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Nearly $10,000 worth of equipment was stolen in a break-in at Chokecherry Studios in Saskatoon last week.
The non-profit organization, which offers art programming and mentoring, said in a social media post that most of the equipment stolen was used for art.
General manager Delano Kennedy said Chokecherry just began its fiscal year and is still waiting to hear about the results of the grants it has applied for.
“The break-in has really pushed us a little bit back because the funds that we did have had to go towards repairing some of the damages that were here and all that,” Kennedy said.
“Funding is really not sustainable working in the non-profit sector, so it couldn’t have come at a worst time basically for us.”
Chokecherry’s Allison Forsberg said she has been encouraged by the community support the studio has been given.
“I think you can really see the importance of what Chokecherry means to our youth and by sharing what we do through our (social media pages), it really showed the community how important it is for them,” she said.
“I think with the community support, it really emphasized that there are people that do care and there are people that see our young people and hold that space for them too.”
While the break-in was a setback, Forsberg said it actually highlights a lot of the structural issues that Chokecherry was intended to address in the first place.
She stressed the importance of empathy and understanding.
“You recognize that people resort to these things because we don’t have the support from the systems in place that fully allow them to support themselves financially,” Forsberg said.
“There’s a perspective of that person needing to do what they had to do to survive. There are a lot of gaps in services as we know and that’s why Chokecherry’s the space that’s providing the best we can with limited funds and using the resources we have.
“When (resources) are not accessible to people at times in need, it resorts to things like this.”