Culture Days
Culture Days raises the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. With the support of volunteer groups at the national, provincial and local levels, hundreds of thousands of artists, cultural workers, organizations and groups, volunteers and supporters self-mobilize to host free participatory public activities that take place in hundreds of cities and towns throughout the country over the last weekend of September each year.
For the past two years, SLA has distributed 10 grants to libraries who successfully plan and execute special programming for Culture Days. This year only, SaskCulture has generously provided additional funding that enables SLA to increase our annual Culture Days grants from $200 to $300.
To promote the projects and Culture Days please go to https://culturedays.ca/en/resources to access marketing materials – banners, posters, FaceBook images, and more; and also a public relations package. There are also tip sheets on evaluating the project success. SaskCulture also has a great map showing Culture Days events.
Approved Projects for SLA Grants
Approved_projects_2017
So many exciting and interesting projects are planned in Saskatchewan Libraries for Culture Days. Choose a region or a specific library, and enjoy the richness and diversity of Saskatchewan life.
North:
La Ronge the Alex Robertson Public Library is hosting an event titled Gratitude at the Heart of Culture and Community. It will be a two hour open house where participants of all ages could can choose from the following activities: Write /draw a thank you card, make a gratitude button, make a collage poster, create a gratitude poem using a template, begin a gratitude journal, or contribute to a bulletin board with “thank you” written in as many languages as represented in the community. September 30.
Duck Lake Public Library In partnership with the Stobart Community School and the Regional Interpretive Centre, the Public Library will hold a Mini Folk Fest. Several Cultures are represented in their small town and they would like for the public to have a taste of those cultures (Food, Customs and Dress and Traditions) and also a chance for diverse cultures to showcase their differences and also some aspects that are the same. September 30
Turtleford Public Library is planning their annual Turtleford Street Fest. At this event, different vendors selling a variety of art projects as well as all kinds of baking and foods will be present. It is an opportunity for residents and visitors from Turtleford and the surrounding region to speak with local artists and purchase artwork. This event is also family friendly and will include a large bouncy house to entertain the children and face painting or clown if available. They would also like to include a performer from the Thunderchild First Nation. September 30
Central:
White City Public Library are planning a Long Table Dinner and Story Telling Night. The dinner is a potluck event encouraging patrons to bring a dish from their family heritage to share with the group.
Included with this dinner they will ask them to bring the recipe to share with the other patrons. Once the meal has ended, they will be sharing stories from their heritage that have been passed down through families; whether that be about the meal itself, perhaps a childhood story or song. There will be a number of books on the tables as centerpieces to outline different stories from around the world and they will invite people to read them to each other or their children during the evening. They also hope to have some table talk cards to encourage people to meet others in the community. October 1
South:
Bengough Public Library will be hosting Fayona Buchanan who is originally from Jamaica who will show them how they braid hair in Jamaica. They will also be inviting the children in the school to attend. Open to the public. October 1.
Moose Jaw The Moose Jaw Public Library will be presenting a Human Library event. Visitors will be able to check out one of ten possible human books from a wide range of backgrounds. Their books will be members of our community from a diverse range of backgrounds and personal histories, including new immigrant stories, LGBTQ /gender studies, military stories, musical biographies, literary theory, local history, visual art how-to guides and more! Two of their books will be from outside of the community: a visiting artist, and a professional writer, who will each also be hosting hands-on creative workshops throughout the day. One of their human books will host a moving tour using the Moose Jaw Tourism trolley, telling local history tales as they move through the city. The library will also be hosting a Peep Show using historical photographs from their Archives Department. The event will conclude with an Artists Talk about Art in Libraries hosted by the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, followed by a reception with refreshments and community time. September 29, 30
Weyburn Public Library will be providing a make your own musical instruments program geared towards children of all ages. There will be six stations where each child can make an instrument from another culture. For example, rainsticks, marraccas, Aboriginal clapping sticks, mini mandolins, African drums, and a Kalimba. There will also be a station with multicultural instruments where children can play and see how each instrument sounds. September 30
Maple Creek Madonna Hamel is a storyteller from Val Marie. In her performance entitled Apron Stories, she takes stories from the pocket of her apron and performs the story. She researches the stories she tells from the local community. October 1
Eastend Public Library The Eastend Enterprise newspaper was published from1914 to 1980. The Eastend Library has digitized their holdings and has invited the Executive Director and Manager,
Reference Services, of the Provincial Archives who will give a workshop on how to use digital archives. September 30 Jasper Centre, Maple Creek
Gravelbourg Library will host Aboriginal author and storyteller Kimisoo Goodtrack from the Lakota Wood Mountain Reserve. This is a good opportunity for children in the area to learn about Lakota Culture. September 30
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