Culture Days returns to Prince Albert this weekend with the theme “Connecting, Caring, Celebrating.”
The City of Prince Albert has taken part in the national event since 2016. Judy Macleod Campbell, Arts and Cultural Coordinator for the City of Prince Albert, said it’s a great opportunity to give Prince Albert and area cultural groups a chance to connect with local residents.
“The whole purpose really is to engage more people in arts and culture,” she said. “For me, the intent is really about those that maybe don’t get the opportunity due to cost, (or) due to transportation.
“We’re trying to just eliminate those barriers that some people have for participating, so being able to provide some free opportunities during this … three-week timeframe is really nice for the community.”
Free public transit is a big part of making the weekend more affordable. The City of Prince Albert has offered free transit for the kick-off weekend on Sept. 23-24.
Culture Days will also see more than 20 free events and opportunities offered from September 23 to October 16.
Free events begin this weekend with the Downtown Sidewalk Sale and Culture Days on Sept.24 hosted by Prince Albert Downtown. This will feature live entertainment, hide scraping demonstrations and more.
There will also be a Community BBQ for National Day for Truth & Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on Sept.30. The Mann Art Gallery Art Tent will be onsite. The Prince Albert Urban Indigenous Coalition is hosting the event.
“Every year the national office tends to come up with some kind of theme for Culture Days and this year it is more focused around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,” Macleod Campbell explained. “Provincially, Sask Culture, the umbrella organization for culture in our province, they offer sponsorship to communities in the province which we were lucky to get as well. Their focus tying into (the national event) is on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation/Orange Shirt Day.”
This weekend is also the Tapestrama Cultural Festival on Sept. 24 and 25, hosted by the Prince Albert Multicultural Council and held at Carlton Comprehensive High School.
There will be free admission to the Prince Albert Historical Museum on Sept.30, Oct.2, and Oct.9. There is also the Gateway Mall Urban Art Tour on Oct.1, which is a chance to watch local artists at work.
There is also Beaded Poppy making on Oct.5 and 12 at the Prince Albert Arts Centre, a Family Art Night on Oct.13 at the Mann Art Gallery. Another event at the Arts Centre Story & Craft: Kohkum’s Babushka on Oct.15 hosted by the Prince Albert Council for the Arts.
The Prince Albert Arts Centre will host five or six different programs that are unique to culture days. Macleod Campbell said they want to draw people into the building, take a free class or workshop, and enjoy it enough that they’ll come back the rest of the year.
“That’s really the goal,” she said. “It’s a great free opportunity but that hopefully engages people for the longer term.”
A complete schedule of all the events is available on the Prince Albert Hub Page.
“(There is) quite a variety and pretty spread out, there’s more events on this Saturday for sure. But we tried to spread out over the three weeks we have some activities going on every week,” Macleod Campbell said.
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.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
