Indigenous arts

_{Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert
Crowsnest Mountain and the Seven Sisters, 1989
oil on paper
Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts}

The holiday season is a wonderful time to reflect with family and friends. At the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, we are forging a deeper understanding of our role and responsibilities as Alberta’s provincial arts funder and principal supporter. We are in a period of renewal as we look forward to new opportunities. Whether it is the performing arts, literary, visual, film or video, the AFA’s job is to help individual artists and organizations explore, practice, create and promote their exceptional work.

We have a profound sense of optimism for the years ahead that is buoyed by the Alberta government’s commitment to increase AFA funding to a record-level $39.1 million by 2027. 
We look forward to continuing our work with government for the betterment of Alberta’s arts sector.

Art and Alberta’s artists are at the heart of everything that we do. In that vein, I’m proud to continue the AFA’s tradition of highlighting an artwork from our collection. This year, I’m pleased to feature Crowsnest Mountain and the Seven Sisters by Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert. 
This beautiful Indigenous work is representative of the mountain landscape in Southern Alberta. Cardinal-Schubert’s use of color is so appropriate during the holiday season.

On behalf of the AFA Board of Directors and staff, please accept my best wishes for a safe and restful holiday season, Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

Cynthia P. Moore, Chair

Alberta Foundation for the Arts

This research was conducted in six waves over the course of 2020 and 2021. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the sixth wave of research are now available.

Findings for Alberta organizations from Wave 6 results include:

• Comfort has developed into a very predictable pattern that follows case numbers and now vaccine rates.
• Albertans will return at their own pace; participation hinges on personal comfort but also personal risk tolerance.
• There is a consensus that there will be less of a return to “normal” but rather a new way of doing things moving forward.
• Because Albertans have spent the past year and half discovering new things to do, the selection of what they can choose from now is quite vast.
• Spending habits are in flux, and at this point it is difficult to predict where Albertans will direct their money in the short term.

What are the implications for Alberta organizations?

• Even as restrictions have been removed, organizations still need to deal with comfort. As it stands, there is clear hesitancy in the audience and it will be important to communicate safety measures to make audiences comfortable when re-engaging.
• Organizations should keep in mind that public sentiment is a more useful barometer over government announcements. Gauging expectations for increased participation to occur will be based on a combination of comfort and risk tolerance.
• Organizations should expect more permanent (structural) changes to stick around – specifically related to organizational transparency, flexibility with refunds, new payment options, etc. These should be things that organizations consider keeping even if they are no longer required by the government.
• The main consideration for organizations remains flexibility – in terms of payment options, participation options, etc. This will allow for consideration on different levels as Albertans suss out how they want to direct their spending.

Download the reports:

• Alberta Report
• Calgary Report
• Edmonton Report

About the project

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 was 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

On November 17, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the 2021 winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks). Inuk writer, Dr. Norma Dunning, who is based in Edmonton, Alberta, has been awarded the English-language fiction prize for her short story collection Tainna: The Unseen Ones.

About the writer

On top of being a writer, Dr. Norma Dunning is also a scholar, researcher, professor and grandmother. Her previous short story collection, Annie Muktuk and Other Stories (University of Alberta Press, 2017), received the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Howard O’Hagan Award for short stories and the Bronze Foreword INDIES award for short stories. 

About the book

Six powerful short stories centred on modern-day Inuk characters are woven together in Tainna. Dr. Dunning drew on both lived experience and cultural memory, to write Tainna—meaning “the unseen ones” and pronounced Da‑e‑nn‑a.

Read more about Tainna.

About the GGBooks

The 14 best books of 2021 published in Canada, were selected by peer assessment committees that chose award winners from 70 finalists in seven categories, in both English and in French.

• Jenna Butler (Barrhead, Alberta) was listed as finalist for Revery: A Year of Bees under the English-language non-fiction category.

Founded in 1936, the Governor General's Literary Awards are among Canada's oldest and most prestigious prizes for literature. There are seven categories, awarded in both French and English, with $25,000 going to each winning book.

More information

Read more on CBC News.