Arts Roundup

Music

• Edmonton singer-songwriter Tayler Grace has released her second EP, West Coast Girl, and made Edmonton AM's Provincial Playlist.
• Shawnee Kish is among the eight semi-finalists for SiriusXM Canada's 2026 Top of the Country competition. The artists will record original tracks before a public vote determines three finalists, with the winner announced at Country Music Week in Saskatoon this fall.
• University of Alberta student Annika Schoenhardt won the 2025 Young Composers Project from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Her piece, For the Star Chasers, premiered at the ESO's Love Letters To Alberta concert on Feb. 20.
• Roots Music Canada profiled how Ann Vriend's COVID-era neighbourhood jams in Edmonton's McCauley neighbourhood grew into AV and the Inner City, a soul group with a self-titled EP now out and an album set for later this year.
• Wolf Parade has announced Western Canadian tour dates celebrating the 20th anniversary of Apologies to the Queen Mary, including a Nov. 11 show at Edmonton's Midway Music Hall. The Canadian band's song I'll Believe in Anything is experiencing a resurgence after being featured in the Crave series Heated Rivalry.
• MacEwan University has opened applications for its TD Music Artist in Residence program, a two-week professional development opportunity for emerging Alberta songwriters, producers, and band leaders who face financial barriers to formal music training.
• Texas singer-songwriter Charley Crockett cancelled his Canadian tour, including a show at the Jubilee Auditorium, after being turned back twice at the B.C. border over a 2016 marijuana conviction in Virginia.

Visual arts

• David Prodan of the Canadian Mental Health Association has published Squeezed Out, an arts-based, community-engaged "research zine" about housing affordability that centres the lived experiences of low-income tenants in Edmonton. The work, based on collaborative workshops with nine co‑researchers, argues that the housing system is designed to prioritize profit over human dignity and identifies four interconnected crises: colonization, unmet needs, tenants' rights, and homelessness.
• Amy Loewan will discuss her artistic practice and Sanctuary, her exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta, at an Artists in Conversation event on Feb. 28.

Theatre and dance

• Citadel Theatre associate artistic director Mieko Ouchi spoke with CBC's Edmonton AM about Burning Mom, her new comedy about turning loss and grief into courage, written and directed as a tribute to her mother. Reviewer Lucy Haines praised Susinn McFarlen's performance as a Calgary widow who drives an RV to Burning Man. Reviewer Justin Bell noted the production's set design as "possibly the best" of the season.
• The Teatro Live! production of I Meant What I Said, running until March 8, feels a bit like a peek into playwright Stewart Lemoine's head, says Tom Murray's review.
• Fringe Theatre's production of Countries Shaped Like Stars is beautiful and heartwarming, writes Justin Bell. "While the love story is sweet and makes you smile, it's the magic of Countries Shaped Like Stars that makes it one of the best productions in modern theatre."
• Nuova Vocal Arts is staging Anne of Green Gables: The Musical at Fort Edmonton Park's Capitol Theatre, with a cast of emerging professionals and young performers from the company's Class Act program. Nuova's artistic director Kim Mattice Wanat joined CKUA's Lisa Wilton to discuss the production.
• The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is offering six professional development workshops in March — covering playwriting, team-building, design, tech, marketing, and touring — to help artists be successful at Fringe festivals.
• Applications are open until March 15 for the Alberta Playwrights' Network's annual Alberta Playwriting Competition.
• Walterdale Theatre is looking for directors for its From Cradle to Stage festival, running May 19 to 24.
• The Expanse Festival, presented by Azimuth Theatre, is gathering feedback on accessibility to allocate its budget for services such as ASL interpretation, audio description, and live captions.
• Thou Art Here is looking to borrow a stationary bike for its production of Cycle by Andrew Ritchie at the Expanse Festival from March 22–28.
• Broadway Across Canada will bring & Juliet, Hamilton, SIX, Disney's Beauty & the Beast, and Mrs. Doubtfire to the Jubilee Auditorium as part of its 2026-2027 season.
• Mile Zero Dance is celebrating 40 years of showcasing local and touring contemporary dance. Artistic director Gerry Morita and operations manager Stacey Cann discussed the milestone with CBC's Edmonton AM.
• Viva Dance Company founder Stephanie Lilley and Small Matters Productions artistic director Christine Lesiak discussed winning the 2025 Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund award, presented by the Edmonton Arts Council and Edmonton Community Foundation, in a conversation with CKUA.

Books and publishing

• CKUA has published the recording of poet Lorna Crozier's lecture as part of MacEwan University's Monica Miller Memorial Lecture series.
• kiskisomitok ᑭᐢᑭᓱᒥᑐᐠ by reuben quinn was the top-selling non-fiction book on the Edmonton bestseller list from the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.
• The University of Alberta's SSH podcast featured a conversation with Sarah Krotz, director of the university's Centre for Literatures in Canada, on how landscape shapes literature and how the centre connects researchers with authors and communities.

Screen industries

• Virtual reality company vrCAVE is ramping up to launch Heroes Together VR, the company's first direct-to-consumer virtual reality game. "The technology has changed; it's vastly simplified," Ryan Bromsgrove, vrCAVE's head of growth and marketing, told Taproot. "We decided that the market had changed enough and enough people were now into VR at home that this is something that we could do."
• Adam Scorgie of Score G Production wrote about his brother Curtis Wright, a permanent resident detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since November 2025. Scorgie has launched a GoFundMe to help cover legal fees.
• Agents of SMOOCH, a movie-recommendation podcast hosted by Edmonton's Annette Wierstra, wrapped up its six-year run with a retrospective Valentine's Day episode in which a cast of guests reflected on favourite past picks.

More headlines

• SkirtsAfire announced Tina Thomas, CEO of the Edmonton Community Foundation, is the festival's 2026 Honorary Skirt.
• Sapreet Buttar, CEO and founder of Universal Radio Network, spoke to the Stay Spicy podcast about starting her broadcasting career at age 12 and how her all-female production team became the first South Asian media outlet on the red carpet at the Juno Awards.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:

• Feb. 26: Afro Facts starting at 3pm at 103 Street Centre
• Feb. 27: In Person Tour: Mosaic of Being starting at 12pm at Art Gallery of St. Albert
• Feb. 27: The Librarians starting at 6:30pm at Garneau Theatre
• Feb. 27: 2026 Kreisel Lecture: 20th Anniversary Edition with Lise Gaboury-Diallo, Richard Van Camp, and Shani Mootoo starting at 7pm at Timms Centre for the Arts
• Feb. 28: Everyone Has A Story - Songwriting Workshop starting at 10am at Royal Alberta Museum
• Feb. 28: Seeds of Change Film Festival starting at 1pm at Devon Community Centre
• Feb. 28: Pro Coro Canada Info Session & Open Rehearsal with Paul Mealor starting at 1:15pm at King's University
• Feb. 28: Artists in Conversation: Amy Loewan starting at 2pm at Art Gallery of Alberta
• March 1: The Light of Paradise, with Quasar Saxophone Quartet starting at 3pm at McDougall United Church
• March 1: VALDY with Guests starting at 8pm at Westbury Theatre
• March 4: VERS/E: A Queer Poetry Reading Series + Open Mic starting at 6pm at Felice Cafe
• March 4: Two Coupe Society presents: DEEP DIVE starting at 8pm at Woodwork

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• March 6: Jake's Gift at Horizon Stage Performing Arts Theatre
• March 7: The Peace of Wild Things - Midwinter Concert at Robertson-Wesley United Church
• March 7: Ballet Jörgen: A Midsummer Night's Dream at Arden Theatre

Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.