Minister Tanya Fir to announce new Alberta government scholarship for women in technical and applied arts
By Kimberly Taylor, September 4 2024—
At 10 a.m. on Sept. 4 in the Digital Innovations Hub, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women Tanya Fir will be announcing a new scholarship – Women in Technical and Applied Arts – funded by the Alberta Government. This new scholarship joins two other scholarships – Women in STEM Scholarship and Persons Case Scholarship – both of which support women and gender-diverse individuals pursuing degrees in STEM fields.
In an interview with the Gauntlet, Fir discussed how the new Women in Technical and Applied Arts Scholarship supports women in fields where their gender is traditionally underrepresented or who are working to advance gender equality.
The twin goals of the Women in Technical and Applied Scholarship as both increasing the workforce in film, television and music as well as supporting women in that field.
“First off, we need more trained, educated folks in that sector. We need to be able to provide post secondary training and funding in that regard. And we want to make sure that we’re supporting women in that field,” said Fir.
According to the Ministry’s press release Alberta’s government awarded $225,000 through these scholarships in 2023/24, supporting 90 students across Alberta with scholarships of $2,500 each. The new Women in Technical and Applied Arts Scholarship will offer 20 students $2,500 each. Fir stated that applications for the Women in STEM and Persons Case scholarships will open in October, while applications for the Women in Technical and Applied Arts scholarship will open in January. Scholarships applicants must be currently enrolled in an eligible post-secondary program to apply.
“By supporting women’s educational pursuits in STEM, technical arts, and other critical areas, Alberta’s government is investing in a diverse, skilled, and innovative workforce. These scholarships represent our commitment to empowering women to break into fields where they are traditionally underrepresented,” reads a statement from Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Advanced Education in a press release to the Gauntlet.
Fir highlighted that the Women in Technical and Applied Arts Scholarship is the first of its kind in Canada.
“It’s the first and only provincially funded scholarship of its kind in Canada, which will help women train for jobs in industries like film, television and music,” said Fir.
Fir also described how the new scholarship was developed in discussions within her ministry.
“We had been speaking in my Ministry of Arts Culture, and Status of Women that includes the film and television sector. And we know that, like so many areas, one of the shortages that we may face is skilled people in that field. So in looking at different ways that we can promote training and mentorship in that area — we’ve developed some funding and grants already — we took it one step even earlier, in terms of getting people to be excited about entering into that field and providing them the support they need,” said Fir.
“I’m going to be excited to see what sort of interest and uptake we have,” Fir continued.
Fir explained that Alberta’s government wants to support the momentum of Alberta’s various economic sectors.
“I’ve always said our government is an ‘and government’, not an ‘or government’. By that I mean there’s so many fields and industries in Alberta that are thriving beyond our traditional industries of oil and gas, agriculture and tourism, of which we’re proud of, and we want to continue to support.
According to a Statistics Canada report from 2021, high school girls are 29.8 per cent less likely than their counterparts to enroll in a STEM post secoundary program. Fir hopes that scholarships directed at women and gender-diverse individuals can help bridge this gap.
“I am truly honored to be able to introduce programs and scholarships and services that are going to help bolster that. I want people to know that [with] this Women in Technical and Applied Arts Scholarship the aim is just that. That we recognize and support and celebrate the best in industry in Alberta that continues to grow and boom and how can we as the government continue to help that momentum.”
More information about these scholarships can be found on the Government of Alberta’s website.