The Prince Albert Exhibition Centre was filled with dancing and signing for four days this week as students from across northern Saskatchewan arrived for the Prince Albert Grand Council Fine Arts Festival.
This year marked the 34th year of operation. More than 1,700 students attended from 12 PAGC communities. During this four days event, the students competed in several categories including literature, music and drama. The festival also includes elders who will participate in pipe ceremonies each day, local artists and motivational speakers who will share their life experiences with the students.
PAGC Fine Arts Festival Coordinator Shona Tretiak said it’s a great opportunity for northern students to showcase their talent. “Some of the kids are shy up on stage, and I think it just gives them an opportunity to be up in front of their peers,” Tretiak said. “Yes, they’re strangers, and yes they don’t know them, and yes they’re scared and nervous and all that stuff, but the hope is that they eventually get passed that stuff. Simon (emcee Simon Jobb) is really good at giving them a little bit of confidence and telling them ‘it’s okay, this is a safe place to make mistakes.’” This is the 30th year that Tretiak has been organizing the show. She said it’s been a great journey. “It doesn’t seem like 30 years really. It’s a lot of work but it’s rewarding work. It’s worth it. Sometimes things go wrong so you have got to think on the fly but things work out.” She also added that it’s also enjoyable.
“It’s fun to see all these kids getting together and doing what they love to do,” she said. “The people that I get to work with are my backbone. This event itself is just so worth it. It’s about the kids. It’s making sure that what they know that what they are passionate about is important.” While talking about the benefits of the event to the students, Tretiak said that it gives opportunities to those who are not athletic. There are lots of opportunities to play sports, she explained, but many students have interests that lie elsewhere. The PAGC Fine Arts Festival gives those students the opportunities they need.
“Artwork, literature, singing, dancing, drama, it’s all good stuff,” she said.
Tretiak has been at the organizing level for the past 30 years and is still going at it. She remembers her first year at being in charge of the event as a bit surprising on overwhelming, but looked at it as a learning experience.
“I started as the registration coordinator—just looking after kids registering,” she said. “We’ve come a long way. I think it was year two or three after I started that I started organizing it, and to be honest, my confidence level was just like that of the kids: scared and nervous and stuff like that.
“I didn’t even run my meetings. That’s how nervous I was. I didn’t even want to speak in front of people. That was not my thing, but now it’s okay. Now it’s part of the job.” Thousands of students have participated in the annual festival. The original competitors are now adults, and have fond memories of their time competing. “It’s good to see them prosper, and it’s not just because of this,” she said. “The event itself … it does give you confidence. Once you do it a couple of times, you start feeling more and more
confident and more self-assured. You’re self-confidence just goes right up.” –with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
