About the Program
The Rural Arts Support Program (RASP) was created in response to the needs of the rural and Indigenous communities, previously identified through ACWB’s Arts Recovery Project.
ACWB employed Indigenous staff to co-envision and create meaningful cultural arts programs and services to meet the unique needs of the residents of rural communities within our region. Doing so enabled the community-at-large to engage with the arts, crafts, traditions, and values of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
2021 - 2022 Community Impact
Program Goals
Current
Initiatives
Baby Moccasin Project
The Baby Moccasin Project was organized by RASP to support healing in the aftermath of the discovery of the unmarked graves of Residential School children. This is an ongoing project, creating traditional moccasins to honour those who survived or those who did not make it home. This highly emotional project was completed at the pace of each community, and the finished moccasins will be displayed in the communities in which each were made.
Indigenous Word of the Week
The residents of Fort Chipewyan asked for programming which connected them to the roots of their language. Therefore, the “Indigenous Word of the Week” was launched to connect locals with the Cree and Dene language. Each week will consist of engaging and encouraging the community members to film and post themselves using the word on the Fort Chipewyan ACWB Facebook page.
Each week’s word will also be presented to the Alternate High School on Fridays and students will have to opportunity to create colouring pages that will be given to the younger students to colour, thereby sharing the language lessons.
Getting to Sold Workshops
The Getting to Sold workshops introduce artisans to the ideas around formalizing their art into a business. It goes through the in’s and outs about business licensing, branding, product pricing as well as setting up their ACWB Marketplace storefront. Each workshop will also cover the financial values of becoming a business, an introduction to contracts and will connect the artists to important resources.
This specific workshop will be delivered in a style in which Indigenous artists are encouraged and less intimidated to sell their arts and crafts.
Past
Projects
The reconnection to traditional art is an essential component of the reclaiming of cultural identity and tradition. In all past initiatives, engagement has been the heart of the Rural Art Support Program (RASP).
Many past Fort Chipewyan projects have the three nations, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Metis, together to deliver programming to residents. True community spirit!
Baby Moccasin Project
The community school in Fort Chipewyan runs year-round, accommodating students of all ages, empowering them to complete high school. In 2021, Rural Arts Support Coordinator, Donna Aubichon, spent time weekly teaching students traditional crafts often with a twist (ie. pop socket of their favorite sports team). Due to high engagement, “Beading and Reading” is now a regular activity in the school.
Indigenous Word of the Week
The Ballantyne Project is an organization out of Vancouver that focuses on remote Indigenous communities and their struggles that result form isolation and lack of resources. Arts Council has helped them deliver art supplies and programs to the Fort Chipewyan community. The organization also gave select students the opportunity to explore Indigenous arts and culture in Vancouver.