have a bachelor’s degree or higher, above the percentage of all Alberta workers (30%).

Demographics

• 62% of Alberta artists are women, higher than the proportions of all Alberta workers (47%).
• 35% of Alberta artists have a child at home, lower than the percentage of all Alberta workers (42%).
• 26% of Alberta artists are 55 years of age or older, somewhat higher than the proportion of all Alberta workers (23%).
• 6% of Alberta artists are Indigenous, equal to the proportion of all Alberta workers (6%).
• 17% of Alberta artists are members of racialized groups, below the percentage of all Alberta workers (27%).
• 18% of Alberta artists are immigrants to Canada, lower than the percentages of all Alberta workers (27%).
• 3.4% are French speakers, similar to the percentage of all Alberta workers (2.9%).
• About two-thirds of Alberta artists (65%) reside in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. While 11% of Alberta artists reside in rural areas, 11% reside in areas with populations between 30,000 and 100,000, and 9% reside in areas with populations under 30,000 (but which are not considered rural).

Artists in Alberta by discipline

Of the 18,100 artists in Alberta, here is how they are broken down by discipline:

• Musicians and singers: 21%
• Photographers: 15%
• Artisans and craftspeople: 13%
• Painters, sculptors, and other visual artists: 12%
• Writers: 12%
• Producers, directors, choreographers, and related occupations: 10%
• Dancers: 8%
• Actors, comedians, and circus performers: 6%
• Other performers: 4%
• Conductors, composers, and arrangers: 1%

Cultural Workers in Alberta

There are 80,600 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations in Alberta, representing 3.3% of the province’s overall labour force. One in every 30 workers in Alberta has a cultural occupation.

In 2020, the median employment income of a cultural worker in Alberta was $37,600, 17% less than all Alberta workers ($45,200); the median personal income of a cultural worker in Alberta was $46,000, 14% less than all workers in the province ($53,200); and the median houseold income of a cultural worker in Alberta was $118,000, 6% less than all Alberta workers ($126,000).

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative is being funded by: 

• ActiveCITY Collective
• Alberta Foundation for the Arts 
• Angus Reid
• ATB
• Calgary Arts Development 
• Calgary Foundation
• Edmonton Arts Council
• Edmonton Community Foundation
• Rozsa Foundation
• Stone-Olafson
• Travel Alberta

​This research is being conducted in six waves over the course of the next year. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the second wave of research are now available. The second wave of research builds on the baseline established in May and June by delving into attitudes on comfort, spending, the impact of media, and audience expectations.

Findings and implications for Alberta organizations through Wave 2 results include:

• Support for the pace of re-opening grows but there are still lingering pockets of disagreement.
• Comfort levels are creating a new baseline of engagement.
• Increasing gaps are appearing between audience segments on the pandemic.
• As restrictions lift, Albertans are pulled by their social motivations and perceptions of safety outdoors.
• Engagement is (potentially) perishable.
• Staying connected will mean the development of innovative and hybrid experiences.
• In a crowded media space, audiences are still listening.
• Spending is obviously being impacted

The report makes the following recommendations for organizations:

• Comfort levels are not rebounding just because restrictions are lifting. Organizations need to temper expectations about reconnecting with audiences. You will not be reengaging them in the same you used to. It will take time and it will look different. Plan on it and prepare.
• Getting audiences comfortable enough to attend is vital. Some of this will rebound over time, and some will be addressed by government, but there are opportunities to build confidence in what you are doing to safeguard their health. Show the steps you are taking and the tools being employed to protect audiences. Building confidence with what you are doing will help increase comfort and, in turn, consideration.
• Audiences and markets are changing. There are new barriers to address and consider. Organizations will need to understand shifting mindsets of different target audiences in order to engage effectively. This could be a deep opportunity to engage for many organizations who can capitalize on their motivations and expectations.
• Find your voice. Audiences are listening closely for news around the pandemic and are eager for updates, information or promotions. They want to know when experiences will be available again and are receptive to traditional marketing messages again. In fact, they expect it.
• Adapting means developing new product and experiences to consume. Staying put or offering what you used to won’t necessarily work. Organizations that can move into hybrid offers (not simply digital alone or in-person alone) that still leverage intrinsic motivations will be well positioned to protect their revenue from competition.

Download the reports:

• Alberta Report
• Calgary Report
• Edmonton Report

You can subscribe to receive notifications when the new reports are available by visiting stone-olafson.com.