Arts Roundup
Nov. 5, 2026

Music

• Sechile Sedare will bring its debut album to Edmonton on Nov. 13 for a show at CKUA's Beresh Arts Den. Siblings Leela and Jay Gilday, whose band name means "my younger brother, my older sister" in Dene, draw on shared family history with a sound that blends folk, rock, and traditional storytelling.
• Mallory Chipman has seven Alberta shows scheduled for November, including a concert at Bison Lodge as part of the new Prairie Song Folk Club. She told CKUA she has recorded two unreleased albums and has been performing songs from both.
• Biboye Onanuga is curating a live music series called Agogô on Thursdays at Mimi. Genres will range from samba to Indian classical traditions. It's an expansion of Onanuga's partnership with the bar, where he curates the weekly Daze Days every Sunday night.
• Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack attended Scream at the Edmonton EXPO Centre. He said more than 30,000 fans from over 33 countries were expected for the weekend's festivities. The festival asked attendees what city support could help it grow, suggesting late-night transportation and support for major events.
• Jacquie Daniels was a guest on the Reluctantly podcast, where she discussed music, identity, and resilience.
• The Japanese drumming group Kita no Taiko is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a concert on Nov. 7 and 8 titled New Rhythms, Timeless Spirit. The program features contemporary taiko pieces and classic favourites. CBC's Emilie Rubayita visited the group ahead of the concert.

Visual arts

• Farmfair International will host The Art of Farming from Nov. 5 to 8 at the Edmonton EXPO Centre. Theodora Harasymiw designed the installation in collaboration with The Works Art & Design Festival and Explore Edmonton. "The project reimagines the bounty of Alberta's agriculture through the lens of contemporary art, celebrating the materials, skills, and stories that sustain our food systems," Farmfair said.
• Edmonton artist Mary Escano and Toronto artist Ursula Handleigh are featured in Salinlahi: Generations, a new exhibition at Gallery@501 in Sherwood Park until Dec. 19. There will be an artist talk and reception at the gallery on Nov. 21.
• The City of Fort Saskatchewan is accepting submissions for its Art in Public Places Program until Jan. 11.

Theatre and dance

• Pheromone Killz will compete in Season 7 of Canada's Drag Race, which premieres on Crave on Nov. 19.
• Liz Nicholls spoke to Frank Moher about Boy Player, the true story of what happened when he was orphaned and moved from Edmonton to New York City. The Workshop West Playwrights' Theatre season opener is a long-delayed return to the stage for Moher, one of Canada's premier playwrights.
• Toronto's Korin Thomas-Smith stars in Edmonton Opera's production of The Barber of Seville on Nov. 5 and 7. He credits the Rumbold Vocal Prize, which he won in 2025, for helping him launch his career. "Edmonton Opera has really been such a good champion for a young artist," he told Postmedia.
• Good Women Dance Collective will present Convergence from Dec. 3 to 5 at Mile Zero Dance Warehouse. The double bill pairs each of us, all of us with Dorsal Traces, which explores Deaf, queer, and masculine identities. All performances will offer Deaf access.

Books and publishing

• Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr and Bad Cree by Jessica Johns got a shout-out from jurors for the 2027 CBC Short Story Prize.
• Brandi Morpurgo of Daisy Chain Book Co. was a guest on the SHOUT! for Libraries radio show to discuss secondhand selling and how she aims to run a better bookstore.
• Porch Light Books will celebrate its second anniversary on Nov. 7. The store will be giving away toques and gift cards.
• Edmonton-area educator and veterinary technologist Rosalba Politi wrote two books exploring classroom challenges and the human-animal bond. The NAIT instructor is also writing After the Wag Is Gone, a children's book about coping with a pet's death.
• When Men Buy Sex by Andrea Heinz and Kathy King was among the top-selling non-fiction books on the Edmonton bestseller list from the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.

Screen industries

• BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk reflected on the company's legacy following the decision by Electronic Arts to close the studio. "It's actually, in some ways, saddest for the city of Edmonton, where we're from, because we were kind of this beacon of hope and excitement and possibility," he told 80 Level in his first interview since the news. "We showed you could do something really special in a place that was not known for doing things like that." Zeschuk's fellow co-founder Trent Oster also looked back with CBC's This is Edmonton podcast.
• Crimson Herring Studios has unveiled the trailer for Bay 12: Mech Repair, a first-person simulation about repairing and upgrading battle machines. It made 30,000 wishlists on game sales platforms in two days.
• Five new short films explore racism's effects on mental health. Shivani Saini of Creatives Empowered and filmmaker Adetola Tamunokubie discussed the series and the power of anti-racism storytelling on CBC's Radio Active.
• Beth Wishart MacKenzie spoke to the Moving Radio podcast about the Broad View International Film Festival running from Nov. 12 to 14 at Metro Cinema. The festival screens work by women filmmakers, as well as offering professional development and leadership training.
• Moving Radio spoke to Michael B. MacDonald, Ethan White, and Mickey Neal, among other filmmakers, about their pieces at the Edmonton Underground Film Festival. The festival will screen 75 short films on Nov. 14 at the Freemasons' Hall.
• Edmonton filmmaker Ashley Fester was a guest on CBC Edmonton's Radio Active to talk about participating in the WomanInFan Talent Accelerator for women in genre filmmaking at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.
• Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack paid a visit to vrCAVE's commercial game studio, Basement Bunker Labs, to play Heroes Together VR.
• Executive producer Stephen Sawchuk helped attract guests such as Miss Universe Canada Ashley Callingbull and Hudson Williams for the second season of CBC's The Assembly, a series featuring autistic and neurodivergent interviewers speaking with Canadian celebrities. "The most important thing has been authentic representation, and really empowering the interviewers to be themselves," he told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. New episodes air on Sundays.

More headlines

• Edify's 2026 Top 40 Under 40 included designers Amos Kajner-Nonnekes and Nick Kazakoff, photographer Karly Watson, and fashion retailer Joel Nardelli. Actor Jenny Angus and musician Jacquie Muzichuk, who performs as Jacquie Daniels, made the list, too. Edify posthumously honoured breakdancer and social worker Sean Arceta, who died in Edmonton on Sept. 23.
• The value of the Distinguished Artist Award presented through the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards has increased from $30,000 to $50,000 for each of three recipients, starting in 2027. The increase "reinforces the immeasurable value our artists bring to our province," Annemarie Leenhouts-Petrov, chair of the foundation that governs the awards, said in a release. Nominations will open during the week of Nov. 23.
• Edmonton's city administration proposes keeping the Edmonton Arts Council's funding stagnant for another four years. CEO Renée Williams told Taproot in June that the organization needed an increase to help the city's growing number of artists bring their creativity to life. The 2027-2030 operating budget includes just under $18 million annually for the EAC, the same annual amount that has been allocated since 2019.
• The St. Albert Public Library requested $5.2 million in municipal operating funding for 2027, a 3.3% increase. The request includes $40,000 to implement Bill 28's new restrictions on access to some library materials. Arts and Heritage St. Albert requested $2.2 million in municipal funding for 2027, an 8% increase. The organization is forming a task force to seek government grants and private funding for a new museum at its heritage sites.
• Alberta Blue Cross awarded $1,000 grants to 75 community organizations through its Community Wellbeing program. The many recipients include Parkland County Library Board, for mental-wellness programming, and the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts for an expansion of its dance program for adults with developmental disabilities.
• Voting is open until Nov. 20 for Field Law's Community Fund Program, which will award up to $80,000 to Alberta and Northwest Territories organizations. Several arts and culture projects are seeking funding.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up soon:

• Nov. 5: Book Launch: Memories of Alberta Ukrainian Orthodox Churches starting at 6:30pm at Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts
• Nov. 5: Vox Beer Choir Fundraiser starting at 7:30pm at The Bell in Scona
• Nov. 6: Trusted to Serve Documentary Launch and Screening starting at 3pm at University of Alberta (TELUS International Centre)
• Nov. 6: Benedict Sheehan's Ukrainian War Requiem starting at 7pm at St. Basil's Ukrainian Catholic Church
• Nov. 6: AIRTIGHT Presents Self-Cut Bangs with Creamo starting at 9pm at Bent Stick Brewing
• Nov. 7: Opera Night with Andrea Pinna starting at 6pm at Ayco Cafe (Westblock)
• Nov. 7: Discovering the Galápagos: National Geographic Live! starting at 7:30pm at Winspear Centre
• Nov. 8: Ghosts of Ortona: Returning to the Veterans' Stories starting at 2pm at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre
• Nov. 8: W.A. Mozart | Requiem starting at 3pm at Winspear Centre
• Nov. 9: Sing for Life Society of Alberta Practice starting at 3:30pm at Edmonton Public Library (Stanley A. Milner)
• Nov. 10: Book Launch with John Geiger starting at 7pm at Audreys Books
• Nov. 11: Remembrance Day Object Table starting at 12:30pm at Royal Alberta Museum

And here are more to keep in mind:

• Nov. 15: Along the Way at All Saints Anglican Cathedral
• Nov. 18: Listen To This! With Raylene Campbell at Audio Ark
• Nov. 20: YEG Yule Book Flood at various bookstores

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