Carrie Sweeney

Velvet Threads’ Debut Album ‘Sunday’s Best’ Ignites Success

December 5, 2024 by Carrie Sweeney

Kate Fyrk of Saskatoon-based Pop-Rock band Velvet Threads received Creative Saskatchewan’s Sound Recording Grant to record their debut album Sunday’s Best.

Velvet Threads has made significant strides towards their goals by successfully recording and mastering their album, designing its artwork, and producing 100 physical units for local resale.

“Recording our debut album was truly a dream come true, made possible in no small part by the invaluable support and guidance from Creative Saskatchewan.” Fyrk reflected, “Unlike previous experiences where we financed everything ourselves, often leading to rushed creative decisions due to financial constraints, Creative Saskatchewan’s backing afforded us the time and freedom to explore our artistic vision fully. This enabled us to create something we’re immensely proud of, unencumbered by past limitations.”

The impact has been remarkable for the band, after their Instagram following grew by 50%, their Spotify followers increased by 200%, and their streams across all platforms surged by over 300%. Moreover, the band established relationships with key radio stations in Saskatchewan such as CBC, Rock102, MBC, and CFCR, all of which supported and aired their music.

The band continues to experience positive ripple effects following the release of their LP. They had a highly successful album release show at Coors Events Centre, performing to a packed hometown crowd. This has led to heightened visibility in the Canadian music scene and plans for a Western Canadian tour in fall 2025 to further promote the album.

“This journey has not only yielded significant achievements but also nurtured our band’s spirit with newfound hope and motivation. It has been a profound learning experience, deepening our understanding of the music industry and reinforcing our enthusiasm for our future endeavors in it. “

Sunday’s Best is now available on major streaming platforms including Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, and Apple Music.

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How Christine Tienkamp put the Rockstar in Grandmother

December 3, 2024 by Carrie Sweeney

Christine Tienkamp successfully applied for Creative Saskatchewan’s Craft & Visual Arts Production grant to support the creation of her Grandmother Rockstar collection. In celebration of Métis traditional textiles, Grandmother rockstar is an homage to grandmothers.

Tienkamp explains, “The term in my Métis culture not only refers to grandmothers with biological grandchildren…just caregivers of people in the community… I thought about how Grandmothers maybe should be on tour…Grandmothers still rock, dance, [and] sing,” Tienkamp enthused, “Grandmothers are our biggest supporters. They have paved the way for women to stand up and say ‘hell yes, I’ll do that.’”

For this collection, the artist reflected on photos of Métis beadwork of the late 1800s to inspire the pieces she beaded. She envisioned elegant fabrics and fun rockstar elements.

With the support of the grant, Christine had photographs of her original beadwork transferred onto textiles using an innovative small batch digital printing process. Her one-of-a-kind textiles became wearable pieces, designed, cut and sewn by hand. Thanks to her well-prepared inventory, the artist was able to attend the artisan market at Back to Batoche in Batoche, Saskatchewan where she saw thousands of visitors.

Christine’s company SS River Designs is named after the South Saskatchewan River which flows through her hometown, St. Louis, Saskatchewan. “My community is rich in Michif and French cultures and heritage, and a connection to land,” says Tienkamp, which is why she aims to build an ethical, sustainable, and community-minded business. She worked with her Program Advisor at Creative Saskatchewan to find ways to better serve her clientele and align her processes with her values. Using the grant, she was able to hire local artisans to assist in production. “The ability to check in and seek advice from Creative Sask was greatly appreciated. I am thankful for the support.”

Chrisine’s work reached “rockstar” status when friends asked her to bead a custom gift for a famous actor. She had the opportunity to deliver the gift herself—a hand-made medallion with elements of Indigenous culture, and Hawaiian imagery to honour the heritage of the recipient, Jason Momoa.

Tienkamp poses for the camera in between her friend Clint Rudderham and Jason Momoa, who is wearing the medallion she gifted him.

With the success of her pieces, Christine was able to travel to Cannes, France to exhibit her work in the first Cannes Indigenous Art and Fasion show. This grant, combined with her hard work and talent, has taken her on an incredible journey. “I would not have achieved this without the financial and personal support.”

You can view and shop Christine’s designs on her website:https://ssriverdesigns.com/

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Foolish Mortals’ “Real-Time General” Reaches New Heights

November 28, 2024 by Carrie Sweeney

Michael Long of Foolish Mortals game studio successfully applied for Creative Saskatchewan’s Digital Game Development Grant to support the creation of the strategy and simulation game Real-Time General.

This grant allowed Long and his team to dive deep into the realism of the game, developing an unparalleled gaming experience while teaching players about WWII. “We are very proud about the technical level our game has achieved.” Long remarks, “Few games can claim to allow 1000 players to be in the same match, even less have matches last two whole months. Achieving this on mobile phones is an incredible feat.” The team at Foolish Mortals mapped up to 30,000 km² of French countryside for the use of real-world geography within the game, something very few games have ever attempted.

“Making this game has exposed our company to new technologies [and] techniques, with dedicated servers, writing our own network architecture and automated daily cloud builds,” Long adds, “Without public funding, we never would have had the opportunity to learn these skills, train our employees and elevate the technical capability and prestige of the growing Saskatchewan videogame industry.”

Real-Time General is available on Google Play and coming soon to Steam. Learn more about the game and download it here: https://realtimegeneral.com/

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Burnt Thicket Theatre’s ‘We Treaty People’ Soars

November 27, 2024 by Carrie Sweeney

Stephen Waldschmidt, Artistic Director at Burnt Thicket Theatre, was successful in applying for a Creative Saskatchewan Marketing Grant (Micro Stream) aiding in the development of their project We Treaty People.

Man sits at a recording desk. — Photo by Matt Smith / Saskatoon Star Phoenix

We Treaty People was introduced in the form of nine digital audio plays and nine interviews from a diverse group of 49 artists exploring the question, “What does it mean to embrace all our relations?”  This original fiction podcast provokes listeners to hear the calls to Truth and Reconciliation in our neighbourhoods, and across Canada.

Creative Saskatchewan’s Marketing grant enabled the redesign of Burnt Thicket Theatre’s logo and website, optimizing them for search engine rankings and improving functionality and user experience for both live theatre productions and digital audio series. Waldschmidt remarks, “[The] Enhancement of digital production processes and online marketing skills led to a significant 400% increase in audience for our digital productions.”

Waldschmidt also highlighted that the investment in these key marketing initiatives enabled Burnt Thicket to achieve several positive outcomes:

“The project afforded us an extended time of learning about and practicing decolonizing approaches to our work that supported Indigenous people sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way (National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Call For Justice #6.1). That learning is helping us develop more restorative and respectful ways of producing plays, of working toward reconciliation in community, and of cultivating more connections between the arts and our real lives (audience included).”

Woman in sound recording booth. — Lisa Bayliss recording the first episode. Photo by Brooklynn Bitner

Creative Saskatchewan was thrilled to support this impactful project, helping it to reach a much wider audience, and grow into an even larger initiative. “The project helped establish our company as a voice for Truth and Reconciliation in our community, and led to our presentation of New Blood: A Story of Reconciliation earlier this year, in partnership with Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre and Persephone Theatre.”

We Treaty People has just been nominated for the 2024 Leading Together Award, presented by the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan and Office of the Treaty Commissioner to recognize work with long-term impact towards reconciliation.

In 2023 We Treaty People was honoured with:

Nominations for both the Innovation and Trailblazer Awards at the SATAwards,;

Presentation of the full series by Native Earth Performing Arts in their Weesageechak 36 Festival; and

Its radio broadcast premiere by CFCR 90.5 FM.

You can listen to We Treaty People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Each episode was published with suggestions from the artists of ways to learn more and take action towards Truth and Reconciliation. See all the suggestions here: https://burntthicket.com/we-treaty-people-action/

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Velvet Threads’ Debut Album ‘Sunday’s Best’ Ignites Success

How Christine Tienkamp put the Rockstar in Grandmother

Foolish Mortals’ “Real-Time General” Reaches New Heights

Burnt Thicket Theatre’s ‘We Treaty People’ Soars

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