By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
To celebrate Saskatchewan's Culture Days, the Humboldt & District Museum and Gallery is hosting a Culture Days event filled with workshops this Friday and Saturday.
The event will include a series of concerts on Main Street beginning at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., both of which will feature slightly different cultural music than people are used to.
"This is to promote culture in our community," said Annah Gullacher, one of the organizers of the event. "We are trying to meet our Humboldt goals in which we want Humboldt to be a welcoming and inclusive community. Part of that is connecting our community with gathering places and events."
All of the indoor events will take place at the gallery. The goal is to get people to experience something they haven't seen before, such as a new band or a new workshop. Speaking of workshops, there will be a poetry writing, spoken word performance, and coffeehouse with Cat Abenstein on Friday. On Saturday, there will be quite a few more events that will include henna art, ceramic storytelling, and musical performances.
With regards to the ceramic storytelling, Sandy Christensen will be involving the community in a collaborative sculpture.
"There will also be workshops, which will include performing arts such as singing-songwriting with Kirby Criddle, who's from Watson originally. It'll be nice to have someone from the area who's up-and-coming," said Gullacher. "We want (the gallery) to be a cultural destination, a place for arts and culture."
While this isn't the first time the city has had Culture Days, it will be the first time the museum and gallery are putting on these kinds of events.
"It's different this year because it's in the gallery, so there's more focus on the arts," said Jean Price, another organizer for the event. "We still have the same associations, even though we've shifted focus."
This museum and gallery is working in partnership with the Humboldt Regional Newcomer Centre and Arts Humboldt, but is funded by Sask Culture. As such, all the events will be free while still providing fair pay to the artists.
"We just want everyone to come out and have a good time, so we hope they're activities people like to do," said Price. "They're pretty diverse, so there's something for everyone to enjoy. We're not doing this for ourselves, we're doing this for Humboldt."
For the digital media citizens, the gallery is inviting people to go to places they love and take selfies, which they can then tweet to @CultureDaysSK and @Hum_Muse_ings with the hashtag #OurHumboldt. The museum and gallery will be open on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
