Why we exist
Our Mission
"To advance education and relieve poverty by teaching, preserving, and promoting traditional arts, crafts, trades, and life skills, for the benefit of the people of Alberta and beyond."
Our Story
The Alberta Ancient Arts Foundation was sparked by a quiet realization: the crafts that sustained human civilization across generations—the timber hewer's precision, the blacksmith's touch at the glowing hearth, the spinner's rhythm—were quietly slipping away behind digital screens and factory mass production.
When you hold an axe carved by hand, an iron hinge forged in charcoal embers, or woolen yarn spun by hand from an Alberta sheep, you understand something that textbooks cannot convey: material intimacy, dignity of labour, and deep resilience. We realized that if we did not actively teach these hands-on trades now, they would be forgotten forever.
Today, we are gathering masters, apprentices, curious youth, and elders across the province. We are creating spaces where soot, sawdust, fleece, and wet clay meet inquisitive minds ready to build what lasts.
What we do
✦ Teach
We provide instruction, training, workshops, courses, lectures, and demonstrations in traditional and historical arts, crafts, trades, technologies, and life skills.
✦ Preserve
We research, document, and share knowledge of traditional cultural practices, historical craftsmanship, heritage trades, and pre-industrial ways of living and producing.
✦ Build
We are working toward educational facilities, living-history programs, demonstration sites, and a permanent place where these skills can be practised, not just talked about.
✦ Include
We provide educational opportunities and financial support so people facing economic hardship can take part and gain tangible life-changing self-sufficiency.
A word on "ancient"
Our name reaches back on purpose. The arts we teach come from many peoples, places, and centuries, and they share one thing: they were learned by doing, and handed hand to hand. We teach the traditions of a variety of nationalities and cultures with respect for where they came from.
Our Values
Hands-on first
People learn a craft by doing it. Our programs are built around real tools, real materials, and real practice.
Handed down, not hoarded
Knowledge is a gift meant to be passed on to future generations without artificial barriers.
Open to all
Age, background, and income shouldn't decide who gets to learn real self-sufficiency and timeless arts.
Respect for the source
We credit the cultures and craftspeople these skills come from, honouring their lineage and heritage.
Stewardship
We use donations and resources carefully, with utmost transparency and accountability to the community.