Featured Performing Artist

Dara Schindelka is a Saskatchewan singer/songwriter with a touch of the north and the pull of the prairies.

Her music has touches of Joni Mitchell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, & Loreena McKennitt in them and she shares her passion for storytelling and song in ways that delight young and old.

Her single, “Thou Art Loosed” won the Folk Award for the March 2020 American Tracks Music Awards and was a finalist in the Love Wins Festival in Rochester, New York. Her music video of “She’s Like the Swallow” won Honourable Mention at the Women’s Freedom Song International Competition in March of 2021 as well as a nominee for best music video of the year in the Saskatchewan Film Awards for 2021.

As 2022 started, Dara was granted a SOCAN artist career development grant to complete work on her full length album, Saturn Returns. Dara also received a grant from Creative Saskatchewan for the album and it was released late May of 2022. She was nominated for keyboard player of the year by the Saskatchewan Country Music Association and has a summer and fall tour across western Canada in the works. She chooses to support music festivals and livestreams that bring awareness and help to women’s issues and marginalized voices and has worked with Stay Human Productions, Rock Against Racism, Piwapin Women’s Shelter, Prince Albert Multi Cultural Council, and FemFolk UK and most recently with the Saskatchewan Council for International Co-operation.

Dara is currently touring her latest album of songs, Saturn Returns, in part with the gracious financial grant awarded by the Cherry Tree House Music Education Fund.