Saskatchewan Arts Board
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2005-2006 Annual Report P OF OUR LIVES P OF OUR LIVES Table of contents PART of Our Lives 1 Executive Director’s Message 2 PART of Our Identity 3 PART of Our Memory 4 PART of Learning 5 PART of Community 6 PART of Innovation 7 PART of Excellence 9 PART of Our Province 10 PART of Success 13 PART of Our Celebrations 15 PART of Our Connections 19 PART of Leadership 20 PART of Our Message 21 Management Responsibility for Financial Information 30 Auditor’s Report 30 Financial Statements 31 Notes to Financial Statements 35 In its 58-year history, the Saskatchewan Arts Board has had a long list of board members and 20 chairs – an illustrious list of artists, Colleen Bailey volunteers and community leaders from across 1939 - 2006 the province and all walks of life, drawn together through their shared sense of public service and a love of the arts. Only a few of these people, Colleen Bailey among them, saw so much change and so many significant developments in public support for the arts in Saskatchewan. In her 12 years on the Board (1972-1977 and 2000-2006) Colleen influenced the public’s thinking about support for the arts and the artists in our midst. From her direct involvement in setting up the cultural section of the public lottery system, to her recent position as Arts Board chair, Colleen remained through the years a committed and vocal advocate for the arts. She sought to bring the work of Saskatchewan artists to the public and believed passionately in the essential role of the arts in our lives. Her early years on the Arts Board, her life-long support for artists and her role in establishing the provincial arts council movement through OSAC would have been enough work for most people. In early 2000, she was asked to come back to the Arts Board as its Chair. She was keen to learn about the changes that had taken place at the Board since the mid-70s and never looked back. Her joking references to being a recycled board member were just that. There was nothing recycled about Colleen. She brought strong skills and a desire to stay on task to our meetings. She believed in an effective, well-administered agency yet one that never forgot why it existed, what it valued. Every Board Chair brings a certain style and emphasis to the organization. The best leave it stronger, more able to carry out its mission; they provide leadership within and without the Board. The Arts Board is that much stronger for having had Colleen as a member and chair. The Province is that much stronger for having had Colleen as a determined, inspired and public- minded citizen. Our lives at the Arts Board are already different without her, but her legacy is a joyous source of nourishment, optimism and abiding energy for art and for the people of our province. 1 Executive Director’s Message This has been a momentous and exciting year for the Province and for the Arts Board. Time and again throughout the Centennial year, the enormous pride Saskatchewan people felt for our collective and individual achievements really shone through, and in no one area more than the arts, highlighting our skills, creativity, reputation for innovation and thirst for learning. From the Lieutenant Governor’s Gala to the Gateway Project, the stunning new Mural in the Legislature, the groundbreaking Clearing the Path Exhibition of traditional Indigenous Art, the Centennial Theatre Tour All My Relations - Wahkotowin to the publication of Steven Ross Smith’s Celebrating Saskatchewan Artists, the Arts Board helped celebrate our culture, one too often given to understating its achievements. It has been an amazing year for us. Yet, we close out our year on a bittersweet note: celebrating Colleen’s life yet deeply regretting her all too premature departure. We dedicate this Report to her memory. In doing so, I am reminded forcefully of the rich history of the Arts Board and the enduring accomplishments of Saskatchewan people in the arts. What is abundantly clear is that we are an exceptionally innovative and creative people. In terms of public funding, this is the result of almost 60 years of systematic public support through the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the contributions of the service, community and education-based provincial organizations supported by the lottery system since the early 1970s. The arts are deeply embedded in Saskatchewan life, more so than we often think, and so we should not be surprised if there is a strong, increasing desire and demand for arts in the province. Furthermore, we are increasingly connected to the global recognition of creativity and the arts as key forces in healthy, flourishing societies. In Saskatchewan itself, the arts are undergoing a renaissance. For the last several years, they have come firmly onto the P OF OUR LIVES provincial radar screen and to the attention of the public in a new and refreshing way. Recent affirmations by provincial, municipal and community leaders of the importance of the arts have made a difference. Many of the high profile Centennial events were artistic activities, most notably the Lieutenant Governor’s Gala. More fundamentally, there is the deep need, sometimes repressed or unrecognized, that all of us have for imagination in our lives that is emerging more forcefully, persistently and clearly on the public stage and into the consciousness of our public interest. In 2006-2007, the Arts Board will be taking stock of these issues, including the impact of the Centennial, the results of increased revenues and greater arts awareness in the last several years and the needs of areas previously overlooked or deserving of even more attention. We want to build on the strengths of our individual artists, arts organizations, creative communities and partnerships. In particular, we look forward to responding to the opportunities presented by the forthcoming Report of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Status of the Artist. We will continue to make the case for public funding of the arts, especially in light of the growing aspirations and needs of people in communities across Saskatchewan. Overall pressures have become particularly acute in the last two to three years and include the complex, ongoing needs of arts organizations as well as issues which cut across many kinds of boundaries, such as arts and learning, Indigenous arts, young people and the arts and the arts in rural Saskatchewan. We will be drawing attention to all of these in our 2006 Business Plan In reading this year’s Report, you will see an increased emphasis on our accountability to the public: in how we report on this year’s activity and lay out key objectives for the coming year in the context of the Board’s major goals. This forward looking emphasis will be a permanent feature of the Annual Report and will be regularly informed by our Business Plan. Renewed substantially every three years, the Plan will be a detailed presentation of our forthcoming activities and the strategic basis for their selection. To be released later this summer, it will be an increasingly sophisticated and comprehensive overview of the state of the arts in Saskatchewan. In closing, I want to thank our Board members and my colleagues on staff, a fabulous team dedicated unreservedly to the Arts Board and its mission. Jeremy Morgan Executive Director 2 P OF OUR IDENTITY Our Story The establishment of the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1948 and the passage of The Arts Board Act in 1949 signified a major development for the arts in Saskatchewan and North America. The Arts Board launched a number of programs to make the arts Mission available to the people of Saskatchewan and to stimulate artistic To cultivate an environment in growth. Several high profile initiatives engaged the community, which the arts thrive for the particularly outreach programs and tours aimed at smaller towns and villages, workshops to improve artistic standards and programs to raise benefit of everyone in public awareness. By 1968, the Arts Board had a unique Permanent Saskatchewan. Collection of visual art, the School of the Arts at Fort San, and consulting services and grant programs that became the Agency’s signature functions. From the 1990s to the present, the Arts Board has focused on its fundamental role as the unifying focus for arts policy, funding and support in the province. These initiatives led to the proclamation of a new Act in 1998 that emphasized a broader application of powers and responsibilities, particularly in the areas of arts and education, cultural industries and Vision Aboriginal arts. The new Act also spoke to the concept of peer assessment and community input into board selection and the Saskatchewan is known development of the Board’s programs. internationally as a truly creative society, a society for arts and innovation, which fosters a spirit of inquiry and exploration in its citizens. Readily available to everyone, the arts play a crucial role in encouraging us to value our own cultural identities and communities with understanding and confidence. We are known well beyond our borders for the work of In realizing the vision for the arts in Saskatchewan, we are our artists, for the vitality of our guided by the following values: imaginative life and the place of art in the lives of everyone who lives • Art and Artists: The work of Saskatchewan artists is at Values here. the centre of all our policies and programs. • Engagement and Access: We are committed to fostering dynamic and continuous engagement between Saskatchewan artists and citizens. • Accountability and Transparency: Our policies and processes are transparent and reflect a commitment to accountability for the public trust we hold.