Contemplative Arts Festival of Saskatoon
Mini Festival
Sat. May 24, 2025
Morning Activities
Photo: Tipi on the lawn during the Contemplative Arts Festival of Saskatoon in 2019.
Lyndon J Linklater spoke about raising
the tipi in 2023. Photo: Matt Smith.
Tipi Raising
Knowledge Keeper Lyndon J Linklater will raise a tipi on the lawn on Saturday May 24, 2025 at 10:00 am, demonstrating the setup, and sharing some traditional protocols about the tipi.
Smudge Ceremony
After the tipi raising, Lyndon will offer a sacred smudge ceremony to open the Festival in a good way. Lyndon says, “Indigenous people believe that special plants when lit, emit smoke that contains medicine. Smudging is a way to calm a persons’ mind, emotions, body and spirit. As part of the smudging, praying and singing will occur as a means to communicate with our Creator to ask for blessings for the day." We are grateful for this opportunity to gather and learn together on Treaty Six land and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Traditional Teachings
Lyndon J Linklater will share some story telling and traditional teachings inside or around the tipi.
Read more about Lyndon on the Artists page.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 10:00 am to noon.
Free Drop-in.
Location: on the lawn outside Grosvenor Park United Church, 407 Cumberland Ave South.
Chairs provided for those who need them.
In case of bad weather, we will move indoors for the teaching time.
Lunch
Soup and bannock. (Facebook image)
Lunch: Soup and Bannock
We will share a lunch of soup and bannock together, prepared by Andréa Ledding from her Métis family recipes.
Cash donations welcome.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from noon to 1:00 pm.
Drop-in.
Location: Schnell Hall, lower level.
Afternoon Activities
Marisa Merasty-Buffalo
with Parker Longjohn.
Beading Workshop
Marisa Merasty-Buffalo, a member of Flying Dust First Nation, will lead a beading workshop to make a small pin or other beadwork creation.
To begin in a good way, the beading workshop will open with a song by Parker Longjohn. Participants will meet one another and then learn about why beading is such an important part of Indigenous culture. After being introduced to the materials and tools, each person will start beading, with ongoing instruction from Marisa. To end our time together, Parker will offer a closing song. This was a very popular activity at the Festival in 2024. All materials provided.
Workshop spaces are limited.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:15 pm.
Workshop fee: $10 cash at the door.
Location: Schnell Hall.
Read more about Marisa on the Artists page.
Image by lilartsy on Unsplash.
Writing Workshop: Turning Jottings and Journalling into Creative Writing Projects, with Belinda Betker.
Do you have writing aspirations beyond random jottings, journalling, occasional ‘notes-to-self’, and to-do lists? How about those random creative thoughts that pop into your mind – do you sometimes think “I’d like to turn those ideas into something more someday?” Do you daydream about what your own personal ‘writing life’ could look like?
Today’s interactive workshop will focus on unleashing your creative self. A wide range of inspiring writing prompts and fun exercises will give you a fresh kick-start into any genre you’d like to explore or expand into with your creative writing.
Everyone is welcome, from beginners to everyday writers.
Please bring your own preferred writing tools: pens or pencils, writing pads or journals, or laptop and phone.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Workshop fee: $10 cash at the door.
Limit of 10 participants.
Location: Schnell Hall.
Read more about Belinda on the Artists page.
Birchbark Basket - photo from Lyndon J Linklater.
Birchbark Craft Workshop
Knowledge Keeper Lyndon J Linklater will teach how to make traditional birchbark baskets, canoes, and other crafts. He will share some cultural teachings while we work together. Lyndon says, “Basket making is very soothing for the soul. Time seems to pass and it is also very healing. Along with the basket making, storytelling and “teachings” will be shared.”
All materials provided.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Workshop fee: $10 cash at the door.
Space for 30 participants.
Location: Schnell Hall.
Read more about Lyndon on the Artists page.
Shawn Sanford Beck, visiting some tree neighbours.
GreenSpirit Chaplaincy Workshop:
Kything
Kything is a "psycho-spiritual technology", inspired by the fiction of Madeleine L'Engle, and developed by the priest and psychologist team of Louis M. Savary and Patricia H. Berne almost 40 years ago. In this new revision of the technique by GreenSpirit Chaplain Shawn Sanford Beck, you will explore the theory and experience the practice of using your deep imagination to engage with the more-than-human persons of the green world around you. Remember: Creation is always speaking; it is often we who are not listening. Kything will help you rectify that situation.
Saturday May 24th, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Free Workshop.
Read more about Shawn on the Artists page.
Paint brushes: photo from Unsplash.
Drop-in Community Mural:
What the World Needs
Art therapist Tracy Dudar invites Festival participants of all ages to engage in a creative and reflective art-making experience! Participants will have the opportunity to design art cards that express your thoughts on what the world needs—whether it’s more kindness, connection, joy, or something entirely unique to you. Using a variety of materials like collage, paint, markers, and recycled elements, you can create small, meaningful works of art that will become part of a mural to share with the Contemplative Arts Festival community.
No art experience needed—just an open heart and mind! Supplies will be provided. All the cards will go together to create a community mural.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Free Drop-in.
Read more about Tracy Dudar on the Artists page.
Donna Aldous leads T’ai Chi Chih classes.
T’ai Chi Chih with Donna Aldous
T’ai Chi Chih is a moving meditation with far reaching benefits. It has been described as Joy Through Movement. It is not exercise, and yet it is one of the best exercises you can do. The 19 movements and 1 pose circulate and balance the body’s Chi (energy). With the accumulation of Chi (Vital Force) through T’ai Chi Chih practice, permanent changes in the metabolism and the thinking process take place, and the renewed energy conditions the whole way of life. As changes occur, we get in touch with ourselves, and the world we see begins to change. Joy becomes our natural heritage.
I hope you will join my class during the festival. No special clothing or shoes are required. Be comfortable. Bring water and an inquisitive mind.
Choice of two class times:
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.
and from 2:00 to 3:00 pm.
Class fee: $10 at the door.
Location: Nursery Room.
Read more about Donna on the Artists page.
Origami at the Festival in 2023.
Photo by Matt Smith.
Origami with Nathaniel Trebish
Nathaniel Trebish will share the ancient art of paper folding and teach how to make a variety of origami pieces. For all ages, including beginners and those who have experience with origami.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
Free Drop-in.
Location: Purple Room.
Read more about Nathaniel at Artists.
Rainbow labyrinth at the Festival in 2023.
Many thanks to the Saskatoon Unitarians for the loan of this beautiful labyrinth.
Labyrinth Walk
A labyrinth is a walking meditation. It has one path in to the centre and the same path leads the walker out of the labyrinth.
“Walking in” is a time to let go of all that keeps us from connecting more deeply with the Spirit – releasing the thoughts and illusions that might inhibit and distract us from connecting with the sacred.
The Centre is the place where we come to the centre of ourselves – a place where the Spirit connects to our spirit. It can be a place of prayer or meditation as we sit or stand with the Spirit asking our questions, offering ourselves, and seeking guidance.
“Walking out” is a time to reflect on how we will integrate our experience of being at the centre into our daily living.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
Free Drop-In.
Location: Sanctuary.
Discussion panel at the Festival in 2019.
Community Conversation
A conversation for all Festival participants to consider together:
- Theme question: What does the world need?
- What would folks like to experience at the next Contemplative Arts Festival of Saskatoon?
Shawn Sanford Beck will moderate the conversation.
Saturday May 24, 2025,
from 3:15 to 4:15 pm.
Free Drop-In.
Location: Sanctuary.
Evening Performance
Free Flow Performance
Guitar player - photo from Unsplash.
Saturday May 24, 2025, at 7:30 pm.
Free Flow is a unique experience, allowing the audience to “absorb” the work of artists as a meditation rather than a performance. There’s no emcee, and applause is held to the end of our time together, so that the artists’ gifts can flow from one to the next without interruption.
Chris Lindgren from the Saskatoon Musicians Association will perform on the harp.
Belinda Betker from the Saskatchewan Writers Guild will read from her poetry and other works.
Lyndon J Linklater and his wife Terri Bear-Linklater will speak and perform some songs.
Reception to follow.
Free admission.
More information about the performers on the Artists page.
Donations are appreciated to support the next Contemplative Arts Festival of Saskatoon.