The vision of the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre’s new executive director is gaining momentum as arts and community organizations take up permanent residence in the building, increasing its use and helping to make the Cultural Centre an ever more vital arts hub for the city.
Sarah Simison took the role of executive director in June 2022 because the board of directors liked her vision for the buidling— to see it become a more active gathering place for art and community in Moose Jaw.
Since then, the building has welcomed the Wakamow Aboriginal Community Association (WACA), the River Street Potters, and the Moose Jaw Community Players theatre company, and has reached out to other local organizations to find out how to increase usage even further.
“It’s been really busy, so it’s exciting,” Simison said. “There’s just kind of constant traffic throughout the building. It’s great, and it all happened really naturally.”
WACA took offices in the Cultural Centre last fall and were able to use it as a base for their inaugural Every Child Matters Powwow on Truth and Reconciliation weekend last October. The powwow was a great success, with spectacular regalia, dancers, and drummers, and associated events at the Cultural Centre, the Moose Jaw Public Library, and the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery.
The next to move in were the River Street Potters, a recently formed group whose classes and workshops have proven incredibly popular.
“The Mud Pie Girls already had their studio here, and they said they would be happy to have more potters move in,” Simison explained. “And I knew of a collective that was doing some really great work over on River Street. … It was a shot in the dark, but I said, ‘What do you guys think about coming here?’ And they did!
“So, now we’ve got the River Street Potters here, even though they’re not on River Street anymore.”
After the pottery expansion, Simison turned her sights to a long-held dream: Having a theatre company make use of the space.
“I’ve worked in the building for 13 years, of course, with the (Saskatchewan Festival of Words), and I just always thought it was such a shame that there wasn’t a theatre company operating out of here,” she said.
Bringing the Moose Jaw Community Players in was a big success — they’ve operated in Moose Jaw for 30 years and are the only local company focused on adult actors and productions.
The Community Players have created a rehearsal space, begun renovating a basement workshop, and helped clear out decades of accumulated ‘stuffs’ in the process. They are currently preparing for one of their most ambitious productions ever, titled Notoriously Moose Jaw and scheduled for two shows, April 21 and 22.
“We’ve got much more usable space now, which is fantastic,” Simison said. “And the City’s been really great in helping us, too.
“We’ve also started to work on finding more funding to renovate studio spaces and more of the other rooms in the building, because it’s been really underutilized.”
The facility is huge, a result of over 100 years of renovations, restorations, and the absorption of the buildings on either side.
The building has not been sitting idle by any means, of course — the historic and beautiful Mae Wilson Theatre is booked year-round with regular, world-class performing arts shows, from ballet to country concerts to theatre productions, and the Visual Art Gallery hosts new local art exhibitions every six weeks.
Nevertheless, there remains plenty of room and possibilities. Simison is still looking for new ideas and partnerships.
“We’re definitely trying to get the word out,” she said. “We’re hoping to keep the ball rolling.”
