HUMBOLDT 鈥� The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance will be holding a conversation in Humboldt for background research for a study next year on 鈥渢he value of arts and culture for community cohesion鈥�.
The facilitated questions are constructed to find the community鈥檚 key needs and priorities.
鈥淯sually when we don鈥檛 have a congress, on those alternative years we go out into various communities in the province to talk to them about their community and the arts and what people are doing,鈥� said Marnie Gladwell, executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance.
Gladwell said one of the differences is this year will be more formal, and will talk to people about their arts and culture, connecting and how it brings community together, as well as the contributions it makes for community cohesion.
鈥淎nd so it鈥檚 just giving us insights on the social values of the arts.鈥�
She said they won鈥檛 be looking at critical issues, just on how the arts foster community cohesion.
The conversation will be facilitated by Amber Fletcher, a doctor in the Department of Sociology at University of Regina.
The three year study鈥檚 function is to find how arts influence culture in rural communities in Saskatchewan.
Previous conversations took place in Weyburn and Shaunavon.
Gladwell said one of the themes both these conversations had were how they played a role in their community.
鈥淭hat it draws them together as a group. That was an interesting thing that we鈥檝e heard it other places as well, but were spoken about in this two communities.鈥�
The conversation in Humboldt will take place May 2 from 7 to 9 pm at the Humboldt and District Gallery.
The conversation is open to everyone from artists to arts enthusiasts or just someone that has an interest in the arts.
鈥淲e鈥檙e an organization that advocates on behalf of the arts for the province,鈥� Gladwell said. 鈥淪o it will give us the information that we need so that we can advocate for maybe some of the needs that are addressed in the conversation.鈥�
