To that end, the SWDCRS Virtual Cultural Gathering featured a day full of interesting events and conversations, ranging from Truth and Reconciliation to anti-racism, Saskatchewan arts to museums in the province, and pretty much everything in between.
The event concluded with a special feature by Dr. David Manley, a Consul-based pastor who spoke on understanding generational shifts in a community.
All in all, the day-long Zoom virtual gathering went off exceptionally well in the assessment of SWDCRS community consultant Brennen Ronovsky.
“There were some challenges with technology and all that, but overall it was a really good day and it was great that we had so many people show up,” Ronovsky said. “We had lots of different organizations even provincially, there were groups from Saskatoon and Regina and all over the province, and it was really nice to see them take part because if it was done in person they might not have had the opportunity to attend.”
The gathering opened with a presentation by Sylvia Thorburn with the Swift Current Truth and Reconciliation Committee, highlighting their work in the community and schools as well as future plans to bring meaningful reconciliation work to the southwest.
Thorburn was followed by Debbie Griffith from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, who focused on anti-racism education in the province. She was followed by Tracey Mann and Ingrid Cazakoff with the Community Initiatives Fund and Heritage Saskatchewan, who covered the Saskatchewan Index of Well Being and what it’s about, in addition to how it is a tool in a bigger discussion.
The morning session concluded with Dana Dale and Joanne Gregoire from the Town of Shaunavon, who spoke towards their success with programming during the COVID pandemic.
“What I really liked, too, was because of it being done virtually and having the diversity of people, we were able to offer different topics instead of one general topic that was drawn out for the whole day,” Ronovsky said. “We had a diverse group of people and diverse group of topics and that allowed people to do what they did, which was come and go if they wanted to take part in the morning or afternoon or if they had a person they wanted to listen to speak they could do so. That offered them some flexibility in that part.”
A screenshot from the Saskatchewan Arts presentation during the SWDCRS Virtual Cultural Gathering, featuring the wacky characters from ‘Our Story’, a stop-motion movie made by Christ the King school Grade 3 and 4 students in Shaunavon. The project was facilitated by artist Terri Fidelak as part of the Artists in School provincial program.The afternoon session took a different tone and featured Jody Greenman-Barber with Saskatchewan Arts, who spoke about funding for the Artists in Schools and Artists in Communities Grant Programs, while Kristin Enns-Kavanagh from the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society offered tips on heritage mapping and how to implement a heritage project in communities.
Wendy Fitch from the Museum Association of Saskatchewan ran down how the pandemic had affected museums in the province before Sask Culture provided an update on grants in the era of COVID-19.
The pandemic was a common thread throughout the day, and by design.
“I really wanted to try and find topics that pertained to today’s society,” Ronovsky said. “So we tried to tie the topics into what’s going on with society when it comes to COVID. We had a lot of conversation about the impact it’s had on our well-being and the impact on museums in Saskatchewan, which was a good topic as well. And just how people were able to change up their programming and how they delivered it while still offering something in a virtual COVID-friendly environment.”
All in all, the reception for the gathering was positive, and offered a model that could be emulated in the future.
“We had a lot of positive comments, a lot of people took part and that’s what we were hoping we’d see,” Ronovsky said.
