Indigenous Voices

We are delighted to introduce and congratulate the recipients of our first round of Indigenous Voices Fund grants!

The Indigenous Voices Fund is made possible through a generous $30,000 multi-year donation from a local resident committed to advancing our community’s reconciliation efforts and inclusion of Indigenous voices. The Fund was launched in 2022 with the inaugural event in the Indigenous Voices Series: In Conversation with Jennifer Podemski and Shelby Lisk: The Arts as a Platform for Indigenous Storytelling and Activism. In 2023, the focus was the design and development of an Indigenous Voices Fund Grants Program in collaboration with Indigenous artists and consultants.

Through the 2023 grant application process, it became clear that there are significant needs for career support among Indigenous artists in our community. This first round was significantly oversubscribed, with grant requests totalling over $36,000, nearly four times the amount of funding available this year.

It is with sincere gratitude that we announce that the Indigenous Voices Funds donor made an additional $5000 donation to help us better respond to this demand! Thanks to them, we were able to award $15,000 in grants in 2023 to four talented artists working in a range of artistic disciplines.

Congratulations to 2023 grant recipients Brandie Maracle, Michelle (Micky) Colton, Noelle Maracle, and Tara White! We can’t wait to see their projects come to life, and help share them with the community. We’ll be sharing more about these artists and their projects in the new year, so stay tuned!

Sincere thanks to the panel of Indigenous artists who formed the Peer Assessment Committee, and to all of this year’s applicants. For more information on this year’s grant recipients and the Indigenous Voices Fund, please visit countyarts.ca/indigenous-voices-fund