The four-day in-person ArtsEverywhere Festival is back January 26th–29th, 2023 for the 20th anniversary of The Guelph Lecture—On Being and the new Rock, Paper, Scissors book & print fair.
From Thursday January 26th to Sunday January 29th, don’t miss this immersive lineup of curated films, performances, conversations, poetry, and music that make up the annual ArtsEverywhere Festival. “This year’s festival will give us a close look at artistic practices, bookmaking, and drag performances, as well as discussions of the meaning of consent, the future of food security, and the creative potential of ekphrasis—the layered act of describing artworks,” explains Festival co-curator and Musagetes Executive Director Shawn van Sluys.
The ArtsEverywhere Festival takes place on the ancestral and treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation of the Aanishinaabek Peoples, in what is now known as Guelph, Ontario, Canada. On Thursday, January 26th catch the Big Ideas Lecture in Arts + Culture featuring Derrais Carter and the Black Revelry project based around the importance of the painting The Sugar Shack. The 20th anniversary of The Guelph Lecture—On Being on Friday January 27th will feature Ontario’s folk favourite, Sarah Harmer, as well as Griffin Poetry Prize-winning poet Liz Howard, and a talk by Vancouver-based scholar Will Valley on food security’s relationship to white supremacy.
On the morning of Saturday, January 28th Toronto-based drag queen Mikiki will be presenting Rose Beef, a Golden Girls-inspired drag brunch at the Red Papaya in the Quebec Street Mall. From 1–6pm on Saturday, the Festival will be presenting the first-ever Rock Paper Scissors Book & Print Fair in the Cooperator’s Hall at the River Run Centre, including two panels: One on communities of micro-publishing with Publication Studio reps from Glasgow, São Paulo, Montevideo, and the US; the other on sex, consent, and agism with author Simon(e) van Saarloos (Playing Monogamy, Take ‘Em Down) in conversation with Metropolitan-University scholar and psychoanalyst Ricky Varghese and scholar Catherine Clune-Taylor.
Saturday night includes a screening of Chelsea McMullan and Tanya Tagaq’s new documentary, Ever Deadly in partnership with the Guelph Film Festival and the Bookshelf Cinema with a presentation curated by Taqralik Partridge. On Sunday, the program continues at the River Run Centre with a panel conversation with disability artists Aislinn Thomas, Big Ideas lecturer Derrais Carter, and Berlin-based writer Erin Honeycutt on “the radical potential of ekphrasis in blackness, access, and magic.” Rounding out the events, on Sunday afternoon join choreographer Michael Spencer Phillips for a screening of his latest short film Megaflora, which engages dance works for the natural environment.
“As we celebrate the ArtsEverywhere Festival’s 7th year and the Guelph Lecture–On Being’s 20th year, we are grateful for the time, treasure and talent of individuals, companies, organizations, and community partners along the journey. The reciprocity of the conversations taking place over these four days deepen our connectedness as we work to strengthen community presence, inclusion, and collaboration at and beyond the festival,” says Marva Wisdom, Festival Director.
With the exception of The Guelph Lecture—On Being, all of the January events are FREE and will feature ASL Interpretation and live captioning. Sunday’s panel on ekphrasis will be a fragrance-reduced space. Tickets for The Guelph Lecture—On Being go on sale December 14th at noon through the River Run box office.
The Festival is presented by Musagetes and is supported by sponsors and community partners.
For the full program and registration links please visit our website at https://festival.artseverywhere.ca/
