Edmonton's summer Shakespeare festival is going big and going home — back to William Hawrelak Park after a three-year closure forced several festivals to relocate. The Freewill Shakespeare Festival returned to the Heritage Amphitheatre on June 17 with a production of Much Ado About Nothing, running until June 28. The festival will then partner with the Edmonton Pops Orchestra and Shelley's Dance Company for a Bard-inspired musical, Something Rotten!, running July 1 to 12. Dave Horak, Freewill's artistic director, said a partnership was the only way to bring back two shows after years of single productions in exile. "I wanted to go back (to the park) bigger than we've been doing lately," he told Liz Nicholls. "I didn't want to slink back into the park with one show and a reduced cast."
Members of the Bruderheim-based band The Knot No Howz discussed their formation and musical influences in an interview with Altyeg Music Magazine. They described their sound as psychedelic, stoner, punk, and rock, and cited The Smalls, SNFU, Bif Naked, and Amyl and the Sniffers as influences.
Visual arts
Cree artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande unveiled a sculpture of a beaded earring called Misi-mîkisak at Hawrelak Park as part of the park's grand reopening. LeGrande told CBC's Edmonton AM that seeing the piece unveiled in the presence of her loved ones made her emotional. "I wanted to share joy and love with the community," she said.
Douglas Udell, a founding figure in Edmonton's commercial art world, died on June 10 after a battle with cancer. Udell founded the Douglas Udell Gallery in 1992 and built a career representing artists across Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary over more than three decades.
A St. Albert resident is calling for a full-size outdoor replacement of the St. Albert the Great statue, which was stolen in 2023. Perry Kinkaide said he is willing to contribute $25,000 toward a new outdoor sculpture, arguing that the $30,000 indoor replica recently installed in City Hall is "hardly a replacement" for the original.
Craft for YEG, a group that donates handmade items to local charities, is growing its community of crafters who contribute blankets, hats, and mitts to Edmontonians in need. The organization recently turned five and has donated around 20,000 hats, 5,000 blankets, and 4,000 toys, alongside fostering close to 5,000 pets.
YouthWrite's 30th Anniversary Alumni Weekend
Celebrating 30 years of YouthWrite, all YouthWrite alumni (18+) are invited to join a special weekend of memories, activities, workshops, and fun from July 3 to 5 in Rockyview, Alberta!
Shadow Theatre has named Lana Michelle Hughes as its new artistic director, succeeding co-founder John Hudson, who is retiring. The theatre's 2026-2027 season features four Canadian plays: Yaga by Kat Sandler, The Waltz by Marie Beath Badian, Undressed by Louise Casemore, and The Golden Anniversaries by Mark Crawford.
The Thousand Faces Festival will return June 19 to 21 to the Alberta Avenue Community Centre from June 19 to 21 with a free, family-friendly program celebrating multicultural mythologies and diverse cuisines, including performances of Ghanaian storytelling, Indigenous hand drumming, and the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Dance writer Salena Kitteringham called Sick Reference Collective's Storybook Skin "richly dynamic." The 50-minute grunge-infused dance work — inspired by literary classics including 1984, Animal Farm, and Lord of the Flies — was part of Nextfest, and a revised version will be performed at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
Books and publishing
Kim Mannix was a guest on the On Creative Writing podcast to discuss her debut collection Confirm Humanity, which explores themes of grief, motherhood, and global violence. Published in October 2025 by Wild Skies Press, the collection draws on Mannix's background in journalism.
Helen Metella spoke to Postmedia about Marika and the Auction, her picture book for adults with memory problems that she hopes will be the first of a series from Storybooks for Seniors. "I thought it was a good idea because I needed this tool," said Metella, whose mother inspired the book. "And other people immediately see that yep, this is a tool they could use as well."
The University of Alberta has partnered with CKUA to digitize and publish decades of literary radio archives from an era when the station's programming extended beyond music. English professor Mike O'Driscoll spoke to CBC's Edmonton AM about the project.
Sherwood Park author Kimm Hutton shared her breast cancer journey in a newly published book chapter as she marks five years cancer-free. Her contribution to The Embers We Carry focuses on resilience, accountability, and rebuilding through recovery.
Rainbow Visions Film Festival is marking its 11th year with a lineup of festival darlings, docs on overlooked icons, and locally curated curios. The festival kicks off on June 18 at the Garneau Theatre with Leviticus, one of the hottest titles out of Sundance. Moving Radio interviewed two filmmakers whose work will also be at the festival: Siobhan McCarthy of She's the He and Corey Payette of Starwalker.
More headlines
The Edmonton Arts Council is preparing to make a case for a budget increase when city council deliberates the 2027-2030 budget this fall, citing a declining grant success rate — from about 30% to 19% — as application volumes have grown. CEO Renée Williams told Taproot the organization received just under 1,200 applications in its individuals and collectives stream in 2025 but was only able to fund 234.
Josephine Nakafeero of is putting on the second edition of the Edmonton Sustainable Fashion Show on June 19 to explore innovation in sustainable fashion, an important and somewhat neglected aspect of the circular economy. "Not so much attention was put on textile waste, and so with that in mind, as a sustainable fashion designer, I realized I needed to address that through my skill set," said Nakafeero, a designer herself at Jose House of Creations. Eight Edmonton-area designers, includng Nakafeero, will show their fashions on the runway, amid talks and panel discussions.
Craig Baird, the Stony Plain-based host of the Canadian History Ehx, said CBC's decision to end its Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts "came as a major shock … It's not just a show, it's a part of our culture. It's woven into the fabric of Canada."
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