Arts & Entertainment

Music

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Akon performs during the Nights Like This Tour in Winnipeg, Tuesday.

Hip-hop heavyweights share top billing at sold-out show

Eva Wasney 4 minute read 12:26 AM CDT

The country music crossover has become a rite of passage for pop stars.

Beyoncé did a 180-degree do-si-do with the release of Cowboy Carter in 2024. Snoop Dogg has dabbled. And Post Malone has jumped into the genre with both boots.

Ne-Yo and Akon are among the latest hip-hop artists to heed the siren call of pickup trucks and cowboy hats, with Ne-Yo set to release a new country-inspired album, Highway 79, next month and Akon claiming to be remixing his entire catalogue as country songs.

The pair of American R&B heavyweights thankfully left the twang at home for Tuesday night’s sold-out concert at Canada Life Centre. Instead, the co-headliners delivered a setlist packed with 2000s club hits celebrating the height of bottle popping and booty shaking.

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Music

Lëddwyn is one of the more rock-centric acts at the festival. (Supplied)

Dauphin festival continues to grow beyond its core

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Preview

Dauphin festival continues to grow beyond its core

Eva Wasney 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:37 PM CDT

Rock has rolled into the spotlight at Dauphin’s Countryfest in recent years.

The annual country music festival opens tomorrow with a rock ’n’ roll-centric lineup featuring Kingston, Ont., singer JJ Wilde (who will also perform at the Rockin’ Thunder concert at Princess Auto Stadium on July 4), alongside local outfits Lëddwyn and the Haileys.

This is the second year the event, which takes place at the Selo Ukraina grounds 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, has kicked off with a showcase that expands on its core genre.

“We introduced it last year and it went over really well so we kept the tradition moving along into this year, and likely will continue it for next year too,” says Countryfest marketing co-ordinator Kamryn Winters via email.

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Yesterday at 5:37 PM CDT

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas speaks outside of city council chambers, in Calgary, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dayne Patterson

Country Thunder cancels Calgary festival citing sound restrictions, construction

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Country Thunder cancels Calgary festival citing sound restrictions, construction

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: 5:14 PM CDT

CALGARY - A major Alberta music festival has cancelled this year's show in Calgary, citing construction and noise levels that the city contests should not be an issue.

Country Thunder Alberta announced it would cut its scheduled concerts two days before its shows were set to begin on Friday.

The festival's late cancellation is the second such dispute over sound level restrictions introduced this year after a recent social media spat between the city's mayor and the province's premier over how they could affect events during the city's signature festival, the Calgary Stampede.

Megan Benoit, a manager for Country Thunder Music Festivals, said organizers met with city officials Wednesday morning and reached an impasse over decibel levels the festival says were reduced too much.

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Updated: 5:14 PM CDT

The Arts

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Justine Proulx at Black Thistle Tattoo is dealing with clients bringing in AI-generated tattoo proposals, some of which are made by feeding her own style into a generative model.

Tattoo artists beset by requests for unworkable AI pieces

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Tattoo artists beset by requests for unworkable AI pieces

Ben Waldman 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

As a professional tattooist with eight years of ink on her fingers, Justine Proulx is used to getting all sorts of requests from clients looking to decorate their bodies with memories, tributes and reminders.

But over the past six months, the Winnipeg artist, who works out of Black Thistle Tattoo, has noticed some troublesome trends.

Most — about 90 per cent — of clients are bringing in AI-generated images that “aren’t doable” to Proulx’s Henderson Highway studio.

Not only do these prompts undermine the artist’s hard-won style, but such images don’t account for the technical expertise of experienced tattooists, who have worked for years to understand the intricacies, the possibilities and the limitations of a dermal canvas.

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2:00 AM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

Vincent Escriba is shown in this undated handout photo taken in Zurich, Switzerland. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Vincent Escriba (Mandatory Credit)

Swiss collector wants thousands of Indigenous artifacts returned to communities

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Swiss collector wants thousands of Indigenous artifacts returned to communities

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: 5:20 PM CDT

WINNIPEG - A Swiss collector who has amassed thousands of Indigenous artifacts said he is eager to have his collection repatriated back to the communities it came from.

Vincent Escriba has accumulated 3,500 ceremonial and traditional items, including cradleboards, sacred pipes and firearms, believed to be associated with the period of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The 67-year-old previously housed the items in a museum he ran in Switzerland that closed last year after Escriba decided to retire.

Escriba has been speaking with a group of First Nations leaders and advocates in Manitoba about transferring the collection to Indigenous groups in the United States and Canada for a cost.

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Updated: 5:20 PM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

This combination image shows the following people in Los Angeles, from left, Jacob Elordi on March 15, 2026, Josh O'Connor on Nov. 17, 2025, Jenna Ortega on May 22, 2026, Simu Liu on May 9, 2026, and Teyana Taylor on April 29, 2026. (Photos by Jordan Strauss/Richard Shotwell/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Film academy invites 529 new members, including Jenna Ortega, the Safdie brothers and Jacob Elordi

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Film academy invites 529 new members, including Jenna Ortega, the Safdie brothers and Jacob Elordi

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 2 minute read 1:30 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday invited 529 members to the Oscar voting body, a new class that brings the group's membership to nearly double what it was a decade ago.

Among those who received invites are “One Battle After Another” nominee Teyana Taylor, Josh O'Connor, Jenna Ortega, Jacob Elordi and Simu Liu.

If all new members accept their invitations, the film academy will number 11,319, with 10,338 voting members. In 2016, the academy numbered closer to 6,000 members.

But to diversify its ranks, the Oscars organization has swelled in recent years. In 2015, the academy was 75% male and 92% white. That year, all 20 acting nominees were white, prompting the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag.

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1:30 PM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

This image released by Apple TV shows “Peanuts” characters, including Snoopy, center, in a scene from the animated movie “Snoopy Unleashed” coming to Apple TV in 2027. (Apple TV via AP)

Charlie Brown’s longtime pen pal is finally revealed in new Apple TV ‘Peanuts’ movie

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Charlie Brown’s longtime pen pal is finally revealed in new Apple TV ‘Peanuts’ movie

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 2:12 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Brown began writing to a pen pal not long after the comic strip “Peanuts” debuted in newspapers back in 1950. No one has gotten a look at whoever was on the other end of his letters — until now.

Her name is Mia, and she's a young girl from London of South Asian descent who uses a wheelchair. She glides into the spotlight in the animated movie “Snoopy Unleashed,” coming to Apple TV in 2027, helping Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang explore what being a pal is really all about.

“The story is really about what real friendship is about, and I think that continues to be something that’s relevant not only to kids, but adults,” says producer Bonnie Arnold.

“True friends love you for who you are. And that’s something that we not only have to learn as kids, but we have to remind ourselves as we become teenagers and young adults and adults and even in older age,” she added.

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Updated: 2:12 PM CDT

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Arts & Entertainment

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Milly Alcock in a scene from

Movie Review: Supergirl is a blast, but the movie doesn’t match her punk-rock spirit

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Movie Review: Supergirl is a blast, but the movie doesn’t match her punk-rock spirit

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press 4 minute read 11:01 AM CDT

Last year’s “Superman” ended with Iggy Pop singing “Because I’m a punk rocker, yes I am” — an ironic coda for a superlatively square hero. But it rings straightforwardly true for Superman’s cousin.

Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl, sports not a spandex suit but a Blondie T-shirt. When we meet her in Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl,” she’s been on an interstellar bender for days. She’s more Courtney Love than Clark Kent.

Nonchalant and sarcastic, Kara is also a little Han Solo-ish, you might say, given that she moves capriciously through the galaxy in her junky spaceship while getting in fights in extraterrestrial bars. She’s a welcome, jagged riff on more buttoned-up superheroes, and Alcock is terrific in the role. If only “Supergirl” was as good as she is.

While the latest DC release, and second under James Gunn ’s stewardship, has its moments, “Supergirl” struggles to match Kara’s punk-rock energy with an equally spirited supporting cast and story.

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11:01 AM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

OUT Museum founder Xiangqi Chen gestures toward her art piece,

First of its kind queer museum in San Francisco Chinatown amplifies Chinese LGBTQ+ artists

Terry Tang And Terry Chea, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

First of its kind queer museum in San Francisco Chinatown amplifies Chinese LGBTQ+ artists

Terry Tang And Terry Chea, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: 8:20 AM CDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On one side of the world, Xiangqi Chen can be punished for her LGBTQ+ activism. But on the other, the activist and artist is lauded as a trailblazer — the architect behind the first of its kind Chinese queer art museum.

The irony that she left her home in China and found a public platform for her LGBTQ+ artistic expression in San Francisco’s Chinatown — the country’s oldest — is not lost on her.

“Here in San Francisco Chinatown, I still continued my journey and met so many like-minded community members and friends,” Chen told The Associated Press through an interpreter. “It kind of actually encouraged me and gave me lots of strength to do what I know is my mission, my calling.”

The OUT Museum opened with a rainbow-ribbon cutting at the end of May — between Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Pride Month. Situated across from the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, the bilingual museum is giving recognition to a demographic that has long felt invisible. It seems like an ideal fit in the progressive city at a time when some cities, states and the federal government are restricting or banning certain LGBTQ+ rights.

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Updated: 8:20 AM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

What is the 2026 song of the summer? AP offers some predictions

Maria Sherman, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

What is the 2026 song of the summer? AP offers some predictions

Maria Sherman, The Associated Press 7 minute read Yesterday at 11:05 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — What is 2026's song of the summer?

There's no easy answer. Algorithmic division is certainly a factor in why there isn't an obvious pick this year. Where have the songs like “Despacito” in 2017 or “Old Town Road” in 2019 gone? Last year, some even wondered if Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” — a ballad, not a banger — qualified, a departure from the usual up-tempo, feel-good hits.

Whatever your summer mood or flavor, The Associated Press has found a song to soundtrack the season, collected in a Spotify playlist.

Biggest song of the year and therefore the default song of the summer: “Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley

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Yesterday at 11:05 PM CDT

Faith

This book cover image released Penguin Random House shows

The homilies and addresses of Pope Leo XIV are now coming to English readers

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press 1 minute read Preview

The homilies and addresses of Pope Leo XIV are now coming to English readers

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press 1 minute read 8:12 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A collection of early public writings by the future Pope Leo XIV will be published this fall for the first time in English.

“Freedom Under Grace: Reflections on the Spiritual Tradition That Formed Me” is scheduled for Sept. 15, according to Image Books, an imprint of the Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group.

Released in Italian by the Vatican Publishing House earlier this year, “Freedom from Grace” features homilies, addresses and other works by Robert Prevost, when he was prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013.

“Each chapter is a window into the spiritual depth and vision of the man who would eventually become Pope Leo, with an urgent message of love and service to address the challenges of the world today,” Campbell Wharton, senior vice president and publisher of Penguin Random House Christian, said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s a book for any Catholic, but also any Christian or spiritual seeker looking for guidance and hope for living a life that transforms the world.”

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8:12 AM CDT

Faith

FILE - Swiss guards talk in a Vatican corridor prior to a private audience of Pope Francis to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, at the Vatican Friday, June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)

Vatican begins 5-year restoration of Raphael Loggia, used by popes and presidents

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Vatican begins 5-year restoration of Raphael Loggia, used by popes and presidents

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read 8:11 AM CDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — One of the most intricately decorated parts of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, a passageway walked by popes and presidents and attributed to Renaissance master Raphael, is getting its first major face-lift in over 500 years.

The Vatican Museums on Wednesday announced the start of a five-year, $5.5 million project to clean and restore the Raphael Loggia, a 65-meter (yard) long, 4-meter (yard) wide corridor that is considered one of the highest expressions of Renaissance figurative art.

The windowed second floor corridor, which overlooks the palace’s San Damaso courtyard, is not open to the public. But lucky visitors to the pope or Secretariat of State walk along it en route to their audiences and are treated to biblical scenes, from the Old Testament and New, as well as botanical motifs in painting and stucco.

Pope Leo XIV, who moved back into the Apostolic Palace after Pope Francis famously stayed away, has his private apartments upstairs but walks along the corridor when going to audiences.

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8:11 AM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

Usher performs during a Prince tribute at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020, left, and Chris Brown performs at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 25, 2017. (AP Photo)

Usher says tour with Chris Brown is about more than 2 stars. He makes the case for R&B in stadiums

Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Usher says tour with Chris Brown is about more than 2 stars. He makes the case for R&B in stadiums

Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press 4 minute read 2:29 PM CDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As Usher prepares to launch a stadium tour with Chris Brown, he says the criticism and legal troubles surrounding the singer never factored into his decision to embark on the tour.

“Absolutely not,” Usher told The Associated Press. “He’s my brother, and he’s amazing as a performer. That’s who I see. He works hard for his fans, and his fans support him.”

Brown has remained one of R&B’s biggest stars despite years of legal troubles and controversy. Last year, he pleaded not guilty in London to charges stemming from an alleged 2023 assault at a nightclub after previously being released on bail to continue touring. He also pleaded guilty in 2009 to felony assault for attacking then-girlfriend Rihanna.

For Usher, their North American tour — which kicks off Friday in Denver — represents something much bigger than two of R&B's brightest stars sharing a stage.

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2:29 PM CDT

Environment

Models wear creations as part of the Dior Homme Spring Summer 2027 collection presented in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Dior moves Paris men’s show earlier as heat wave grips city

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Dior moves Paris men’s show earlier as heat wave grips city

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read 12:38 PM CDT

PARIS (AP) — Dior moved its men’s Paris Fashion Week show to 9 a.m. Wednesday to avoid the extreme heat sweeping much of Western Europe. It still was not early enough.

Guests arrived at the Musée Nissim de Camondo as a heat wave gripped Paris. Cold towels, strawberries and parasols were offered at the door.

Inside the mansion, where Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson showed his latest Dior men’s collection, the temperature rose quickly. Some guests appeared overcome and water was in limited supply.

The front row still delivered the expected star power. LaKeith Stanfield, Little Simz, James Marsden, Drew Starkey, Mike Faist, 070 Shake, Alexander Ludwig and Sam Nivola were among those at the show.

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12:38 PM CDT

Arts & Entertainment

A model wears a creation as part of the Louis Vuitton men's Spring Summer 2027 collection presented in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Pharrell sends Vuitton surfing as Jeremy Allen White, Missy Elliott and Victor Wembanyama look on

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Pharrell sends Vuitton surfing as Jeremy Allen White, Missy Elliott and Victor Wembanyama look on

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 5:34 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — Pharrell Williams sent Louis Vuitton’s dandy surfer at star-filled Paris Fashion Week over a giant curling wave Tuesday, closing the opening day of menswear shows with a glass-walled camper, a moonlit set and a collection that put clothes ahead of spectacle.

A moon rose overhead, stars were visible above the runway, and beneath them came the wave: a barrel built tall enough to swallow the show.

It rose from a sandy outdoor set, spraying mist into the heat and giving the evening’s surf fantasy a practical appeal.

The front row had its own stars. Jeremy Allen White, Charles Melton, Future, Missy Elliott, Lola Young, Coco Jones, Quavo, Victor Wembanyama, Jackson Wang, BamBam and Finn Bennett were among the guests.

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Updated: 5:34 AM CDT

Olympics

2036 Olympics host set to be picked in 2029 as IOC confirms timetable for contest

Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

2036 Olympics host set to be picked in 2029 as IOC confirms timetable for contest

Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 2:12 PM CDT

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC set a target of 2029 on Wednesday to pick a 2036 Olympics host in a currently stalled contest that has long been targeted by India and Qatar.

The timetable agreed at a meeting of the full International Olympic Committee membership is a reset under president, Kirsty Coventry, after 2028 Summer Games host Los Angeles and 2032 host Brisbane were chosen 11 years in advance.

It brings back a competitive vote wanted by members after L.A. and Brisbane were effectively chosen without facing a rival candidate. The 2024 Olympics host Paris was picked with the traditional seven years to prepare in 2017, when L.A. stood aside as a rival to be given the 2028 edition uncontested.

The strategic shift has been a defining move in Coventry's presidency that formally started exactly one year ago when she succeeded Thomas Bach.

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Updated: 2:12 PM CDT

June 24, 2026

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