SAC celebrates 2023 Gala with art, food, music and lots of laughter

The 2023 Steinbach Arts Council Gala took place Friday night at the Friedensfeld Community Centre.  

With some 200 guests in attendance, the evening was filled with music, food, art, and lots of laughter, but mostly catching up after 3 years of not being able to meet in person.  

The evening was a fundraiser to help continue to grow the programming at the SAC. 

SAC Executive Director, David Klassen expresses his appreciation to everyone who came to the event.  

“An evening like this is difficult to describe, because when I look out and see 200 people who all believe in Arts and Culture as a vital part of our community, and to celebrate together with all of those people is a feeling that is just really difficult to describe.” 

“I believe that through arts and culture, we are able to develop skills that take us further in our lives. My goal is always to create better humans. So, together with the community, we get to put on great programming and with that great programming we get to invest in the younger generation and even our generation and the one that has come before us, so it's a passion of mine and it's a privilege and an honor to see all these people.” 

Klassen says the support the SAC receives from the business community is a real honour.  

“It's important to realize that many of us feel that arts and culture is crucial. It has brought people together for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, and we are doing it today. We get to experience things through classes, through concerts that are really eye-opening and they connect us to each other and they connect us to our past. And that's a really special experience for the community and we love being able to do that.” 

Having the support of the business community, city council, and residents of Steinbach and the southeast, means a lot to Klassen.  

“It means that there are people that we don't always meet on an everyday basis, people that still believe in it and still want to make that happen for the community and for the region and I just feel very honored to be able to fulfill this work.”