Tonight I was lucky enough to sit in a room with the whose who of the Sask arts scene. There are so many fantastic artists in this province and people here always wonder why. It might be the isolation or the long winters or the big sky. Who knows what the inspiration is, but there is something special here.
Saskatchewan was the first province to create an Arts Board, an arm's length funding agency of the government. The Sask Arts Board has been copied by organizations across the country. Saskatchewan was the first province to have a Poet Laureate. Saskatchewan has an orchestra that is 100 years old.
The feature performance of the event was a bunch of RSO musicians who created "The Village Orchestra" and local rapper "Myth Rhythm". He got a grant from the arts board to get local composers to orchestrate his music. In one piece, he just freestyle beat-boxed the entire song. I looked across the room of "mature" elite arts donors, artists, government types, and administrators and was happy to see some of those grey haired people grooving to the music. The best was when Myth Rhythm encouraged the orchestra to "kick it"...and to see some of our grey haired orchestra members playing their hearts out in leather jackets.
When I moved to Toronto, and my friends who I went to school with or worked with will attest to this, all I did was brag about how great Sask is. I was happy to make fun of it, but I'm so proud of it too. I love that not everyone knows what a hidden gem this place is because if they knew it just wouldn't be the same.
One of the award winners said it best tonight - "in Saskatchewan, if you don't have the means to do something you just get some volunteers together and make it up. And sometimes it's the 'making it up' that brings out the best creations"
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