It is the honour of the Prince Albert Arts Board to announce this year’s inductees into the Prince Albert Arts Hall of Fame.
The Watsonairs: Music
The Watsonairs Choral Group launched in 1956, and has been an important fixture in the cultural life of Prince Albert ever since.
Through the years, the Watsonairs have provided women in the community the opportunity to sing, perform, and give back to Prince Albert through music. Their members come from all walks of life, but they all share a love of music and song, creating a sense of camaraderie that pervades the group and their activities.
The Watsonairs have the distinction of being the longest continuously operating choral group in Saskatchewan. This kinship is a unique feature of the group, but above all that their community endeavours are also remarkable.
They provide an annual scholarship awarded at the Prince Albert Music Festival, they financially help youth attend music camps, lent financial support to the Prince Albert Lions Band on a tour of Britain, supported the Girl Guides Summer Camp, supported the installation of a chair lift and display cases at the Prince Albert Arts Centre, donated towards new beds for the YWCA, donated to furnishings for a new room at the Victoria Hospital, donated to the Group Home Society for room furnishings and stereo equipment, purchased picnic tables and barbecues for two group homes, as well as assisting facilities with the purchasing of pianos or other musical instruments such as Pine Grove Correctional Centre, PA Art Centre, The Heritage Centre, Herb Bassett Home, Pineview Terrace, St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Sherman Towers, and the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts.
The musical bond between all these women is something special, and they do all they can to give as many other people as possible the same chance to connect with music. Prince Albert Community Players: Arts Organization Prince Albert Community Players has been in operation since 1959.
With approximately 140 shows in their sixty-year history, PA Community Players are Prince Albert’s longest-running theatre company. They support high school drama programs and the Kiwanis Musical Festival through scholarships.
They have also hosted the TheatreSask Annual Drama Festival seven times, welcoming more theatre companies into Prince Albert. As well as hosting drama workshops, they are actively welcoming new actors and hosting community events. Prince Albert Community Players provide a supportive and positive environment for people to explore their creative side in all areas of a production including lighting, sound, acting, direction, stage management, and set design.
Bruce Rusheleau: Volunteer
For twenty years Bruce Rusheleau has been building (and flying) theatre in Prince Albert. One of the original Broadway North Theatre Company construction volunteers, he has put in over 10,000 volunteer hours between the Broadway North Theatre Company (Powerhouse Theatre and at the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts), OdysseyProductions, and Spark Theatre. In many cases, Bruce has even built set pieces in his own garage and driveway, before the City of Prince Albert acquired the Scouts Hall and Broadway North’s construction work had a permanent home.
Once everything is built for the ground, Bruce is always ready to assist in the flytower for productions. He is one of the original technicians who was trained to operate the flytower system over the stage, including the specialty rigging that was used for the production of Peter Pan Jr. Bruce Rusheleau has been building sets for years
in Prince Albert, and is an amazing part of the foundation of community theatre in our city.
The Induction Gala will take place on the stage of the John & Olive Diefenbaker Theatre at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts on Saturday, September 28th. Cocktails begin at 5:30, dinner is served at 6:00, and the program will begin at 7:30 with speeches and presentations made for each inductee. Tickets for the Induction Gala will be available as of Tuesday, May 28th at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre Box Office. Individual tickets are $55.25, tables of eight are $400. The box office can be called at (306) 765-1270, or tickets can be purchased in person at 142 12th Street West, Monday to Saturday between the hours of 9am at 4:30pm.
