Ranch Ehrlo’s Paper Crane Community Arts Centre has been given the opportunity to expand and explore with the recent announcement of new grant funding.
Paper Crane was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board to hire an artist on a contractual three-month basis (January 30th – April 30th) to explore and connect community outreach opportunities with community groups, youth, and individuals within the community.
“This grant is very exciting for us,” said Amanda Scandrett, project manager at Paper Crane. “This grant gives us the opportunity to begin to serve a broader scope of the community.”
Paper Crane has delivered programming to more than 15 schools and community organizations in its 15 months of operation, although requests for additional partnerships go unsolicited each month.
“Imagine what we will be able to do with someone designated to fill this role,” said Amanda.
The contract artist will be Dagan Harding, an indie-rock musician who holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy & Admin and works as the director of Homelessness Initiatives for the Regina YMCA.
Throughout his contract with Paper Crane, Dagan will develop and implement a needs assessment for a variety of community organizations and individuals. This needs assessment will identify where integrated arts programming is requested, and will explore funding options and viability of collaboration.
The Arts Board also awarded Paper Crane a second grant of $10,000 to cover the cost of having art therapist Dianne Shannon work with students at Schaller Education Centre (Pilot Butte campus) to create visual art and writing to be featured on a special project website.
Dianne will work with the five classrooms at Schaller school throughout the months of February, March, and April.
Like all Paper Crane programs, this project is designed to foster positive identity, to elevate self-esteem, and to engage youth while promoting learning through creativity, said Amanda.
“This project will be built as a public website with the intent of giving youth a voice to the entire world – not just within our agency or local community,” she explained. “The intention is to give youth a public forum to express themselves.”
Paper Crane Community Arts Centre was also fortunate to receive a $3,500 Saskatchewan Instructional Development Research Unit (SIDRU) grant through the University of Regina’s Faculty of Education. The grant will finance a portion of programming supplies, and will be used to hire a research assistant to assess the centre’s yoga and art program for one year.
