The first awards were made in 2007, and historically were made in years when funds had been available from the growing endowments, or been donated for specific annual awards.
Annual awards are made possible because of the generosity of our endowment donors. We thank them for their vision, commitment and support of Saskatchewan Artists.
We acknowledge the current and past volunteer Board of Trustees for their efforts in supporting the work of the Foundation.
In 2024, the Foundation established a multidisciplinary Jury-panel to facilitate the adjudication of five awards of $5000 each.
Victoria Koops
The Colleen & Allan Bailey Memorial Fund – Literary Award
Saskatchewan author VICTORIA KOOPS never stopped playing make-believe and often writes while wearing a tiara. Her stories are full of epic adventure and swoony romance, and navigate social issues through the power of fandom and geek culture. WHO WE ARE IN REAL LIFE is her debut novel, which has been nominated for two Saskatchewan Book Awards, the Forest of Reading’s White Pine Award™, and was included in the Globe & Mail’s Top 100 Books of 2024.
As a practicing counsellor, Victoria lives with her family in Treaty 4 Territory, where she loves to sing off-key, tease her sisters and pretend that she’ll choose a different romance the next time she plays Dragon Age: Inquisition.
“Thank you to the Colleen and Allan Bailey Memorial Fund, donors, and patrons of the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts, who believe so much in our provincial talent that they invest their money in supporting local authors, like myself. I firmly believe that stories have power and magic, and I’m so grateful that our stories have connected in this way because receiving your support feels both empowering and magical to me. Deepest gratitude and many, many thanks!”
*Featured Artist
The Jane Turnbull Evans Fund – Visual Award for Female Artist
Stephanie Bellefleur
Stephanie Bellefleur is a contemporary visual artist of color. She has gained valuable experience working as an arts administrator and production coordinator within the arts and culture sectors. Stephanie has acquired a thorough knowledge of the principles pertaining to specific areas of public art and placemaking. Stephanie’s artistic practice incorporates bold colors with strong graphic lines. She believes that great attention is lent to capturing the organic process of one’s life experiences turning them into healing manifestations. Stephanie’s work centres around building both capacity through mentorship and community engaged mural projects; supporting BIPOC and LGBT2Q+ folks in remote communities.
“The impact of this award as a female artist, mother, entrepreneur and latin american woman, had added more dimension and colors to my wings! I am so incredibly excited and grateful for this award and opportunity to continue to empower others to live out their dreams, use their voice to amplify and make space and offer agency. This is my first and only award working as a female mural/street artist across Canada, and I couldn’t be more proud to come home and receive it from the people and province that was forever my first and only true home. I feel honoured beyond words, thank you!”
*Featured Artist
David La Riviere
The Shurniak Fund – Visual Award
David LaRiviere received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta and holds an MA Fine Art degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Since January of 2008, he has been the Artistic Director of PAVED Arts, a not-for-profit, artist-run media arts centre located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. LaRiviere’s work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada. Most recently, LaRiviere completed a three-month residency, sound walk and exhibition entitled “#everysordiddetail” at OpenSpace Arts Society in Victoria, BC, and mounted “Treaty Six: The Smooth and the Striated” as part of “borderLINE: 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art” at the Art Gallery of Alberta. The Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert subsequently hosted a related but expanded solo exhibition, entitled “Anti-Tourism on Treaty Six Territory,” in the summer of 2022.
LaRiviere’s current artistic practice involves audio art, video, photography, web art, performance, and public art interventions. Of particular interest are social, political and artistic concepts that reevaluate classical, colonial, and/or majoritarian institutional frameworks. In this respect, LaRiviere politically aligns his work with a minoritarian approach to artistic expression. “Anti-Tourism” is the minoritarian concept LaRiviere has developed that encompasses his production since 2018.
“I am very grateful to receive this support from the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts and the donors who have made this possible. My work has a political dimension to it, as such this award supports a critical perspective pertaining to our current moment. Having said this, it’s important to note that I am fully implicated in this work. I do not engage in critique from “on high,” and in large part I look upon my Anti-tourism projects as learning experiences – which necessarily includes the capacity to respond to the encounter and develop new ideas. It really says something noble about the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts that they support contemporary art voices that engage subjects of this nature. When the foundation supports art that is experimental in this way they also tacitly support notions of a participatory democracy, in which everyone is encouraged to have a voice on the matters that most affect us. I very much appreciate this support on so many levels, and I hope it is widely recognized that the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts supports artistic expression as a freedom of speech and self expression.”
*Featured Artist
Laura Pettigrew
The Harry Nick Kangles Fund – Regina Artist Award
Laura Pettigrew’s contributions, influence and achievements are have expanded to all over the world with publications, performances and premieres on four of seven continents. She is an award-winning composer and flutist working across a broad range of genres in collaboration with performing artists, in film, dance and the concert hall. She incorporates ethnic instruments eg. Traditional Chinese Flute, Erhu (stringed instrument) and Dancers in her “Tunnels of Moose Jaw”; building 20 sets of pan pipes for her work “Zephyr” which also included percussion, cello and chorus to commemorate the Regina Tornado of 1912.
Her works have received world premières by; JUNO award-winning Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, (Canada) GRAMMY® Award-winning I Solisti Veneti (Italy), Ensemble Chaminade, Quartetto Image (Italy), Regina Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Guelph Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Massive Brass Attack, Sérgio Carolino, Yamaha International artist, tuba (Portugal), among others, and featured on recordings by acclaimed artists, soloists and ensembles across the globe, as well as in the international award-winning short film, The Sky Came Down, Laura Pettigrew is making her mark on the world stage.
“As a recipient of the 2024 Harry Kangles, Regina Artist Award I am enormously grateful for their generous support and dedication to Artistic Excellence! And to the unending dedication of the Saskatchewan Arts Foundation as the awards would not be possible without their support securing donors for each, every award. Thank you, I am tremendously honoured and blessed!”
*Featured Artist
Rebecca La Marre
The Tony and Herb Rainbow Award for Literary and Visual Artists
*Non Endowed Fund. Donor directed Award
Rebecca La Marre is a queer and neurodiverse artist in Saskatoon / Treaty 6, with a writing, making, and performance practice. She uses clay, text, and the human voice to give form to questions about what it means to be a person in the world. She is interested in how the physical, tangible, and repetitive act of transforming material, however humble, can be a spring-board into the life of the mind, and how the worlds of language and the body are distinct yet entangled at the same time.
The first person to teach her about clay was her grandmother Ellen La Marre, who displayed work in domestic settings and craft markets. Rebecca holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work is exhibited and published internationally. Venues include the Serpentine Gallery, MOMA PS1, The Western Front, and the Darling Foundry. Her forthcoming book, “”Craft Parlour””, will be published by The Peripheral Review alongside a solo exhibition at The Western Front in Vancouver, BC, in early 2025.
“This award comes at a significant moment in my practice, and is a meaningful reinforcement of my decision to make Saskatoon my home and base for my work. I strongly believe Saskatchewan is an exciting and supportive place to be an artist, and it is the efforts of people like the donors, the foundation, and the artistic community that make this possible.
When I moved to Saskatoon for work, having lived in major metropolitan cities like London and Berlin, I was uncertain about how I would fare as a queer person without family or a support network. This award is another testament to the strength of community in Saskatoon, where I have experienced a vibrant, talented, resilient and resourceful 2SLGBTQ+ community that works hard to lift each other up.”
*Featured Artist