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Arts and Culture

Historical Society gets support for new exhibit

Feb 4, 2019 | 1:38 PM

The Prince Albert Historical Society is getting some financial support from the provincial arts board to support a new project.

The financial support comes as a $7,500 grant which will help the local historical society create a new exhibit at the Prince Albert Historical Museum.

“We are going to be developing an Indigenous room, so we’re going to talk about the history of the First Nations and Métis within the Prince Albert area, starting from pre contact,” Michelle Taylor, who serves as manager and curator for the P.A. Historical Society said.

The money from the arts board will be used to create a mural. Taylor explained during the development process it was determined an art component was needed to compliment the other displays.

“This last year we had two consultation groups — a First Nations knowledge keeper group and Métis knowledge keeper group, who had input into what is going to be in the space and they felt we needed to have an art component,” she said.

Leah Dorion and Kevin Pee-Ace will the mural artists and work is expected to be complete in April. Taylor expects the mural to be done by April. As one of the grant’s conditions is to have community involvement, residents are invited to come and paint the mural once it’s sketched out.

The museum has been working on developing the new exhibit for the past year and half. Taylor credits Dr. Leo J. Omani, a historian from Wahpeton Dakota Nation with helping to kickstart the process.

“He really pushed us to think about the development of our Indigenous displays,” she said.

Creating the new exhibit got a boost when the Northern Lights Community Development Corporation agreed to cover the costs of the knowledge keeper consultations.

“That was what kickstarted this whole thing,” Taylor said.

The Prince Albert Historical Museum has a number of Indigenous exhibits, but Taylor said she wants to bring more awareness to the history of Indigenous peoples in P.A, which is one of the calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“We want to put context to our artifacts,” she said.

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn

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