The Arts – Winnipeg Free Press

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University of Winnipeg’s Ryan Eyford has won Iceland’s prestigious Vigdís Prize.

U of W prof wins prize for cultural contributions

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

University of Winnipeg professor Ryan Eyford has nabbed this year’s Vigdís Prize, one of Iceland’s most prestigious awards of its kind.

Awarded annually by the Icelandic government, the University of Iceland and the Vigdís International Centre, the prize — worth six million Icelandic krona (C$67,000) — recognizes outstanding contributions to world languages and cultures and is presented this year in Reykjavík, Iceland, on Thursday.

“I was honestly shocked. I got the news in an email. First email I opened up in the morning back in July, and it was a very pleasant surprise,” says Eyford.

The honour dovetails with festivities this fall around New Iceland’s 150th anniversary — with the first wave of Icelandic newcomers arriving at Willow Island, just outside what became Gimli, in 1875.

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No dog? No problem Local program offers offices pup for a day

AV Kitching 4 minute read Preview

No dog? No problem Local program offers offices pup for a day

AV Kitching 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Brandt and Paisley are raring to start their new jobs.

They’ve passed their assessment tests, aced their personality evaluations, received all the relevant vaccinations and are getting ready to greet their colleagues at their respective places of employment.

But instead of hellos and handshakes, they’ll most likely be giving their co-workers tail wags and face licks. Not that anyone in the office will mind.

The doggie duo are part of Business Buddies, a new program from the city’s Animal Services Agency which sees canines in the facility spending the afternoon with local businesses.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
‘What we like to do is pair personalities,’ says Animal Services Agency’s Jennifer Medlicott (left) with colleague Camille Williams and Business Buddies’ Brandt.

‘Embodied storytelling’ conveys life of residential school residents in young-adult play

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

‘Embodied storytelling’ conveys life of residential school residents in young-adult play

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Before it was shut down in June 1970, more than 15,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ont.

Santee Smith’s great-grandmother was one of them.

“We didn’t know anything about it. We knew that the Mohawk Institute was there, but nobody really knew anything about it except the survivors, and they were silent,” says Smith, who was born and raised in Six Nations of the Grand River after the genocidal institute — nicknamed the Mush Hole for its legacy of malnourishment — was shuttered.

Wordlessness — as punishment, as expectation, as rule and as response to indescribable pain — becomes a powerful mechanism of what Smith calls “embodied storytelling” in The Mush Hole, a movement-rich production that returns to the Manitoba Theatre for Young People’s stage after its local première there in February 2020.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Santee Smith is the creator of The Mush Hole, a story about the Mohawk Institute told with movement.

Fest finale delivers more cellos than you can shake a baton at

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

Fest finale delivers more cellos than you can shake a baton at

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Everyone talks about Winnipeg as a choral city, with its strong Mennonite, Ukrainian, Filipino, Indigenous and other traditions of vocal music.

We sometimes take for granted that we’re also a contender for one of the country’s capital cello cities.

Zara Nelsova, arguably the greatest female cellist in the world of her day, was born in Winnipeg in 1918 and cut her musical teeth here before bouncing around to more cosmopolitan centres to nurture and show off her prodigious talents.

But even today the city, with Brandon, boasts a roster of very fine cellists, including names such as Yuri Hooker, Minna Rose Chung, Leanne Zacharias, Samuel Nadurak, Paul Marleyn and Elie Boissinot.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

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Cellist Denise Djokic has performed all week at the International Cello Festival of Canada.

Theatrical Louvre heist sparks viral frenzy

Jen Zoratti 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

The details make it sound like a work of fiction.

Thieves made off with $100-million worth of precious French crown jewels — pieces that once belonged to Queen Marie-Amélie, Queen Hortense and Empress Eugénie — from the Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum. It happened on a Sunday morning, in broad daylight. The caper took seven minutes from start to finish. They left on mopeds. And an institution that should be virtually impenetrable was, alas, penetrated.

I can see the slick, Steven Soderbergh-style split-screen montage now.

The Louvre Heist has gone absolutely viral. It inspired Halloween costumes. It’s been rich terrain for memes, as well as comedy TikToks and Instagram Reels; I saw one parodying a haul video, a popular genre in which influencers show off what they’ve bought (or, in this case, stolen) to their followers.

FortWhyte’s visitor centre recognized with award for sustainable construction

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Preview

FortWhyte’s visitor centre recognized with award for sustainable construction

Conrad Sweatman 3 minute read Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025

FortWhyte Alive’s new Buffalo Crossing visitor centre has thundered past nearly 1,000 submissions to win the prestigious Holcim Foundation Awards.

Opened in April, the 18,000-square-foot facility strong on mass timber and reclaimed materials is one of 20 designs across the world recognized by the awards for sustainable construction.

Elegantly evoking a stampede of buffalo moving across FortWhyte’s 660 acres of tall-grass and bison prairie toward Muir Lake, the visitor centre means that FortWhyte now has two facilities to accommodate ever growing demand for its programming.

FortWhyte also has $40,000 coming its way, with another possible $40,000 if it’s selected by the Holcim Foundation as the grand prize winner for North America.

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Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025

Anthony Urso photo
The 18,000-square-foot Buffalo Crossing facility at FortWhyte Alive features mass timber and reclaimed materials and was recognized by the prestigious Holcim Foundation Awards for sustainable construction.

Play lovingly rendered but incomplete look at longtime Cercle Molière leader

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Play lovingly rendered but incomplete look at longtime Cercle Molière leader

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025

A pioneering force of Franco-Manitoban theatre is recalled for her humility, talent and collaborative spirit in Pauline Boutal: Entres Les Toiles et Les Planche, the opening production of Théâtre Cercle Molière’s centennial season.

In slightly less than two hours, playwright Lise Gaboury-Diallo’s straightforward script covers more than four decades of her titular character’s (well-played by Maryse Gagné) personal and professional lives, spheres which overlap to lend emotional heft to a piece that looks to admire the constellation as much as the star.

Gaboury-Diallo’s faithful text resists excessive flattery, presenting Boutal — a fashion illustrator, scenic designer, portraitist, award-winning actor and the artistic director of Le Cercle Molière from 1941 to 1968 — as a prodigious creative mind with access to myriad skills. In the play’s era, the question isn’t whether Boutal has talent, but whether, as a woman, she could get the requisite opportunity to show it while receiving appropriate recognition: Boutal and her fellow illustrators for the Eaton’s Catalogue rarely signed their work.

Under director Simon Miron, Pauline Boutal plays as a surprisingly egalitarian origin story wherein creative equals — dressed immaculately by costume designer Brenda McLean — find their match.

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Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025

VINCENT BLAIS PHOTO
Maryse Gagné as Pauline Boutal.

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Gas Station Arts Centre director sees brighter future as site redeveloped

Scott Billeck 2 minute read Preview

Gas Station Arts Centre director sees brighter future as site redeveloped

Scott Billeck 2 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025

With shovels now in the ground, the head of the Gas Station Arts Centre is hopeful the neighbourhood is on the verge of a U-turn when it comes to crime.

Construction is underway at the corner of Osborne Street and River Avenue, where a redevelopment of the outdoor space will bring more vibrancy to the site and create an open-air courtyard for a new café. The café will replace the longtime tenant Subway, which relocated to 445 Stradbrook Ave. in June.

“We’ll see once we finish all of the construction and it opens up,” said executive director Nick Kowalchuk. “I’m hopeful it turns around.”

In recent years, the area has seen several businesses move out — including fast-food joints Subway and A&W in the same strip mall, and coffee giant Starbucks across the street.

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Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
A crew works on redeveloping the northeast corner of Osborne and River Tuesday, October 21, 2025.

Comedian chronicles path to adult ADHD diagnosis and its surprising rewards

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Preview

Comedian chronicles path to adult ADHD diagnosis and its surprising rewards

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025

Like many adult women struggling to find answers in the medical system, Kristen Einarson was first “diagnosed” with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, by TikTok.

The Winnipeg comedian and improviser’s social-media algorithm “knew her a little too well,” she says. But she brushed off the idea that her struggles might be related to ADHD. A lot of people have trouble with being late or being emotional or being overstimulated or being very interested in something for a little while and then finding a new interest, she reasoned.

But then, Einarson received an official ADHD diagnosis from her doctor at the age of 29, and everything — from childhood hyperfixations to adult overwhelm — clicked into place.

Now, she’s telling all in Oversharer, the solo standup-meets-storytelling show she’s remounting at the Park Theatre Wednesday after a successful run at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in July. Einarson sold out five of her seven shows, and received a four-star review from the Free Press praising Oversharer as funny and sincere.

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Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025

Adam Kelly photo
TikTok initially provided Kristen Einarson with an ADHD diagnosis.

Arts and culture industries create 20,000 jobs, study finds

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Preview

Arts and culture industries create 20,000 jobs, study finds

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025

Art and culture are key components of Manitoba’s identity and economy, according to new data released by the Manitoba Arts Council on Monday.

A study commissioned by the arts funding agency found creative and cultural industries generated more than 20,000 jobs and $1.75 billion in economic value, representing about three per cent of the province’s gross domestic product, in 2023. Arts and culture tourism also brought $377 million into the province, with this brand of visitors spending nearly twice as much as other tourists.

At the same time, a Probe Research poll conducted in September shows high rates of pride and participation in local arts and culture programming, with some exceptions.

MAC executive director Randy Joynt hopes the tandem findings will help underline the financial and social benefits of art during a time of uncertainty created by geopolitical tensions and the long tail of the pandemic.

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Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Manitoba Arts Council executive director Randy Joynt says new studies underline
the financial and social benefits of the arts sector.

Blue Rodeo guitarist’s bike stolen

Free Press staff 2 minute read Preview

Blue Rodeo guitarist’s bike stolen

Free Press staff 2 minute read Monday, Oct. 20, 2025

In back-to-back social media posts, Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy posted a video praising Winnipeg as “a special city” — and a photo of a band member’s bike that was stolen at The Forks.

Guitarist Jimmy Bowskill’s bicycle — a red compact Dahon folding bike — was stolen sometime on Friday, Oct. 17. The veteran Toronto roots band performed at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Oct. 16 and 17.

“If you see it around or come across anyone selling a Dahon bike that seems suspicious, please reach out to us. It’s very distinctive and holds a lot of personal value. Please share — any help getting it back would mean a lot,” the band posted to Facebook and Instagram.

If the theft soured the band on Winnipeg, it didn’t show. On the same day as the stolen bike post, Cuddy posted a video of himself walking through the Exchange, admiring the city’s stock of heritage buildings.

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Monday, Oct. 20, 2025

Night terrors

AV Kitching 7 minute read Preview

Night terrors

AV Kitching 7 minute read Monday, Oct. 20, 2025

Before we go any further, let me just unequivocally state: Six Pines is not for the weak.

I was so terrified my mind has effectively erased the entire experience.

I shall do my best to give you a comprehensive, cohesive review of the night my friend and I visited, but please forgive the lack of detail.

What you are about to read are snatches of memories, dragged kicking and screaming from the depths of my fear-addled brain, which is, even as I type, trying to block all attempts of retrieval.

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Monday, Oct. 20, 2025

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Every space has the potential for frights.

Music and memories

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Music and memories

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025

Carolyn Basha, a behind-the-scenes superstar of the Manitoba arts world, will be celebrated by her family and friends at a memorial concert on Friday at the Desautels Concert Hall — a University of Manitoba venue Basha helped will into existence.

Before her death in July 2024 following a brief and sudden bout of cancer, the university’s director of major gifts — a trained classical pianist and longtime arts volunteer — ensured the school’s newest performance facility got as much financial support as possible, raising millions of dollars toward its construction.

Stephanie Levene, the university’s associate vice-president of alumni and donor relations says that though Basha didn’t live to see the venue’s opening last September, the concert hall’s existence is a testament to her late colleague’s commitment to the project.

“Her fingerprints are all over every aspect of it,” Levene says.

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Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025

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Carolyn Basha’s (second from left) husband Gilles Fournier and children Emelia, Maura and Sam Fournier organized a concert in her honour.

Stellar cast doubles down on hilarity in funeral comedy

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Preview

Stellar cast doubles down on hilarity in funeral comedy

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 17, 2025

Dearly beloved and decidedly estranged gather for overdue hellos and forced goodbyes in Liars at a Funeral, a genial comedy about changing characters that’s carried by a perfectly selected cast faithfully committed to the undertaking.

As the clouds of a superstorm encircle an unnamed small town, the relatives of Mavis (Mariam Bernstein) flow, one by one, into the Prairie Rest parking lot, returning to emotional territory they’ve long avoided or neglected until absolutely necessary.

“I only come home when someone’s dead,” Evelyn (Monique Marcker) says, scripting her mother’s eulogy in her head to her gay BFF Frank (Cory Wojcik) outside the chapel doors.

But the memorial will have to wait, even as granddaughter DeeDee (Shannon Loewen) and the ambitious funeral employee Quint (Mackenzie Wojcik, Cory’s son) pepper the austere premises with preparatory tissues.

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Friday, Oct. 17, 2025

Dylan Hewlett photo
Playwright Sophia Fabiilli gives each actor the opportunity to play multiple roles.

PTE gets $100-K donation from theatre co-founder

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Preview

PTE gets $100-K donation from theatre co-founder

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

Colin Jackson gave the Prairie Theatre Exchange audience reason to cheer before the show began Wednesday when he announced a $100,000 donation to the downtown arts organization, located since 1989 in Portage Place mall.

Jackson, who in 1973 co-founded Manitoba Theatre Workshop, the organization’s predecessor, said that he was spurred to make the sizable contribution when he first heard the company had hired its newest artistic director, Ann Hodges.

That hiring caused “a wave of joy” amongst the older generation of PTE’s boosters, said Jackson, flanked by Hodges and managing director Katie Inverarity on the set of season-opening production Liars at a Funeral, a comedy written by Sophia Fabiilli.

The energetic Jackson, who lives in Calgary and for whom PTE’s studio theatre is named, reflected on the organization’s opening acts in the former Grain Exchange Building.

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Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

JOEY SENFT PHOTO
Colin Jackson presents a donation to PTE artistic director Ann Hodges on Wednesday.

Family feuds get resurrected in lively Prairie Theatre Exchange comedy

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Preview

Family feuds get resurrected in lively Prairie Theatre Exchange comedy

Ben Waldman 3 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025

Portage Place is under construction, but Prairie Theatre Exchange is open for business.

Above the silenced food court, on the third floor of the downtown shopping mall, the regional theatre company is readying for its season-opening run of Liars at a Funeral, a zippy comedy from Toronto playwright Sophia Fabiilli about a memorial service that turns out to be an elaborate sham. Mavis (Mariam Bernstein) isn’t actually dead: she just figures the news might be the one thing powerful enough to unify the warring factions of her estranged family.

Not only is the matriarch alive and well, but any rumours of PTE’s hibernation during Portage Place’s $650-million redevelopment are exaggerated and unfactual.

Ann Hodges, the company’s artistic director, says that the box office is “much more in line” with pre-COVID figures, while season subscriptions, which cratered in 2020, are experiencing a significant rebound.

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Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025

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