The provincial government is providing $188,000 to support powwows, art therapy, and affordable housing in St. Albert.
Tanya Fir, minister of arts, culture, and status of women, announced Jan. 25 the province was distributing some $9.9 million in grants to 260 Alberta non-profits through its Community Initiatives Program. The grants provide operational and project-specific funds to support social, cultural, and recreational opportunities.
“This support will help non-profit organization strengthen their ability to provide more programs and services that benefit and improve the lives of Albertans across our great province,” Fir said in a press conference.
Six St. Albert organizations received a total of $188,137 through the grants. Kaleo Collective Ltd., which supports single mothers, received $75,000 to cover rent and wages. The St. Albert Housing Society, which develops affordable rental housing in St. Albert, got $60,000 for its operations.
The Visual Arts Studio Association of St. Albert (VASA) received $2,137 for its Art as a Healing Medium for the Community project.
“Art has the ability to support wellness, break isolation, and build community,” VASA administrator Karen Gordon said in an email, and there is an identified need for mental health support in the form of art therapy in St. Albert.
VASA has been offering art therapy workshops for several months which have proven popular, Gordon said. Talking with St. Albert Further Education’s Newcomer Connection Program, VASA saw a need to offer these workshops at a lower cost to support newcomers.
This project will see VASA offer low-cost art therapy sessions once a week for six weeks, led by Lucy Lu of Red Threads Art Therapy, Gordon said. The sessions will focus on addressing grief through art, possibly through making memory boxes, and should happen this fall.
The Rotary Club of St. Albert’s Music Festival Association got $16,000 to help pay for its 2023 music festival. The annual festival gives young musicians a chance to perform before an audience each April, and typically draws some 1,100 registrants.
Last year’s festival cost about $80,000, with about $20,000 coming from registrations and the rest from Rotary members and sponsors, said festival president Mark Moran. Groups are allowed to apply for this grant twice every three years, and his group plans to apply for it again this year.
Moran said patronage is a big part of the arts, adding that Rotary would have to charge about $150 per registrant instead of the $35 it does now to run this festival without the help of sponsors and grants.
“It’s important for government to help out and keep the arts affordable to youth,” he said.
Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centres received $25,000 to help cover the cost of hosting its 50th annual powwow, which happened last August. The province gave $10,000 to the Al Rashid Education Foundation to offset hosting costs for the group’s 2023 scholarship awards gala.
Details on the grant and lists of its recipients can be found at bit.ly/3SkpZ5m.
