To kick off Culture Days in Prince Albert the Prince Albert Council for the Arts held an open house at the Prince Albert Arts Centre on Saturday.
Annette Nieman, treasurer of the Prince Albert Council for the Arts, said the goal was to let the people of Prince Albert know about the programs and opportunities available at the Arts Centre.
“There’s a lot of variety,” Nieman said. “(Residents) are not taking advantage of what’s here in this city, which is really unfortunate.
Nieman said organizations from numerous artistic disciplines use the Arts Centre. This list includes the Watsonairs Choral Group, who practice in the facility, along with jewelers, wood turners, painters from Studio 1010, spinners, weavers, potters, and the Northern Image Photographers.
Open House attendees had an opportunity to meet and learn about all of these groups as part of Culture Days.
“That’s culture and culture is arts, absolutely,” Nieman said. “Judy (MacLeod-Campbell) has been doing a great job trying to get so many things going in so many areas with the museum and the library and so on.”
Culture Days is a national celebration of arts and culture. It has become the largest cultural event in Canada, attracting an estimated 2 million annual attendees to thousands of free activities and performances hosted by artists, cultural organizations and municipalities in 355 communities across Canada.
Culture Days in Prince Albert are coordinated by a local committee and funded by SaskCulture, Saskatchewan Lotteries, the Municipal Cultural Action Plan (City of Prince Albert), and the organizations and their funders hosting Culture Days events as noted in the events listing.
Nieman said she hoped the open house could be used to spark interest.
“(I would like to extend) an invitation for people to come out and check some of these groups out. there’s some interesting stuff in it. I hope we have a good turnout,” she said at the beginning of the open house.
Nieman added that she was hopeful they could capture people’s interest in the worthwhile activities at the Arts Centre.
“Today would (provide) just a little bit of an inspiration, I hope,” Nieman said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
