As applications open for several HCIP (Heritage Community Investment Program) grants, we at EHC would like to recognize the local practitioners and organizations whose work we helped support through funding awarded in the past year. If you’re feeling inspired by the diversity of HCIP-supported heritage work and/or are considering how your work might fit with this program, please email grants@edmontonheritage.ca.

The Heritage Community Investment Program invests funds provided by the City of Edmonton into the stabilization, increased professionalism and innovation of heritage in Edmonton, for Edmontonians.

Project Accelerator Grants 2021

Project Accelerator grants provide up to $10,000 in funding support to individuals, groups, and organizations undertaking small-scale heritage projects that tell Edmonton Stories.

Amal Mohamud 

Flavors of Somali Edmonton Cuisine

Amount Awarded:  $7,384

Project Summary: Amal will film and produce a ten-episode documentary video series that showcases Somali Edmonton cuisines. This series will showcase popular Somali dishes as demonstrated by a local Somali Chef – Chef Nur.

Ana Ruiz Aguirre

YEG, Inked

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: The historical record pertaining to the local tattoo industry is limited, illustrating a gap in knowledge. With the goal of addressing this gap, I will write a research-based essay examining the history of tattooing as a cultural practice in Edmonton and document my process through photography. I will publish two versions of this essay (in English and Spanish) and a selection of photographs in Beyond the Gallery – Laberinto Press’ upcoming bilingual anthology.

Beaver Hills Biosphere Reserve Association

Establishing a Photo Laureate and Historian Laureate

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: The Beaver Hills Biosphere Reserve Association (BHBRA) is the first Canadian Biosphere to establish Historian Laureate and Photo Laureate positions. This unique effort will assist and further efforts to capture and tell the rich and diverse natural and cultural stories of the biosphere. This effort will help to ensure every Edmontonian is aware of and connected to this place.

Craig Baird

Edmonton Rural Heritage

Amount Awarded: $828.05

Project Summary: Through a podcast and YouTube channel, Craig is highlighting the rural history of Edmonton around the city – off the beaten track places that have unique and deep history that people would be interested in on a day trip near the city. The episodes would highlight places within thirty minutes of Edmonton City Limits.

Clare Mullen

When Tony and Edmonton Were Young

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: This project captures the spirit, vitality, ingenuity and possibilities of 100 years of Edmonton through the eyes and voice of a proud Edmonton son. Tony Cashman is our witness and master storyteller to this history. This grant will allow us to complete a documentary on the author, playwright, historian, radio host and reporter, Second World War veteran, Alberta Order of Excellence (AOE) recipient, and Edmonton treasure.

Edmonton Movie Club

Oh Canada – A Documentary

Amount Awarded: $7,000

Project Summary: Oh Canada is a documentary that explores the lives of various Indo-Canadians who came to Edmonton in the 60s/70s/80s/90s/2000s and how they succeeded in a new country.

Miranda Jimmy       

kiskisiwin: Edmonton’s missing and murdered podcast, Season 1

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary:  Building on the success of Miranda’s recent Research & Planning grant, Miranda will continue with the production of kiskisiwin: Edmonton’s missing and murdered. This podcast will share the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls through the voices of those who knew them best. Each episode will introduce you to a different Indigenous woman by telling you about the life they lived and the legacy they left behind.

Natércia Napoleão

Michener Park

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: A research and playwriting lab for a play titled Michener Park, which looks to tell the story of the Michener Park community. The project includes a workshop and performance at the Expanse Festival (as part of the 2022 Chinook Series) in Edmonton, AB.

Omar Mouallem

The Last Baron

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: This project will complete post-production on a documentary about the legacy of Lebanese Albertans manifested through Burger Baron – a fast-food chain with a quirky cult following and mysterious origins. Produced by Back Road Productions with support from CBC Absolutely Alberta, The Last Baron is informative, entertaining, educational, and endearing.

Rebecca Lippiatt

Edmonton in the Time of COVID – Wave 2 and Website Design

Amount Awarded: $10,000

Project Summary: This project is a collection of stories and photographs that tell the story of how a North Central Edmonton community navigated the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This material will allow Edmontonians to reflect upon the pandemic and provide a sense of understanding how we journeyed through this historical event. The website will share and disseminate stories for both Edmontonians and researchers.

United Cultures of Canada Association

Coming Home to Edmonton

Amount Awarded:  $10,000

Project Summary: This project collects thirteen stories from Syrian refugees living in Edmonton, depicting their lived experiences before and after their migration to Canada and their journeys from chaos and fear of life to safety, joy, and hope for a better future. These stories will enhance Edmonton’s heritage and must be told as a tribute to human spirit of survival and to Canadian humanitarianism saving lives all over the world.

Yong Fei Guan

Goji Paradise II

Amount Awarded: $7,000

Project Summary: In this project, the grant recipient will continue to research a series of heritage plants and advance plans to plant 99 Goji berry trees as a symbol of Chinese heritage in Treaty 6. This project will be presented at The Works Art & Design Festival 2021 and will also include creation of a small booklet on the history of goji berries in Edmonton. The goal is to recognize and celebrate multicultural heritage that co-exists with nature.

Research & Planning Grants 2021

Research & Planning grants provide up to $5,000 in funding support to individuals, groups, and organizations to complete preliminary research or planning towards a larger heritage project.

Canadian Classroom on Rails Experience Foundation

Visualizing the Chinook Centre

Amount Awarded: $5,000

Project Summary: Canadian Classroom On Rails Experience Foundation has an option to purchase “The Chinook” Art Deco train set that ran Edmonton-Calgary 936-56 and plans to restore it as a centre for the arts, education, and history in Old Strathcona. This visualizing project will develop artistic sketches, interior design, and video representation of The Chinook in its new setting and function as a basis to attract investors, partners, and client/tenants for the Chinook facility in advance of its arrival.

Edmonton Space & Science Foundation (TELUS World of Science – Edmonton)

The impact of Douglas Cardinal on the Edmonton Heritage Landscape

Amount Awarded: $3,375

Project Summary: Telus World of Science – Edmonton aims to conduct research on the history of its original building and architect Douglas Cardinal. Completed in 1983 and opened in 1984, the science centre’s original building is a celebrated and much-beloved Edmonton landmark. This white, futuristic circular building has been part of the Edmonton landscape for almost 40 years and yet there is no public interpretation that highlights the building’s significance. This project would take the first step towards creating interpretation on the building by compiling the history of this building, Douglas Cardinal and the traditional knowledge that informed the building’s design.

Fawnda Mithrush

Kathak, Hopak, Hip Hop: Culture and celebration through dance in Edmonton

Amount Awarded: $4,500

Project Summary: This project is to fund the research phase for a 2022 podcast series documenting dance heritage, celebrations, and traditions in Edmonton, tentatively titled Kathak, Hopak, Hip Hop.

Melva Hei Tung Chen

Farewell Our Ancestors!

Amount Awarded: $4,735

Project Summary: This project will collect data from oral history and documentation research to reveal the fading traditional practices of Chinese Canadian’s funerals and the connections of Edmonton’s Chinese diaspora.

Miranda Jimmy

Research & Planning for Local MMIW Podcast

Amount Awarded: $5,000

Project Summary: Funding for this project supports the research, planning, and development of a locally produced podcast on missing and murdered Indigenous women in Edmonton. Research includes connecting with family and friends of the women and interviewing grassroots advocates and law enforcement involved in the cases. Planning includes technical skill training on podcast production along with episode design for future development of a podcast series.

Miriam Mahaffy

Exploring Partnerships: Research and Planning Towards Accessible Curiosity Kits for Diverse Edmontonians

Amount Awarded: $5,000

Project Summary: This project will pursue partnerships and complete preliminary research and planning to make inquiry-based, fun, and COVID-safe outdoor learning resources about Edmonton’s natural heritage accessible to underserved populations.

Richard Wood

Edmonton Culinary History Project

Amount Awarded: $5,000

Project Summary: This project will explore Edmonton’s heritage by examining the role of specialty markets, stores, food trucks, and restaurants in the settlement of immigrant communities. It will study the way food facilitates integration into Canadian society.

Ritchie Community League          

RCL Centennial Podcast

Amount Awarded: $3,375

Project Summary: This podcast will challenge and reassess notions of history, place and public space, nurturing a sense of belonging and mutual respect while bridging a historical gap in the common knowledge of our community. Research includes the Papaschase Cree; women’s labour rights; social, political and environmental activism; transit accessibility; and housing security.

Space & Culture      

Edmonton’s Creative Heritage of Public Artworks

Amount Awarded: $3,250

Project Summary: Space & Culture is looking to conduct research into the Creative Heritage of Edmonton with a focus on public artworks and monuments within the city. The aim is to research the provenance, artists, and places these works are located. Through this research Space and Culture intend to tell the stories of communities, artists, and places in the city. They will then investigate mediums through which to mobilize this research, including print and online media.

Career Development Grants 2021

Career Development grants provide up to $4,000 in funding support for individual heritage practitioners to attend training or educational opportunities that will support them gaining new skills and knowledge for them to use in create in developing new heritage work in Edmonton

Jessica Sanderson-Barry

Fall Hide Camp & Bead, Hide & Fur Symposium

Amount Awarded: $2,572

Project Summary: The purpose of attending both these community events is accessibility and capacity skill development. It is very rare to have these types of community gatherings in and around the Edmonton area. To be immersed in the presence of different Knowledge Keepers is how transmission of knowledge begins. Jessica’s art practice is based on the foundation of sharing oral stories and hands-on learning. The outcome of her attending both Fall Hide Camp and Bead, Hide & Fur Symposium is to build relationships, share best practices, and most importantly to build capacity in her own art practice. She will be able to bring these new skills home and apply to her own art practice.

Robert Tyndale

Part-time Youtuber Academy

Amount Awarded: $3,243.50

Project Summary: Robert Tyndale hopes to use this funding to support taking a  course, Part-time Youtuber Academy. Being a heritage practitioner working in the intersection of digital design and communication as a filmmaker in Edmonton, he hopes to use these new skills in Youtube to better bridge the gaps in engaging Edmonton on issues related to the black community.

Change Capital Grants 2021

Change Capital grants provide up to $20,000 to heritage organizations to undertake projects that build internal capacity through projects that range from Diversity and Inclusion work, financial procedure updates, organizational development, archival policy development.

Alberta Aviation Museum

Diversity & Inclusivity Training

Amount Awarded: $15,010.28

Project Summary: The Alberta Aviation Museum will undertake a museum-wide diversity and inclusivity project for the benefit of our community members, staff, volunteers, and board of directors. Training and established policies will be the foundation for the museum to embark on more collaborations with diverse community members and groups in all areas of our museum practice and operations.

Alberta Genealogical Society

Combined Search Index

Amount Awarded: $19,480

Project Summary: Alberta Genealogical Society aims to create an online search for various types of name records collected by AGS. These records include information collected from cemeteries, books, obituaries and other sources. It will provide a web-based search for name record data from different sources.

Edmonton Chinatown Library Foundation

Library Website Redevelopment

Amount Awarded: $19,695

Project Summary: The library website redevelopment project will replace the current website with a brand new one that is accessible to both Chinese and non-Chinese language users, provides effective and aesthetic user experiences, and raises awareness of library in the general public.

Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum

Special Project – Gallery Upgrades

Amount Awarded: $15,000

Project Summary: The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum proposes an upgrade to the museum’s galleries, to increase their long-term vitality and sustainability. The proposed upgrades would focus on the Griesbach and Stone Galleries, as well as the six hallways display cases outside the galleries.

Société Généalogique du Nord-Ouest

Amount Awarded: $17,500

Project Summary: Société Généalogique du Nord-Ouest aims to work with a professional archivist to make an inventory of their holdings, developing comprehensive records management and archival policies as well as a system for eventually sorting through and identifying those documents to be discarded or preserved in a manner that will make them more easily accessible to researchers and clients.

Société historique francophone d’Edmonton

Franco-Albertan Digitization Strategy

Amount Awarded: $20,000

Project Summary: Building on its new graphic design, website, and podcast, la SHFA will accelerate its online presence through greater access to and dissemination of Franco-Albertan history and heritage online. The project focuses on three overarching objectives: 1) to transfer existing resources to the new website, 2) to add rare and unique resources to the new website, and 3) to transform analog content into drafts that can be published online according to a plan. This project will allow researchers greater access to information in English and French and will enable SHFA to disseminate more content without a dedicated communications staff.

Community Project 2021

Known as Community Project grants up to 2021 and now known as Community Impact Project, this stream is designed to provide assistance to a maximum of $20,000 for individuals, groups, and non-profits to undertake projects that preserve, research, document, interpret, celebrate, and raise awareness of the history and heritage of Edmonton. Please note: in 2021, the maximum grant level for this stream was $25,000.

Centre Communautaire d’Edmonton

Indigenous Cultural Programming – Transitions

Amount Awarded: $22,950

Project Summary: The project’s primary goal is to offer authentic Indigenous cultural experiences as part of the 2021 Flying Canoe Volant celebrations in hybrid (combinations of live and virtual) presentations to accommodate current health guidelines. The objective of the Indigenous programming is to provide opportunities for guests to connect with the experiences, history, shared communities and stories. Transitioning the programming from live to hybrid involves the creation of pre-recorded content, increased onsite technical support (projectors, cameras, video screens, PA systems, and technician) and other associated costs.

Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta

Voices of Diversity

Amount Awarded: $25,000

Project Summary: This project will catalog, digitize, preserve, and exhibit 32 seminal works from the FAVA Media Arts Collection. These works reflect and illustrate the wide diversity of the organization’s filmmakers. It will feature voices of women, 2SLGBTQ+ community members, Indigenous people, newcomers, and the working poor. The project will not only provide a new opportunity for these stories to be told, but will also encourage artists who encounter barriers of ethnicity, gender, and economics to contribute their voices to future works of media art.

Oliver Community League

#UncoverOliver Film Project

Amount Awarded: $25,000

Project Summary: The #UncoverOliver Film Project harnesses the power of cinema by producing a short documentary film that captures an Indigenous-led campaign between Oliver residents and the Oliver Community League, bringing the community together to uncover who we are in Edmonton.

Operational Grants 2021

Amount Awarded: $38,426

La Société supports and encourages the collection, organization, research, and dissemination of Alberta’s Francophone history through the creation and distribution of works to promote knowledge on Francophone heritage and history in Alberta, communications and liaison with the heritage and history sector in Alberta to mobilize its action, and advocacy of the community’s needs to influence decision-makers in the field of Francophone heritage and history in Alberta.