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Lights On the Exchange

Exchange District, various locations

On now

Lights On the Exchange is brightening up winter for the fourth year.

The winter public arts festival is a collaboration between the Exchange District BIZ, Artspace Inc., Manufacturing Entertainment, Platform Centre and the Winnipeg Film Group and will feature works by more than 30 artists from Manitoba and across Canada, including 24 public art installations, large-scale digital projections and live performances.

New this year are Platform Member’s Lightbox: 22×22, which will feature four photo-based works from centre members illuminated in custom lightboxes, and WFG: Lights On the Catalogue, a curated selection of films from the Winnipeg Film Group distribution catalogue.

Visitors can also book guided walking tours of Lights On the Exchange on First Fridays during the run of the festival, which goes until March 21. To book, and for a full list of featured artists and events, visit exchangedistrict.org.

— Jen Zoratti

Cabin Fever: Animated Short Films for Kids

Dave Barber Cinematheque, 100 Arthur St.

Saturday at 1 p.m.

Free, reserve tickets at davebarbercinematheque.com

Introduce your kids to independent, Canadian-made animation this weekend at the Dave Barber Cinematheque, where 13 itsy bitsy short films showcase the medium’s astounding variety of creature-driven stories.

See early animation work from local filmmakers such as John Paisz, whose 1976 short The Dreamer dives into the nighttime visions of a Disneyfied baby elephant, scored to the music of ELO; Leslie Supnet, whose Small Misunderstanding follows a hungry bird chasing an elusive early worm; puppeteer Curtis L. Wiebe, who ventures into the forest to introduce audiences to Walter, a fuzzy sasquatch extraordinaire; and Patrick Lowe, whose 1997 short Gerald the Genie is about an oddly oblong being searching for identity in a world of externally applied labels.

Recommended for viewers six to 12 years old, Cabin Fever returns on Feb. 1 with a screening of Sleeping Beauty, and on Feb. 8, Cinematheque will show A Bug’s Life, starring Dave Foley as a heroic ant named Flik. They come, they eat, they leave.

— Ben Waldman

Game-itoba 2026

Bronx Park Community Centre, 720 Henderson Hwy

Friday 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Weekend passes $40 at game-itoba.ca; daily admission $20-$35

Learn a new game, play an old favourite or simply share your love of a game with new people as a volunteer game master at the Winnipeg’s annual tabletop game convention.

The three-day family-friendly event features a variety of games, including board, card, role-playing and miniatures games with more than 350 games scheduled to take place over the weekend.

There will be plenty of chances to try TTRPG (tabletop role-playing games), check out a miniatures game or take on a game-related craft such as paint and take miniature painting, or scenery and accessory making.

The Games Library has 500 games attendees can check out and play in one of the open spaces at the community centre. And don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start — volunteers will be on hand to help pick out the perfect game.

— AV Kitching

Chickadee

Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain, 340 Provencher Blvd.

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.

Admission $15.50-$17.50

Why not some jazz on a Tuesday? How about some folk?

Chickadee does both. The fusion may seem unlikely, yet even before banjo master Bela Fleck started playing over complex changes we had folkies such as Joni Mitchell collaborating with Jaco Pastorius and Nick Drake syncopating and sharp-elevening his way through songs such as Riverman.

Led by bassist Fred Warner, Chickadee was originally a more straightforward jazz fusion ensemble by the name of Freddy and the Fire Nation. But inspired by his origins as a fiddle musician, Warner decided to take things in a different direction a couple of years ago.

“I intentionally wanted to dive into (jazz school) so I could try to integrate the language, and then pull back afterwards to do something like this,” says Warner.

“The rename to Chickadee was a gut decision, as chickadees seem to pop up in interesting ways in my life, such as the name of the magazine I read as a kid or my dad’s signature whistle being a chickadee call.”

— Conrad Sweatman

Lindsay Wong book launch

McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park (1120 Grant Ave.)

Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Free

After a literary lull over the holidays, local book events are once again picking up steam with a launch taking place next week that fans of literary horror will be dying to attend.

Author Lindsay Wong releases her new novel Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson.

The Winnipeg-based author of Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality and The Woo-Woo delves into the ancient Chinese tradition of corpse brides, when a down-on-her-luck Vancouver woman signs up to become one — and her past gets tangled up with that of her grandmother, a powerful witch.

Wong will read from Villain Hitting, discuss the book with fellow Winnipeg author/University of Winnipeg prof Jenny Heijun Wills and then sign copies for those in attendance.

The event is free, and will also be streamed via McNally Robinson’s YouTube channel. Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

For an interview with Wong, see Saturday’s Free Press arts and life section.

— Ben Sigurdson

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