A cash injection of $300,000 will give Terrace arts students a first-hand look at Northwest artists in action.
Announced today, the grant given to Northwest Community College's Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art will come in instalments over three years time.
The grant is intended to pay for field trips to communities where artists practice, the documentation of student experiences and also aid for students in the program with financial challenges.
“With this support from the foundation, we can connect students with communities, elders, artists and museums where they can learn the rich cultural traditions that allow this art to live and flourish,” said Freda Diesing program coordinator and instructor Stan Bevan in a press release today.
“This is a milestone for the college and its school of art and design,” said college president Denise Henning in the release. “We are so blessed to have received this kind of support.”
The Freda Diesing School was created in 2006, in memory of a Haida artist after whom the school was named.
“Diesing passed away suddenly in 2002, but is remembered for her determination to keep traditional Northwest Coast art alive by passing this knowledge on to future generations of artists and carvers,” said the release. “She was also one of the first female carvers on the modern Northwest Coast when she began working at the age of 42.”
The grant was awarded under the Margaret A. Cargill Foundations Arts and Cultures program which in 2012 awarded grants under a subprogram called Native Arts and Cultures.
This year grants were made to organizations in the Pacific northwest region, according to the foundation's website.