Arts Roundup
March 5, 2026
We notice SkirtsAfire Festival opens this week with several new works from local artists. The 14th annual festival celebrating women in the arts is based this year on the theme "The Maps We Make." One of the four mainstage productions is Ms. Pat's Kitchen by Jameela J. McNeil; it was workshopped at Nextfest and RISER, and now runs in a full production from March 5 to 8 at ArtsHub Ortona, a new venue for the festival.
Another of the main theatre productions is I Am Eagle by Matricia Bauer, a Jasper-based Cree artist. The puppetry-based show, which explores the cultural displacement, confusion, and suffering caused by the '60s Scoop, runs on March 6 and 7 at the Walterdale Theatre. A staged reading of Louise Casemore's Put Your Lips Together runs on March 10 and 12 at Gateway Theatre. It is billed as "a surreal neo-noir about the experience of women in the workplace." And preeminent Canadian clown Shannan Calcutt performs Things I Shouldn't Tell You from March 12 to 15 at the Walterdale.
The festival's Off the Page showcase on March 11 includes works-in-progress from locals Sara Campos-Silvius, Kijo Gatama, Mhairi Berg, Danielle LaRose, Ruth Alexander, and Bailey Bieganek. Ten immigrant and refugee women will share their stories through The Shoe Project, returning to the festival for a fifth time on March 7 and 8. There's also comedy, dance, and live music. Tickets for some performances are already sold out, so you know what to do.
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Music
- Edmonton Cree singer-songwriter Donita Large discovered in February that an online publication about her new album, The Ancestors, had used a stereotypical, AI-generated image instead of her actual photo. Large called the unlabelled image, which depicted a generic Indigenous woman, a form of "Indigenous erasure." After she alerted the publisher, it removed the article without an apology. AI ethics expert Katrina Ingram of Ethically Aligned AI stressed the importance of labeling AI content and establishing clear usage policies.
- Jillian Treidler discussed her debut album, Death in the Family, on Edmonton AM's Provincial Playlist segment.
- Nuela Charles joined CBC's Edmonton AM to talk about her latest album, NU2U, and the Juno nomination she received for it.
- CKUA broadcaster Grant Stovel joined the We Contain Multitudes podcast, sharing his history as a drummer in Edmonton's music scene.
- Danny Brown will play a show at Midway Music Hall on May 14.
Visual arts
- Gene Dub of Five Oaks and Dub Architects has sold the Inglewood Lofts to Strategic Group for $60.5 million, now that an art restoration project is complete. Dub converted the lofts from the Charles Camsell Hospital, where Indigenous patients were treated for tuberculosis and reportedly experienced horrific mistreatment. The restored artwork, a mosaic by the late Austrian-Canadian artist Alexander von Svoboda, is located in a common area for tenants that is named for Jane Ash Poitras, a distinguished artist whose mother was a patient at the former hospital.
- The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts celebrated its 23rd anniversary with the opening of a solo show by 2026 Artist of the Year Tim Crnkovic. More than 40 works are on display through April 18.
- The ArtBus will return on March 21, offering a free, all-ages event where three ETS ArtBuses run a continuous loop between nine downtown galleries and artist-run centres. There will be exhibits and activities at the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts, the Alberta Craft Council, the Art Gallery of Alberta, the EAC Shop, Harcourt House, the Mitchell Art Gallery, Kisîhtoskâtonaw, SNAP Gallery, and the Wâwâhtêwa Art Gallery at Boyle Street Community Services.
- CBC Edmonton's Radio Active visited the Africa Caribbean Heritage Alliance at Edmonton City Centre, where artisans and makers are showcasing their wares in both pop-up and permanent shops.
Downtown Dining Week is back with great deals!
Edmonton's largest dining week returns March 11-22, and this year you have more than 65 restaurants to pick from. Downtown Dining Week offers you multi-course and multi-item menus at a discount, all while supporting locally owned restaurants.
Theatre and dance
- SOUND OFF, the bilingual national Deaf theatre festival, returns for its 10th anniversary edition through March 8, featuring seven mainstage plays, four digital shows, the inaugural Deaf AF Cabaret, and other events.
- Common Ground Arts is seeking emerging or mid-career arts workers to oversee Found Festival and the organization's Prairie Mainstage Series.
- SIX returns to Edmonton as part of Broadway Across Canada's season. The musical was workshopped at Citadel Theatre before its New York City production. The season also includes & Juliet, Mrs. Doubtfire, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and Hamilton.
- Mile Zero Dance has announced Danni Daysky Okemaw, an Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree dancer and researcher who co-founded Nimihitotân, as the recipient of its 2026 Progressive Artist Award.
Books and publishing
- Five Edmonton-area authors — Genevieve Graham, Bailey Oster, Gail Sidonie Sobat, Angela deJong, and Theresa Shea — have recently published or are releasing books centring the lives and stories of women, Edify noted.
- Poet, playwright, and songwriter Gavin Bradley spoke to CKUA about his 2025 Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund award, presented by the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
- University of Alberta professor Crystal Gail Fraser and scholar Sara Komarnisky discussed their book Talk Treaty To Me with CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. The book explores what treaties are and how they are still used today. It was among the top-selling non-fiction books on the Edmonton bestseller list from the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.
Screen industries
- Anna Kuelken discussed her documentary Insecure, which explores food insecurity in Edmonton and how access to food reflects broader social inequalities.
- The Tyee profiled Peggy & Balmer, a documentary by Edmonton filmmaker Tom Radford about his grandparents — journalists Peggy and Balmer Watt — who arrived in Edmonton from Ontario in 1905 and worked to establish the independent press in Alberta.
- Edmonton Screen has published its February 2026 program recipients, spanning film, television, digital media, and video games.
Happenings
Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:
- March 5: Live WTJ: Podcast recording and reception starting at 5:30pm at Westbury Theatre
- March 5-15: SkirtsAfire
- March 6: Jake's Gift starting at 7:30pm at Horizon Stage Performing Arts Theatre
- March 6-27: Fava Fest
- March 7: Edmonton Sings starting at 12:30pm at Winspear Centre
- March 7: Being: Reception starting at 2pm at Alberta Craft Council
- March 7: The Peace of Wild Things - Midwinter Concert starting at 7pm at Robertson-Wesley United Church
- March 8: Zine Workshop starting at 12pm at Earth's Refillery Coop
- March 8: Misa Criolla… voices from the Andes starting at 3pm at First Presbyterian Church
- March 8: International Women's Day Monologues for Women starting at 7:30pm at Holy Trinity Anglican Church
- March 9: Opening reception for Faces of Exile: The Arrusi and the Policing of Gender and Sexuality in Fascist Italy starting at 5pm at MacEwan University
- March 11: The Handsome Young Dads starting at 7:30pm at Maclab Centre for the Performing Arts
And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:
- March 20: Beethoven & Beer at Winspear Centre
- March 20-21: ᐋᒋᒧᐃᐧᐣ âcimowin at Fringe Theatre Arts Barns
- March 20-22: Ani_JamV03
Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.
This roundup was sponsored by ATB.
Uplifting the legacies and livelihoods of our clients and the communities where we serve and live, is what gets ATB's team members out of bed in the morning. And after 80-plus years worth of mornings, they're still pursuing that mission with a brand of enthusiasm and authenticity you can only experience with ATB.