What’s up

Sean Carleton/Niigaan Sinclair book launch

• McNally Robinson Booksellers, 1120 Grant Ave.
• Tonight, 7 p.m.
• Free

A new book exploring the dialogue surrounding the Indigenous experience in residential schools, and those who downplay or try to discredit the findings, launches at 7 p.m. tonight at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park.

Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism was edited by University of Manitoba professors Sean Carleton and Niigaan Sinclair (who is also a Free Press columnist), and published earlier this month by University of Manitoba Press. The pair, as well as a range of contributors, tackle the narratives behind and consequences of residential school denialism in Canada.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

Sinclair and Carleton will be joined at the launch by contributors to the book, as well as by Red Pheasant Cree Nation author (and fellow contributor) Michelle Good, who penned the award-winning novel Five Little Indians and the non-fiction book Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada. Good’s latest is the novel Eliza Sunshine, which was released on Aug. 18.

The launch will be hosted by Shelagh Rogers. The event will be streamed on McNally Robinson’s YouTube channel.

— Ben Sigurdson

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Mitchell Fenton Solo Exhibition

• Soul Gallery, 65 Albert St.
• Opening reception tonight, 6-9 p.m.
• Free

Golden-hour sunsets, dappled beaches, white-capped waves — it might be cooler out there, but it’s still a Manitoba summer inside Soul Gallery thanks to artist Mitchell Fenton’s solo exhibition, New Victoria Beach Landscapes, which opens tonight.

The new collection of impressionistic oil paintings capture a part of the province Fenton has been exploring since childhood.

“The landscape is imprinted deeply in my memory and soul,” he says in his artist’s statement.

“These paintings are taken from photographs, mostly during morning walks when long shadows cross the beach and a soft breeze caresses the air and waves. It’s a beautiful time to be out. Other paintings in the series are at sunset: Golden Hour or Magic Hour. The massive lake along with the prairie sky is an unbeatable combination. For the impressionists, it’s all about the light.”

New Victoria Beach Landscapes is on view until Oct. 3.

— Jen Zoratti

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South Osborne’s gone country

• Sidestage, Park Alleys
• Friday
• $5-$25

There’ll be a whole lotta honky-tonkin going on in South Osborne Friday, so shine up those cowboy boots and pearl snaps.

Sean Burns and Lost Country will launch their new LP Better Off in Time & Other Songs for the Dance Floor at Sidestage (700 Osborne St.), with local Erika Fowler and Lethbridge, Alta.’s Skinny Dyck opening. (For a full preview, see page C1) Doors to the all ages open at 7 p.m., music starts at 7:30. Admission is $25.

As if that weren’t enough, later on that evening, just a boot-scootin’ boogie a half-block south, Andrew Neville & the Poor Choices are setting up shop at Park Alleys. The long-standing local hardcore honky-tonk group will perform an eclectic mix of classic country covers, deep cuts and originals starting at 10:30 p.m.

Admission is $12, but anyone coming from the Sean Burns show can get in for $5 with proof of entry.

— Sheldon Birnie

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Esteban Seunarine album release

• The Handsome Daughter, 61 Sherbrook St.
• Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Tickets $19 available online

Esteban Seunarine is a non-stop drumming machine. After releasing a pair of largely improvisatory albums in 2025 — What Blossoms from Bloodshed? and Frequencies//For//Ghosts, the latter a joint release with saxophonist Ben Kensok — the Brandon University jazz performance grad is back with the third record of a blossoming career.

The record’s title — The Expanding Whatever — suggests an exploratory, unrestricted investigation of jazz beyond the limitations of genre, with Seunarine citing the solo output of Tortoise bandleader Jeff Parker as a helpful parameter for understanding his blend and approach to jazz, post-rock and electronic influences. It’s been a big year already for Seunarine, who won the prestigious Sabian Sen Dom Famularo Mentorship Award, named for the late drummer and educator who died in 2023.

Opening the night is local vocalist Rein Cabalquinto.

— Ben Waldman

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What Colour is the Sacred

• Gallery Buhler Galerie, St. Boniface Hospital, Everett Atrium, 409 Taché Ave.
• Tonight, 6-9 p.m.
• Free

Galerie Buhler’s latest group exhibition invites the audience to contemplate the nature of sacredness.

Running until Nov. 26, the show features the works of 19 artists, including Lourdes Still, Vi Houssin, Seema Goel and Iyunade Judah.

“I’m interested in sacred experiences—what are they? How can they be expressed? In this exhibition, different artworks provide many ways for thinking about sacredness and how it might be expressed,” gallery curator hannah_g says.

— AV Kitching

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