Future Artistic Minds (FAM) is an affirming space where youth can explore and develop their creative practice.

Future Artistic Minds (FAM) is an affirming space based in Saskatoon, SK, Treaty 6 Territory, where youth can explore and develop their creative practice. Having access to mentorship, equipment and space to grow and learn has helped emerging artists at FAM to explore their identity, build their skills as artists and uncover new career paths related to art.

FAM engages artist mentors throughout the program who provide youth with technical skills and professional perspectives from their fields. Youth have the opportunity to decide to work on their own projects or to engage with mentors or community organizations to strengthen and develop their skills.

FAM artists bring diverse lived experiences to our community through an artistic lens. They have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to developing their craft; they actively work on building their portfolios with commissions, compensations for artwork, consignment and local art exhibitions.

What is Future Artistic Minds?

FAM is an Indigenous-run, youth-led
art collective.

Meet the Team

We facilitate and mentor at Future Artistic Minds. The program is run by youth voices, and what they want this collective to be. We bring in and work with other amazing local artists too.

Combined, we have decades of experience working in community, with youth, and in the arts. We are dedicated and passionate local artists, educators, and youth who are committed to community transparency and doing this work.

Feel free to reach out to us at futureartisticminds@gmail.com.

Muskwa Lerat (he/him)

Muskwa Lerat is a professional local artist and producer in Saskatoon, originally from Cowessess First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory. Exploring art for him began at a young age with hip-hop. At 22, Muskwa attended the Recording Arts Institute of Saskatoon to further his knowledge in the field of audio recording. Upon graduating, he was a co-founding members of The Sound & Silence Collective, a local record label.
Over the years Muskwa has stepped into the world of filmmaking and has worked on a number of projects that have been featured in film festivals nationally and internationally. Muskwa has been a FAM artist mentor since 2019.
Kendra Montgrand (she/her)

Kendra is a Dene-Métis art therapist/artist from Northern Saskatchewan, and is truly passionate about all things creative—you can often find her dabbling in different art forms, especially traditional ones like beading. For her, art is a powerful tool for healing, expression, and overall mental wellness!
Coming from a place of recognizing how important art is for connection, Kendra is super excited to join Future Artistic Minds. She believes deeply in giving youth the space to get creative, express themselves freely, and build a strong sense of community belonging through artmaking.
Kendra is super excited to join the FAM! And she can't wait to see all the amazing things you’ll do!
Jody Lerat (she/they)

Jody Lerat is a queer/two-spirit nēhiyaw from Cowessess First Nation and Poundmaker Cree Nation but resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They graduated from the Indian Teacher Education Program (ITEP) and have been working for Saskatoon Public Schools in various positions since 2015.
Jody is also a multimedia artist who has taken on various projects for organizations in Saskatoon. As an educator and artist, their work centers around identity and intersectionality. They founded the Future Artistic Minds program with a core group of youth in the spring of 2019, and continues to mentor and help facilitate youth needs through the program.
Brooklyn Carriere (she/they)

Brooklyn Carriere (she/they) is a Cree-Metis artist who has been a part of Future Artistic Minds since it was established in 2019, and is currently a program coordinator for the collective.
Brooklyn helps FAM run smoothly during programming hours, whether youth need assistance or just a friend. She also helps out behind the scenes and with the collective’s graphic design needs. Brooklyn is happy to be a part of the FAM team and proud to say the program has aided in her own personal growth and experiences as an artist.

Who are we?

FAM exists to provide accessible, anti-oppressive studio spaces for youth who may experience systemic barriers and lack access to professional art studios and supplies in a non-judgement environment where they can be themselves, uncensored. Above all, FAM is about sharing our successes. We are here to amplify youth voices, to share Indigenous excellence, to celebrate queer and trans joy, and to challenge the status quo.

FAM is an Indigenous-run, youth-led art collective that started in the spring of 2019 at Mount Royal Collegiate (MRC) in Saskatoon when a core group of youth wanted a safe space to make art. In the beginning, we aimed to provide safe(r) spaces for youth to gather, practice artistic expression, build relationships with their peers, and develop their technical skills as an artist in the professional studios available at MRC. When the pandemic took hold, extra-curricular programming was shut down so FAM had to relocate to our new studio space at Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-op (CNYC). Since November 2020, youth have continued to work with artist mentors and guest artists to strengthen their skills in visual art, digital photography, filmmaking, graphic art and design, screen printing, recording and music production.