‘That experience at the university influenced everything I’ve done’

Our Golden Grads are alumni who graduated from the University of Saskatchewan 50 years ago. This year, in 2024, we are celebrating the class of 1974. 

Five decades have passed since University of Saskatchewan (USask) graduate Valerie Creighton (BFA’74) earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1974. Fifty years later, she continues to see her post-secondary education as an integral part of her successful career in Canada’s arts, culture, and media sector.

“I can hardly believe it’s been 50 years; there are moments when it seems like yesterday,” said Creighton, who studied theatre at USask’s Regina Campus.

For Creighton, who grew up in the small community of Stoughton, Sask., moving to Regina in the early 1970s was a life-changing experience. She fondly remembers the four years she spent as an undergraduate student at USask’s Regina Campus as “heady days”—a time when hippie culture was thriving, protests were taking place on the university grounds, and thought-provoking discussions related to politics, social justice, and freedom were regularly occurring at The Pit, a gathering place on campus.

Creighton also recalls the high-quality education she received as a young student through the theatre department. A highlight was interacting with and learning alongside accomplished professors from around the world—respected professionals with expertise in acting, stage management, directing, voice, theatre history, and dramaturge. Studying at USask’s Regina Campus, and bonding with her peers and the professors there, proved to be a transformative experience for Creighton, who began her university studies when she was 18.

“That experience there was so phenomenal. There are parts of it that I still am connected to in my brain, in my energy and, in particular, in my values,” said Creighton, who was a member of the class of 1974—the last class to graduate at USask’s Regina Campus before it became the University of Regina.

“I think it’s surprising to me how that experience at the university influenced everything I’ve done,” she said.

Today, Creighton serves as the president and CEO of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), a national organization that fosters, develops, finances, and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and from the nation’s cable, satellite, and Internet television protocol (IPTV) distributors.

“It’s a very dynamic organization,” said Creighton, who has led the CMF for 18 years. “I think a lot of my proud moments come when I see content that we’ve put money into that is resonating with audiences, winning awards, or taking the world by storm.”

Creighton’s start at USask’s Regina Campus can be traced to an advertisement that she first saw in the spring of 1970 on a bulletin board in her school’s chemistry lab when she was a Grade 12 student. In big, bold letters, it read: “Auditions for the Theatre Department, Regina Campus – University of Saskatchewan.” Creighton, who had been involved in the drama club in high school, immediately wanted to audition, but she doubted her chances of being accepted into the university program.

“It just caught my attention and I thought, ‘I’ll never get in.’ But I went and auditioned and couldn’t believe I got in,” she recalled.

Right away, she knew the theatre department was the perfect fit for her.

“You just think, ‘This is where I belong. This is what I’m about,’ ” she said.

Creighton remembers with fondness the theatre department’s former head, Professor Eric Salmon, and other outstanding academics, such as Professor Will Dixon and Professor Michael Scholar. Being a student in the theatre department was akin to being a student in a professional theatre school, she said; the plays were produced with a high level of professionalism and an instant bond developed among the students.

“That environment was so dynamic, and we gelled. It was a theatre company right from the get-go—from your first year to your fourth year,” she said.

It was as a Bachelor of Fine Arts student that Creighton truly began to understand how the arts benefit people and society. Those early lessons have since guided her throughout her life.

“I always knew who I was, but that experience solidified the values I have as a human being—and challenged them, too, which was the best part of the campus in Regina,” she said. “It was a very courageous environment, I think I would call it. People weren’t afraid to ask things or challenge (things).”

As a student, Creighton was busy throughout the academic year, and she also kept herself active in the arts during the summer months. Theatre was her passion, year-round.

“I decided we had too much talent to waste in the summer when people weren’t in classes, so I set up the Saskatchewan Summer Players with the core team from the theatre department and we toured the province,” she said, noting that performing in school gymnasiums and community halls across Saskatchewan in the early 1970s instilled resiliency in her and her fellow students. “We toured the province, and we slept in tents.”

Since graduating from USask, Creighton’s career over the course of 50 years has included working with high school students as well as with communities across Saskatchewan, a professional theatre company, provincial, federal, and international arts organizations and funders, and various levels of government. Shortly after her USask graduation, Creighton took a position at Saskatoon’s 25th Street Theatre, which incorporated in 1974 to become the first professional theatre company in the city. The theatre company, which later expanded its offerings to include the Saskatoon Fringe Festival in 1989, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Creighton said that a past artistic director of 25th Street Theatre recently shared with her a video from the theatre company’s early days. Creighton realized that she was featured in it, though it took her a moment to recognize her younger self on film. However, she was pleased to see that her words from that time, so early in her career, still resonate with her now.

“Some of the things I said about creativity and artists and what artists bring to society were the values I learned in the theatre department at the university—and they’re values that I still speak about today,” she said.

With her BFA degree in hand, Creighton has spent years fostering the development and growth of the arts, culture, and creative industries at home in Saskatchewan and across Canada. Notably, Creighton was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Provincial Arts Strategy Task Force in Saskatchewan and the Arts Stabilization program, as well as in the creation of the Saskatchewan Film and Development Corporation (SaskFilm) and Creative Saskatchewan—key accomplishments that were noted when she was bestowed with the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the province’s highest honour, in 2016.

As well, Creighton has been lauded for playing a significant role in the development and tabling of legislation for the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts, as well as for serving as its volunteer chair. She has assisted in the restructuring of 25th Street Theatre and the Saskatchewan Drama Association, and she is known as a stalwart supporter of the Yorkton Film Festival—for which she was awarded the Yorkton Short Film Festival 2010 Builder’s Award. 

In 2006, with years of arts leadership experience under her belt, Creighton was offered the job at the helm of the Canada Media Fund. She was initially resistant to the idea. As the owner and operator of the Red Horse Ranch near Stoughton, Sask., Creighton balked at moving to Toronto and was concerned about giving up her Saskatchewan identity and residency. She initially declined the job offer, before striking a deal that has enabled her to continue to live in Saskatchewan and to work both remotely and across the country for the Canada Media Fund based from her Stoughton-area ranch for the past 18 years.

In a 2022 speech given at the University of Regina, where Creighton was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award, she noted that “when you grow up in Saskatchewan, the land is in your blood.”

“It is a place that breeds innovation, ingenuity, and intelligence,” she said.

When Creighton first joined the Canada Media Fund, it was an organization in need of help and the tasks ahead of her were monumental. Known as the Canadian Television Fund at the time, there were governance, management, and structural issues between the television fund and Telefilm Canada, Creighton said. It was up to her to sort it out. She quickly got to work.

“I’m a fixer,” she said. “I started fixing that up, and it was a challenge.”

Today, the organization is admired across the globe, with Creighton continuing to promote innovative Canadian content and software applications for current and emerging digital platforms. She is a frequent traveller who has taken part in foreign trade missions and is often called upon to present the CMF model internationally.

When asked about the current state of Canadian film, television, and other media, Creighton said Canada is “viewed as a very strong storyteller” and the country’s content creators are well respected. Part of that success can be attributed to the Canada Media Fund.

“The Canada Media Fund was incredibly innovative; it was the first one of its nature worldwide,” she said. “People would say, ‘How are you doing it? How are you taking this digital content and marrying it with traditional film and TV?’ We didn’t know, either; you have to kind of figure it out along the way. Now, things are more and more integrated. So, I would say, Canada has grown up on the ability to integrate different types of content across all platforms.”

Creighton is an advocate for diversity in storytelling and she seeks to uplift voices and perspectives from communities and creators that have been historically underserved and underrepresented. She feels proud when Canadian films and TV shows are hits at home and make a splash with international audiences as well. She points to, as an example, C’est comme ça que je t’aime, a French-Canadian production that was popular at the Berlinale in Berlin, Germany, in 2020. Recently, Creighton also felt proud while watching Bones of Crows, a film and TV series from Métis/Dene filmmaker Marie Clements.

“The colonial systems are disintegrating. It’s going to take some time; that ship’s not going to turn overnight,” she said. “But it is happening, and it’s positive thing I think for us as a society.”

Through her work with the Canada Media Fund, Creighton feels privileged to have the opportunity to travel the world and to meet inspiring and extraordinary people in her industry. She also feels privileged to hold what she calls “one of the most interesting CEO positions in the country” and to be able to manage it from her ranch.

“My proudest moments come through the storytellers. It’s when the storytellers have success, I feel I’ve done my job,” she said.

“It really is about what I can do to advocate, lobby for, and elevate the creators in this country. That’s what I feel my job is.”

After receiving the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2016, Creighton was invested into the Order of Canada in 2019. In 2016, she was also named one of the 20 most powerful women in global television by The Hollywood Reporter. The following year, she was recognized by Women in Television and Film – Vancouver for her contributions to promoting gender equality in media and she was bestowed with the Honorary Maverick Award at the 2017 Female Eye Film Festival. In 2018, she was inducted into Playback’s Hall of Fame and she received C21’s 2020 Content Canada Impact Award.

In 2022, The Hollywood Reporter named Creighton one of the 20 most powerful women in global entertainment, and she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal by her home province of Saskatchewan. Earlier this year, Creighton was included on The Hollywood Reporter (THR) list of the Most Powerful Women in Canadian Entertainment and she received the Glass Ceiling Award at the inaugural THR Women in Entertainment Canada Summit.

Creighton felt humbled recently when she was honoured for her advocacy and support for Indigenous creators and for her role in the establishment of the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), which supports Indigenous narrative sovereignty through storytelling on screen. The ISO honoured Creighton during a blanket ceremony in Banff, Alta., and Elder Vincent Yellow Old Woman of the Siksika Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, bestowed upon Creighton his late sister’s name, Courageous Woman.

“It’s deeply meaningful to me,” she said.

Creighton describes herself as “a very proud Canadian” and she is looking forward to continuing to advocate for and uplift Canadian content and creators through her role at the Canada Media Fund. She credits her resiliency and tenacity in her industry to her time in the theatre department at USask’s Regina Campus. She remains true to herself, and she encourages other people to embrace authenticity –something that has helped her navigate opportunities and challenges throughout her life.

“Stay to the truth of your own core is what I would say to anybody in this business,” Creighton said.

Did you or someone you know graduate in 1974? Visit our Golden Grads website to learn more and register to receive your commemorative parchment and complimentary pin.