The $50,000 grant we received in 2012 from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation was absolutely intrinsic to us moving forward with our vision of improving our building and making office purchases that we otherwise would not be able to do. 

The grants we currently apply for are for operating purposes and go towards salaries, programming, utilities, advertising, professional development and day-to-day costs associated with our museum and gallery. We have had sponsors/donors in our past and typically they are interested in supporting our children’s programs, which we are always pleased to see. Finding building maintenance and capital equipment grants is rare. So in short unless something is completely obsolete or broken, the gallery usually goes without unless it is absolutely needed. The gift of $50,000 that could be used for these purposes has enabled us to truly move forward in so many areas.

A new venture we brought forward was to have at least one fundraiser a year and all of our public programming now taking place at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. This step was taken to increase awareness and numbers to our museum, which in kind is used as numeric stats for our granting purposes. With support from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation we were able to purchase lighting and flooring for much needed enhancement of our gallery spaces to improve our space aesthetically, and how exhibitions looked within our space. We were also able to purchase small items like new stacking chairs and tables for events and programming in our space. 

Thank you South Saskatchewan Community Foundation!