We are deeply saddened by the passing of Claire Kramer (1926–2025), a visionary philanthropist and founding member of the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts.

Claire was instrumental in turning a dream into reality: championing Saskatchewan writers through the creation of the Glengarry Book Award Prize. Her legacy lives on in every story that finds its voice through this award.

Read her full obituary here.

Saskatchewan Foundation For The Arts announces 2024 Endowment Award recipients

Five Saskatchewan artists to receive annual awards of $5000 continuing a legacy of support for Saskatchewan artists through ongoing donor support

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Regina – February 3^rd, 2025  – The Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts (SFFA) proudly announces the 2024 Endowment Award recipients, with the addition of the first non-endowed donor directed award. 

Endowment fund awards are made possible by the generosity of donors, philanthropists and the trailblazers who have invested and established support for the arts and artists of Saskatchewan in perpetuity. To date the SFFA has supported 82 artists with over $455,000 in awards, managed and administered by the SFFA Board of Trustees. 

THE 2024 ENDOWMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Colleen & Allan Bailey Memorial Fund – Literary Award 
Victoria Koops: for the development of her upcoming untitled young adult novel. 

Harry Nick Kangles Fund – Regina Artist Award 
Laura Pettigrew: for the composition of new works for flute quartet, and piano solo work.

Jane Turnbull Evans Fund – Visual Award For Female Artist 
Stephanie Bellefleur: to develop new works for exhibitions in 2025.

Shurniak Fund – Visual Award 
David LaRiviere – for the creation of audio and video installation artwork for an ongoing project in the Athabasca Oil Sands. 

Gursh Barnard says, “We’re delighted to announce that the Board of Trustees have created an opportunity for supporters of the arts to make a difference with our new non-endowed donor directed awards. We welcome Anthony Bidulka and Herb McFaull as the donors of the Tony and Herb Rainbow Award.”

The Tony & Herb Rainbow Award – Literary And Visual Artist
Rebecca La Marre – Create an installation using sculptures fired in an anagama. 

In 2024, the award is open to all emerging and mid-career literary and visual artists that self-declare / identify as 2SLGBTQ+. This award aims to amplify the presence of and encourage 2SLGBTQ+ artists in Saskatchewan.

 “We are grateful to be able to take part in furthering the worthwhile mandate of the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts and celebrate diversity in the literary and visual arts. For us, this is personal, not only as Saskatchewanians, but as life-long supporters and members of the arts and queer communities. We can only hope this award will bring a small bit of hope, joy, and inspiration to award recipients. Keep doing what you’re doing. The world needs you.”, says Bidulka/McFaull

The Endowment Awards Jury is selected from pool of multidisciplinary artists. Chaired by Peter Sametz, Director of Operations for Symphony New Brunswick, the 2024 Endowment Awards jury included Visual Artist Delree Dumont, Poet and Novelist Elizabeth Phillips, and Performance Artist Kaitlyn Semple. 

About the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts 

The Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts (SFFA) is a public Foundation dedicated solely to creating a legacy of financial support for the arts and artists in Saskatchewan. 

For more information on the Endowment Awards and how to make a financial contribution contact: 

Gursh Barnard: CEO & Chair, Board of Trustees
Tel: 306-737-8980
E-mail: info@saskartsfoundation.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts announces 2024 Glengarry Book Award – Trevor Herriot for ‘The Economy of Sparrows’

Regina – February 3, 2025– Launched by the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts (SFFA) in 2021, the Glengarry Book Award was created to support and foster Saskatchewan’s literary culture. An annual award for the first edition of an English language novel or book of short fiction the Glengarry Award was the vision of donor and book lover Claire Kramer, a founding trustee of the SFFA. 

The annual $20,000 (CAD) prize recognizes authors with Saskatchewan roots. In 2024, the SFFA is proud to announce Trevor Herriot as the recipient of the Saskatchewan’s largest annual literary prize. 

“The Economy of Sparrows, celebrates the prairies, sharing a narrative of a deep connection rooted to land and nature. Our fourth year is a proud moment as we continue to support Saskatchewan writers who share stories and inspire readers beyond our borders,” says Kramer.

Herriot says, “I am delighted to be receiving the Glengarry Award from the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts.  It’s gratifying to be placed with our province’s most important literary figures. The Glengarry is a pleasure to receive from the generous heart of Claire Kramer, someone who grew up on the prairie of Southwestern Saskatchewan, and fell in love with its stories and story tellers.”

The Economy of Sparrows, connects today’s settler culture and natural science to their roots in colonial empire-building. The richly observed story of Nell Rowan, who inherited her family’s prairie farmstead and returned after decades away, shares a tale of prairie life, as she finds the people who might help her come to some peaceful resolution of her life’s challenges. Readers are faced with questions of how we engage with and value the natural world, how its truths illuminate both history and our present lives, and how we justify ourselves to the wild things of the earth. 

Managed and administered by the SFFA, The Glengarry Book Award jury is selected from a pool of Canadian authors, literary publishers and organizations. Chaired by Valerie Creighton, CEO of the Canada Media Fund, the 2024 jury included, Rachel Stapleton, Senior Acquisitions Officer of the University of Regina Press, author and playwright Kelly Jo Burke and public figure and politician John Nilson.  

Shortlisted novels, Marina Endicott’s The Observer, was noted for its beautiful writing, eloquent prose and examination of stress adjacent trauma. Dave Margoshes A Simple Carpenter, was noted for the interweaving of a biblical fable, magic realism and political intrigue through the wanderings of the main character.

Herriot joins previous Glengarry recipients and award-winning authors Diane Warren for The Diamond House (2021 Recipient), Guy Vanderhaeghe for August into Winter (2022 recipient.), and Sharon Butala for Leaving Wisdom (2023 recipient). 

Gursh Barnard says, “The Glengarry Book Award follows a long history of patrons fostering the arts. Our thanks to Claire Kramer and our dedicated juries for continuing to support Saskatchewan’s largest literary prize.” 

Trevor Herriot is a naturalist, grassland conservationist, and author of several award-winning books, including Grass, Sky, Song and the national bestseller River in a Dry Land, which were short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. Towards a Prairie Atonement, published in October 2016, took two Saskatchewan Book Awards.  His most recent book, a novel, The Economy of Sparrows, was released in 2023. He is a recipient of the Kloppenberg Award for Literary Merit and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. His essays and articles have appeared in The Globe & Mail, The Narwhal, Brick, Border Crossings, Canadian Geographic, and several anthologies. For more than twenty years he has been the voice of Birdline on CBC Radio Saskatchewan’s Blue Sky noon show.

About the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts

The Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts (SFFA) is a public Foundation dedicated solely to creating a legacy of financial support for the arts and artists in Saskatchewan, through the generous financial support of individuals, organizations, and corporations. 

http://www.saskartsfoundation.com/

Gursh Barnard: CEO & Chair.
Tel: 306-737-8980
E-mail: info@saskartsfoundation.com

2023 Endowment Award recipients

Ten artists receive annual awards.

Regina – February 2nd, 2024 – The Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts (SFFA) proudly announces the 2023 Endowment Award recipients in literary, multidisciplinary, performance (dance, music and theatre) and visual arts, with ten awards of $5000 each. Managed and administered by the SFFA Board of Trustees, each award is supported by the named endowment funds. 

Gursh Barnard, Chair of the SFFA says, “The response to the 2023 call for submissions was a proud moment. Not only in the volume of applicants, but the diversity across artistic platforms was tremendous. The generosity of our donors has facilitated the growth of the Endowment Funds allowing the SFFA to support emerging and established artists from Saskatchewan who represent our province’s diverse cultures.”

THE 2023 ENDOWMENT AWARD FUNDS AND RECIPIENTS

LITERARY AWARD – Colleen Bailey Memorial Fund
IRENE TUSHABE (IRYN) a Ugandan Canadian writer and journalist: to write a collection of short stories tentatively titled ‘A Separation’.

INDIGENOUS LITERARY AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
ELAINE MCARTHUR a Dakota/Nakota member of the Ocean Man First Nation on Treaty 4 territory: to develop a graphic novel about an Indigenous superhero who battles evil in the community. 

INDIGENOUS TRADITIONAL CRAFT AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
ANNIE BRASS: Anishinaabe/Neheyow comes from the people of many roads, Kawacatoose Cree Nation of Saskatchewan: to document a family journey creating Men’s Fancy Dance Regalia.

INDIGENOUS/ MULTIMEDIA LANGUAGE AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
GEANNA DUNBAR: Cree Metis spoken word visual artist. Member of Metis Nation of Saskatchewan: A Metis written and illustrated children’s book about a wolf hybrid that doesn’t fit in with pure bred wolves or dogs. Book will be translated in English and Michif. 

MULTIDISCIPLINARY LGBTQ2S+ ARTIST/ART AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
S.E. GRUMMETT (they/them) a queer, transgender theatre artist: Develop a performance piece ‘Nude Parade’. Using repurposed trash-puppets, non-linear narrative, and live music, the piece explores the collective body, its parts and the identities we cling to.

FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
GABRIELA GARCÍA-LUNA is a photo-based multimedia artist born in Mexico City: Access to Business tools to showcase, promote and market her substantial body of work. Invest in the creation of a professional website.

PRAIRIE FOLK ART AWARD – Dick & Jane Fund
KARLIE KING is a mixed media visual artist: Restore the doily to its traditional placement in our daily lives, in alignment with current aesthetic trends.

REGINA ARTIST AWARD –  Harry Nick Kangles Fund 
LANDON WALLISER is a queer and neurodiverse artist working as director and producer: to further the new jukebox musical “Annette is a Bimbo!” with The Women’s Company and Be Kind Rewind Productions. 

VISUAL AWARD FOR FEMALE ARTIST – Jane Turnbull Evans Fund
NÉGAR DEVINE-TAJGARDAN visual artist with interest in sculpture, installation art and photography: for her visual work based on concepts of displacement through new approaches to textile and sound art. 

VISUAL AWARD – Shurniak Fund
AUDIE MURRAY visual artist working with multimedia including sculpture, media, beadwork and drawing:Creation of two sculptures made of beadwork that resembles cake to be shown in a 2024 group exhibition.

The SFFA is committed to supporting and recognizing the work of Saskatchewan artists and actively seeks donations from arts patrons and supporters who celebrate the vibrancy and value of the arts and culture. 

In 2023, the SFFA announced five new awards supported by ‘The Dick and Jane Fund’. The endowment fund was established by Richard Spafford and Jane Turnbull-Evans as a legacy gift in perpetuity honoring a lifelong commitment to supporting the arts and their drive in establishing the SFFA.

Barnard says, “Our province is recognized for creating world-class artists. Our donors and supporters have invested over 3 million dollars to secure private funding for the arts and artists of Saskatchewan.  To date the SFFA has supported 76 artists with over $410,000 in awards. Visionaries have made this possible and we look forward to building the Endowment funds in support of our province’s arts and talented artists.”

About the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts 

The Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts (SFFA) is a public Foundation dedicated solely to creating a legacy of financial support for the arts and artists of Saskatchewan, through the generous financial support of individuals, organizations and corporations. If interested in learning more about becoming a donor, or supporting the SFFA and Saskatchewan’s artists, please contact the SFFA for more information. 

http://www.saskartsfoundation.com/

Gursh Barnard: Chair, Board of Trustees

Tel: 306-737-8980

E-mail: info@saskartsfoundation.com

2023 Glengarry Book Award Prize recipient

Sharon Butala – ‘Leaving Wisdom’

Regina – January 27, 2024 – Launched by the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts (SFFA) 2021, the Glengarry Book Award Prize was created to support and foster Saskatchewan’s literary culture. The Glengarry Book Award Prize is an annual award for the first edition of an English language novel or book of short fiction. This award is the vision of donor and book lover Claire Kramer, a founding trustee of the SFFA. 

The annual $20,000 (CAD) prize celebrates authors with Saskatchewan roots. In its third year, the SFFA is proud to announce Sharon Butala as this year’s recipient of the province’s largest literary prize. 

“I am delighted to honour Sharon Butala with this award,” says Kramer. “Whether they began their career in Saskatchewan or were schooled in the province, the authors are connected to the land. We are proud of the continued momentum in our third year and look forward to continuing to support the creativity of Saskatchewan writers who share stories with readers far beyond our borders.”

Sharon Butala says, “In establishing Saskatchewan’s most important literary prize, Claire Kramer has not only assisted individual writers but is actively spreading the word across Canada about Saskatchewan’s rich literary culture and the talent of our writers. I am deeply honoured by this award.”

Leaving Wisdom, tells a thought-provoking story of life in small town Saskatchewan and the shock Judith, the protagonist experiences after the anonymity of a big city. Her story tells not only the suffering that comes from family secrets, but also unfolds one woman’s late life awakening to the complex shadows cast by World War Two and the Holocaust.

Managed and administered by the SFFA, The Glengarry Book Award Prize selects its jury from a pool of Canadian authors, literary publishers and organizations. The 2023 jury members were author Marina Endicott, Glenda MacFarlane, editor of Scirocco Books in Winnipeg and writer Maggie Siggins, and was chaired by Valerie Creighton, CEO of the Canada Media Fund. 

Creighton says, “The Jury selected the novel Leaving Wisdom for its strong craft of writing. A powerful narrative – one that stays true to character from start to finish, and themes addressing the struggle of being true to one’s understanding of the world, that resonate across generations. It’s been an honour to work with Claire Kramer and the Foundation to establish this award and to chair the jury. The impact of this award is significant for our province.”

Shortlisted novels for the 2023 Glengarry Book Award Prize include Dee Hobsbawn-Smith’s Danceland Diary, andMichael Afenfia’s Leave My Bones in Saskatoon.

Kramer says, “Realising a dream to contribute to recognizing and encouraging Saskatchewan authors became a reality in partnership with the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts.  My thanks to them, the juries and the creative storytellers.”

Butala has written over 22 novels and nonfiction books, including The Perfection of the Morning, Where I Live Now, Zara’s Dead, Fever and Wild Rose. Born in Nipawin in 1940, Butala resided in Saskatchewan for over 60 years. She began her education in a one-room eight-grade school and furthered her studies at The University of Saskatchewan campus as a student and teacher. 

Her previous awards include the Marian Engel Award for Women Writers in Mid-Career, the 1986 Writers’ Choice Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards and Western Magazine Awards.  She has also won a Saskatchewan Writers Guild Member’s Achievement Award, a Canadian Authors’ Award, Canada 125 Commemorative Medal, Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Centennial Medal.  She is a three-time Governor General’s Literary Award nominee. In 2002, she became an officer of the Order of Canada. 

For her ninth novel, Leaving Wisdom, Butala joins previous Glengarry Book Award Prize recipients and award-winning authors Diane Warren for The Diamond House (2021 recipient), and GuyVanderhaeghe for August into Winter (2022 recipient.)

“The Glengarry Book Award Prize follows a long history of Saskatchewan arts patrons supporting and celebrating the arts. We are honoured to be a part of recognizing the literary artists who have made their mark on Saskatchewan,” says Gursh Barnard, Chair of the Board of Trustees. 

About the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts

The Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts (SFFA) is a public Foundation dedicated solely to creating a legacy of financial support for the arts and artists in Saskatchewan, through the generous financial support of individuals, organizations, and corporations.

http://www.saskartsfoundation.com/

Gursh Barnard: Chair, Board of Trustees

Tel: 306-737-8980

E-mail: info@saskartsfoundation.com