Arts Roundup
March 26, 2026
An Indigenous artist from Treaty 6 territory will be tasked with creating a piece to represent Edmonton and nation-wide municipal collaboration. The City of Edmonton is accepting artist submissions until April 2 to create a legacy paddle for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference that will be hosted at the Edmonton Convention Centre from June 4 to 7.
The artist will design a canoe paddle that will serve as a travelling symbol of national connection, being passed from one host city to the next. One side will showcase the essence of the Edmonton region, co-designed with the city, and the other will serve as a historical record, featuring engravings of each host city. The paddle and a case will be provided to the artist, along with $5,000 to cover artist fees and materials. At the end of the conference, Mayor Andrew Knack will present the paddle to the mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality, the next host city of the FCM conference. The chosen artist will be invited onstage for the ceremony.
The annual FCM conference brings together more than 2,500 elected officials and national delegates for workshops, lectures, and tours. There are excursions planned to the Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park, the historic Rossdale Power Plant, kihcihkaw askî-Sacred Land in Whitemud Park, and the Arts District, among other sites. The Otipemisiwak Métis Government will give a presentation on how it reached self-governance and city staff will explore reconciliation and anti-racism. Early bird tickets are available until April 23.
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Music
- The winners of the 15th annual Country Music Alberta Awards include The Prairie States as group of the year (in a tie with The Road Hammers), Julia Vos for video of the year, and CFCW as radio station of the year in a large market. Other winners include Ryan Davidson for roots artist of the year, Brendan Lyons for drummer of the year, and Catherine Robertson for specialty instrument player of the year.
- Singer-songwriter Ellie Heath has released Pushing Forty, the title track from her upcoming debut album, due May 29. The upbeat pop-rock track embraces life after 40 with driving energy, as reviewed by She Makes Music Magazine.
- Cree-Métis songwriter and performer Jacquie Daniels joined CKUA to discuss winning an Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund award, presented by the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
- Edify profiled the Yardbird Suite in a feature on the jazz club's enduring community appeal. Executive director Todd Crawshaw credited the club's success to accessible ticket prices, a welcoming atmosphere, and programming that brings together veteran musicians and younger players at its regular Tuesday night jams.
- CKUA is hosting a Record Swap & Artist Jam Night on March 28 at its Beresh Arts Den. The event, organized by YEG Artist Jam Night, will feature a record swap, live music, and tours of CKUA's historic music library.
- Edmonton city council has approved $33.4 million in additional funding to complete the Winspear Centre expansion. The project had stalled due to pandemic-related cost increases, but the new funding fills a gap tied to provincial and federal contributions. The expansion will add a 550-seat acoustic theatre along with new educational and public spaces. The additional funding came from the Downtown Community Revitalization Levy. Construction is set to resume, with the project now expected to open in fall 2027.
- Kesha and Conan Gray will headline Neon Skies, a new outdoor pop festival in the Ice District Fan Park on July 17 and 18. The lineup also includes Slayyyter, Myles Smith, Natasha Bedingfield, and Heidi Montag.
- Spencer Krug will play a solo piano show at The Aviary on May 14. Krug sings I'll Believe in Anything for Wolf Parade, and has recorded a solo version of the track after the song was re-popularized by Heated Rivalry. Krug will be back for a Wolf Parade show on Nov. 11 at Midway Music Hall.
Visual arts
- The Art Gallery of St. Albert is currently showing Ephemeral Language/Langue éphémère, an exhibition of paper sculptures and aluminum works by Montreal artist Sébastien Gaudette. The exhibit runs until April 30.
- Love Letters to YEG, a new exhibit at CO*LAB curated by Dear Future YEG, explores Edmontonians' connections to their city through poetry, photography, and other mediums. Co-founders Munachiso Nwanisobi and Iqmat Iyiola spoke to CBC's Edmonton AM about the show.
- The Overduin family is holding its annual vote for the 2026 Face of Edmonton. Three artistic renderings of bison, a keystone species central to the region's history and identity, are in competition to be printed on shirts and stickers. Voting closes at the end of March.
- The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts is accepting applications until April 13 for its Emerging Artists Project, supported by the RBC Foundation. Four to six emerging visual artists will be selected for a paid 14-week apprenticeship from May to August.
- Alberta Food Tours celebrated cuisine and art in a submission to the Edmonton & District Historic Society's lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the Doors Open festival. Karen Anderson, the tour company's founder and president, shone a light on Jill Stanton's Backstories mural, noting her organization could not imagine Old Strathcona without it.
An evening of reflection: Good Friday with Pro Coro Canada
This Good Friday, Pro Coro Canada presents Dvořák's Stabat Mater at the newly renovated All Saints' Anglican Cathedral. A cherished Holy Week tradition, the concert reflects on grief, compassion, and hope, featuring guest soloists, pianist Megan Crane, and emerging singers from the Alberta Youth Choir. See you on April 3 at 7:30pm.
Theatre and dance
- Ramneek Singh, a food blogger who reviewed more than 50 butter chicken dishes over two years, is turning his journey into a one-man show called Butter Chicken Odyssey. The play gets its first reading at the Springboards festival, hosted by Workshop West Playwrights' Theatre, on March 27. The festival includes works by more than 30 new and veteran playwrights. The lineup includes a Hamlet-inspired chamber opera co-created with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, and works from locals including Ellen Chorley, Michelle Todd, and Linda Grass.
- Mavka Theatre's production of Moonshine on March 27 will include a menu of perogies, borscht, khinkali, and more. The music, theatre, and dining event takes place at the space shared by Waffle Bird and Twist & Taste, which serves Georgian food.
- Shadow Theatre's production of Lauren Gunderson's The Revolutionists is a comedy with high stakes set against the Reign of Terror, Liz Nicholls wrote. Lucy Haines described it as "a badass history lesson." The play runs through April 5 at Varscona Theatre.
- Liz Nicholls previewed Kristi Hansen's Phantom Limbs at the Expanse Festival, an Azimuth Theatre production in which the performer — herself an amputee — uses body-sensing technology to explore how loss haunts memory. Nicholls described the piece as centred on "the resonating presence in our lives of things, people, images, moments in time — and limbs — we've lost." The production runs until March 29.
Books and publishing
- Filmmaker and actor Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and author Billy-Ray Belcourt discussed Belcourt's novel A Minor Chorus with CBC's The Next Chapter ahead of Canada Reads 2026, where Tailfeathers is championing the book. Set in Northern Alberta, the lyrical, experimental novel follows a queer Cree narrator who returns home and gathers stories for a book. Canada Reads runs April 13 to 16.
- Rayanne Haines, an author and assistant professor at MacEwan University, and student Zoe Foerster joined CBC Edmonton's Radio Active to discuss Bookwyrm SpecFest. The student-led festival connects Alberta's emerging speculative fiction writers with local literary professionals. The event takes place March 27 at MacEwan.
- Fort Edmonton Park and the City Arts Centre are offering a four-week place-based writing course at the Indigenous Peoples Experience, running April 12 to May 3. Led by former poet laureate Mary Pinkoski, the course explores Treaty 6 and connection to place.
- South Side of a Kinless River by Marilyn Dumont was the top-selling poetry book on the Edmonton bestseller list from the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.
Screen industries
- French Bread Gaming co-founder Ethan Horkulak joined the Good Game YEG podcast to discuss the esports organization's growth from nine-person brackets to events drawing more than 200 attendees.
- Filmmaker Christopher Redmond explored the history of filmmaking in Edmonton, ranking the best movies ever made here from a 1971 prison drama to a 1988 Hong Kong action-comedy filmed on Whyte Avenue. Redmond discussed his findings with CBC's Edmonton AM.
- NorthwestFilmFest has announced its first wave of films, including NOW! MORE! YES!, a documentary that premiered at SXSW 2025, and Silver Screamers, a Canadian film about seniors making a horror movie. The festival is also screening 50th-anniversary presentations of All the President's Men and Network. The festival runs April 8 to 14.
More headlines
- Reimagine Architects has confirmed it is in talks with the province to potentially redevelop the former Royal Alberta Museum building, which has been vacant since 2015. The firm's vision includes arts spaces, a market, a small theatre, and a café.
- Sean Luyk and Michael O'Driscoll joined CKUA to discuss Radio/Archive, an exhibition by the University of Alberta's Sound Studies Institute that explores the relationship between radio and recorded sound.
Happenings
Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:
- March 27: Bookwyrm SpecFest: World Building Edition starting at 10am at Allard Hall
- March 27: FAVA Gala starting at 6pm at The Orange Hall
- March 27: Ayreheart Early Music Band starting at 7:30pm at Robertson-Wesley United Church
- March 28: Binding starting at 2pm at Fringe Theatre Arts Barns
- March 28: CBC Provincial Playlist LIVE starting at 7pm at Felice Cafe
- March 29: Because starting at 2:30pm at Winspear Centre
- March 30: Streaming Movies with Kanopy & More starting at 7pm at St. Albert Public Library (Downtown)
- March 31: The Objectionable Publications Book Club: Gender Queer starting at Waffle Bird
- March 31: Peggy & Balmer: Alberta at the Edge of History starting at 6:30pm at Bison Lodge
- March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility | Three Short Films starting at 6:30pm at St. Albert Public Library (Downtown)
- April 1: My Place is Here starting at 6:30pm at Garneau Theatre
And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:
- April 9: Marjorie Prime at Varscona Theatre
- April 11: Collective Singers (Namibia) starting at 7pm at McDougall United Church
- April 16: Christine Tassan et Les Imposteurs starting at 7:30pm at Arden Theatre
Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.
This roundup was sponsored by ATB.
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