Applications now open for the last Art Farm Scholarship

Artists, or those hoping to take an art course to enhance their skills, have until January 31st to apply for the fifth and final Art Farm Scholarship.

This is the last year of the five-year scholarship opportunity from the popular local event, which saw thousands attend, with 40 artists displaying their works, painting opportunities for children, space for non-profit organizations, food vendors, and live music. 

The event ran from 2013 to 2017, and Former Art Farm Board Member, Rickee-Lee said scholarship from the event's profits has been administered each year since 2018 by the R.M. of Weyburn.

"The RM, who we teamed up with throughout Art Farm, helped us out with holding on to the funds and receiving applications and then distributing the funds for the next five years," she explained.

Rickee-Lee said it's applicable to cover any courses that have to do with the visual arts. 

"So that could be pottery, photography, painting, mixed media, fabric," she listed, adding the course doesn't have to be in Weyburn, but it could be.

"If you're going to school in Saskatoon or something like that, but your family still lives in Weyburn or the surrounding area, you can also apply. So if you wanted to take a painting class in Saskatoon, you can apply and get the funds possibly covered through the Art Farm Scholarship." 

Find the application HERE.

"It's a pretty simple application. It's for anybody that's 16 and over. We think it's really important to support adults in their creative endeavors. We have lots of support for kids and we love our kids and that's amazing. But we also want to support adults. Creativity is really important in mental wellness and having an outlet for yourself and to explore and to try something different, get out of your comfort zone. And it's super rewarding to spend a little time being creative."

She said the board designated by the R.M. of Weyburn determines how the funds are distributed. 

"They will evaluate whether or not people are within the criteria, and then they'll try and split the funds. So like in the past, sometimes, maybe we have the people the recipients haven't gotten their full amount, but they've gotten a portion of their amount so that they could give the recipients all a portion."

Rickee-Lee said in all there's about $2,000 in funding available.

She shared on what it was like to experience one of the five Art Farm events for those who didn't get to go.

"It was the most magical place," she exclaimed. "It was on a farm just South of Weyburn, Saskatchewan. We had about 40 visual artists there every year, ages ranging from 8 to 90 and different mediums from metal to photography to painting to fabric. We had live music all day. We had a kids stage. We had dancers. We had grassroots kids activities and animals, so horses and dogs. Painting of rocks and the arena."

She said one year just over 3,000 people show up to the big event.

"We started it as a grassroots, with eleven of us that came together," shared Rickee-Lee.

"We were all artists and we wanted to share our work and have a space to sell it and make some money too and support our local artists. And so we got together and ran a Christmas show and we ended up having 300 people show up. And so we decided to do something in the summer and Art Farm was born and it lasted for five years. And it was incredible. We had healthy food, we teamed up with other nonprofits for them to also make money or we had the Young Fellows that helped us out when we were just getting started and we didn't have any funds to, you know get us going and to help us with our raffle."

"We had all sorts of people and it was just this beautiful day to get outside, enjoy the Saskatchewan Prairies, enjoy art and see what amazing talent is really in Weyburn and the surrounding area."

She said Weyburn's art scene has grown a lot since Art Farm. 

"It really turned into this beautiful snowball effect that trickled down and it was just an amazing time.

Rickee-Lee, who now lives in Calgary but also grew up there, said the event fills her with gratitude for being able to learn a lot about community and people coming together and making a difference.