Get a little culture: Folklorama celebrates 55 years

You never have to wait more than a week in Winnipeg during summer for the next major festival.

And you never have to venture very far during Folklorama, which begins Sunday, before running into another church, community centre or curling club humming with music, food and cultural dress.

In sheer scale, it’s the most transformative festival Winnipeg has.

Featuring 45 pavilions this year, its 55th, Folklorama launched Wednesday at a news conference at The Forks. (The official kickoff is Sunday at Assiniboine Park’s Lyric Theatre and Field at 4 p.m., the only chance to see all the Pavilion Ambassadors in one spot.) The event also featured a citizen ceremony for several dozen new Canadians, presided over by Canada’s first Métis citizenship judge, Suzanne Carrière.

What’s up: Jaws, Big Sun, Sea Bears, Paper Cities, Jazz Meets Art

Summer Movie Night: JawsBarn Hammer Brewing Co., 595 Wall St.Today, 7 p.m.FreeIt was the first film to be marketed in North America on LaserDisc (in MCA DiscoVision, no less). The main character doesn’t have a name, but was dubbed Bruce by its co-stars. And a prosthetic arm made for the film didn’t look realistic enough, so a cast member was buried in the sand with only her arm sticking out.

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws was a sensation upon release, overtaking The Godfather as the highest grossing film at the North American box office (a title it held until Star Wars was released two years later). The film follows the plight of a New England town terrorized by a massive great white shark, and the ragtag trio that set out to take down the beast after a series of attacks.

Tonight at Barn Hammer, you can revisit the film that had so many afraid to go in the water (and spawned Roy Scheider’s infamous line “you’re going to need a bigger boat” which, according to IMDb, he improvised).

The film gets going at 7:30 p.m., but pop by the brewery tap room beforehand for some pre-show trivia (such as the above nuggets). There will be happy hour-priced pints, a themed cocktail and even a candy bar for viewers of all ages to enjoy. Admission is free.

WAG wraps exhibition showcasing fine art of a sweet bike

Growing up in rural Manitoba, Allen Hildebrand was always tinkering with something. While on a flight to Mexico in 2016, it felt like an act of fate when he picked up a magazine and opened it to the ultimate project.

“It had this dirty old bike on it and I was like, ‘I want one of these in my life,’” Hildebrand says.

After 10 years, he is running out of space in his garage after filling it with four bikes, two of which are featured in a pop-up motorcycle exhibition at the WAG-Qaumajuq that ends Thursday.

The art gallery is broadening the perspective of what fine art can be with Art Moto: Where Design Meets the Road, featuring 25 motorbikes hand-built by local enthusiasts and set up in the gallery’s main hall and skylight.

Singing the praises of fringe shows that dare to take risks

In the sweltering heat, after a couple of beers, conversation in the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival queues this year could turn saucy.

Arjun Lal exhibition explores how society remains shaped by colonialism

The lingering ghosts of colonialism have long haunted Nova Scotia artist Arjun Lal.

“When I’m thinking of colonial ghosts, it’s these elements of colonial legacy and oppression that maintains a presence in this contemporary world,” says Lal, 34.

He said he most commonly sees this in the fetish community, where colonialism is still often role-played through the oppressor and the oppressed.

Seeing how society’s systems and spaces are still shaped by colonial powers, Lal, whose parents both immigrated from India, questioned what it would be like to break free from these systems and their current form: What would it be like to be a flamingo?

Cultural consultation gives Indigenous stories strength in Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie

Through her work as an Indigenous consultant for film and TV, Julie O’Keefe, a citizen of the Osage Nation, has brought accuracy and authenticity to works such as Martin Scorsese’s 2023 crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, the 2025 western miniseries American Primeval and, most recently, Rebecca Sonnenshine’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie.

But she doesn’t work solo.

“One of the things that I always say is, in any of these jobs that I do — whether it’s Shoshone and Paiute and Ute or Osage — I never come alone to this,” says O’Keefe, who grew up in Pawhuska, Okla., the heart of the Osage Nation, and is now based in Santa Fe, N.M. “I engage because those stories are so much richer with our voices added to it, and we know that.

“I’m sitting down with brilliant directors, brilliant writers, and I’m handing over pieces of history that they’re like, ‘How come nobody knows this?’ And the great part is, this is the time in history … people are really starting to get on top of wanting this for their stories, because it really wasn’t of any importance before.”

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Directly above the West Broadway vendor and noisy bar now known as the Kyoto Kat Club, amid a primly kept wardrobe and dirty coffee mugs, Josh Peterson’s bachelor suite is bursting with coveted Manitoba art.

What's Up: Breweries party, Stellar, Ballet in the Park, Perlage: A Métis Voyage, the art of motorcycles, Fringin’

Better TogetherSookram’s Brewing Co. (479-B Warsaw Ave.) and Low Life Barrel House (398 Daly St. N.)Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.FreeA pair of neighbouring Winnipeg craft breweries are teaming up for a party Saturday with plenty on tap — including a collaborative beer release.

Low Life Barrel House and Sookram’s Brewing Co. are again joining forces for Better Together, a celebration of both breweries, on Saturday starting at noon. On tap for the festivities: drink specials, a scavenger hunt run, live music, brewery bingo, DJs and food by Big Dawg and Low Life’s own Snack Häus.

And then there’s the beer. The breweries have teamed up on a collaborative brew called Better Together, a pale ale made collaboratively using house yeasts from both breweries. It will be available at both breweries, who are also hosting each others’ beers on their respective taps alongside their own (and even doing some custom blends).

Thirsty Winnipeggers need not worry about driving from place to place — a trolley will be running between the facilities throughout the event, which is free and open to all ages (there will be games for the younger guests and plenty of non-alcoholic options).

Nominees announced for Rintoul award for top MB play

With the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival headed into its final stretch, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights announced which six original local productions have made the cut for the prestigious Harry S. Rintoul Award, given out each summer to the top new Manitoban play.

Named for the late founder of Theatre Projects Manitoba, the Rintoul Award winners receive a $750 cash prize, while the honourable mention recipient takes home $250 for their creative efforts.

This year’s list features several playwrights who’ve established reputations for critical and commercial successes at the festival, along with a few first-time Rintoul honorees.

For JHG Creative’s Monique Gauthier, Ian Ingram and brothers Cuinn and Connor Joseph, a spot on the Rintoul shortlist is on the menu for Dead Chef, a black comedy musical set at the French restaurant Eau Bouillante which earned a “chef’s kiss” from Free Press reviewer Jen Zoratti. The winners of the 2023 prize for their World’s Fair 1876: The Centennial Exposition, JHG was also the honourable mention recipient in 2024 for their delivery comedy The Mailroom. The Josephs also won the award in 2019 for The Cause.

Bookman brings roving kiosk of literary treasures to fringe

Every superhero has a true identity: Superman is Clark Kent, Captain Canuck is Tom Evans and Wonder Woman is Diana Prince.

Top of the leaderboard: Our five-star fringe reviews

Alexander Mantia, Dead Chef, El Diablo of the Cards 2.0, Eleanor's Story, Erika MacDonald, Evie & Alfie, Goose! Night of the Cobra Chicken, Jimmy Hogg, Middle Child, Our Father, Oversharer, Nat King Cole, 7 Lives of Louis Riel, Evolution of a Broken Heart, The Rocky Horror Show, Tony Wrestles a Stranger, Tymisha Harris

Safe-walks program around downtown venues to launch after pleas from WSO performers

The city will provide safe walks and patrols will be increased around downtown arts venues in response to performers and staff feeling unsafe while working in the inner city.

The safety measures are part of the new Performing Arts Wayfinder Program, which will use $100,000 in funding from the mayor’s office for two additional Downtown Community Safety Partnership staff members to focus on safe walks and patrols for performers, audience members and staff.

The program is scheduled to begin in September and run through June 2027.

The initiative comes after members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra reached out to Mayor Scott Gillingham in a letter outlining their concerns about safety for musicians, other staff and their patrons.

Fringe reviews #16: I need an extra show

Filthy Fakespeare, Just You and Me, The Review, Serious Comedy, This Is, You Are Happy, Real Grilfriend, Push Your Wheelchair

Fringe reviews #15: Button-mashing mayhem

Babel, Chase Padgett, Dirk Darrow, The Glass Between Us, K-Tel Demon Hunters, Mr. Richard, Penny Ashton, Grant Canyon, Rocky Horror Show, Wisecracks for Weirdos