Friday 26 June 6pm @ Wandering Spirits

WindRush - The Stories We Travel With by Marcel Stewart

What does it mean to leave home? What does it mean to carry it with you?

WindRush - The Stories We Travel With is an intimate evening of storytelling, reflection, and performance from artist Marcel Stewart.

Drawing from family histories, personal memories, and the research that inspired the development of his solo show WindRush, Marcel shares stories of belonging, migration, identity, and home. Throughout the evening, these stories are woven together with selected excerpts from WindRush, offering audiences a rare glimpse into both the work itself and the journeys that shaped it.

Spanning Jamaica, England, and Canada, WindRush -The Stories We Travel With explores the stories we inherit, the stories we choose to tell (and the ones we don’t tell), and the stories we leave behind for future generations.

Part storytelling event, part intimate conversation, and part oral history, this special presentation invites audiences to reflect on the journeys that shape who we become.

Saturday 27 June 2pm @ Wandering Spirits

WindRush - The Stories We Travel With by Marcel Stewart

What does it mean to leave home? What does it mean to carry it with you?

WindRush - The Stories We Travel With is an intimate evening of storytelling, reflection, and performance from artist Marcel Stewart.

Drawing from family histories, personal memories, and the research that inspired the development of his solo show WindRush, Marcel shares stories of belonging, migration, identity, and home. Throughout the evening, these stories are woven together with selected excerpts from WindRush, offering audiences a rare glimpse into both the work itself and the journeys that shaped it.

Spanning Jamaica, England, and Canada, WindRush -The Stories We Travel With explores the stories we inherit, the stories we choose to tell (and the ones we don’t tell), and the stories we leave behind for future generations.

Part storytelling event, part intimate conversation, and part oral history, this special presentation invites audiences to reflect on the journeys that shape who we become.

Friday 26 June 8pm @ Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts - Studio C

MONKS by Versonica Hortigüela and Annie Luján

Are you there God? It’s us, Monks. 

The monks who reside in the hilltop monastery have always lived in total isolation. When the Abbott ventures into town, two medieval brothers take the opportunity to invite a wagon full of strangers to their austere abode. Trying to complete their tasks of counting lentils, caring for their donkey, and keeping the monastery standing becomes the quest of a lifetime. Accept the invitation and join the monks on a journey for a good time in this shockingly dumb interactive clown show featuring magical realism, live music, unbridled chaos, and every interpretation of the word ‘ass’.

About the Artists:

Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján are Dora-award-winning actors, clowns, and theatre creators. They have been friends and collaborators for over 15 years, with a shared passion to infuse modern clowning into Canada’s theatre landscape. Fully developed by the duo, MONKS marks their debut as directors, creators, designers and performers in their own work. This absurd, raucous and rollicking clown show serves as a testament to their commitment to play, audience and the ridiculous.

Saturday 27 June 2pm @ Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts - Studio C

MONKS by Versonica Hortigüela and Annie Luján

Are you there God? It’s us, Monks. 

The monks who reside in the hilltop monastery have always lived in total isolation. When the Abbott ventures into town, two medieval brothers take the opportunity to invite a wagon full of strangers to their austere abode. Trying to complete their tasks of counting lentils, caring for their donkey, and keeping the monastery standing becomes the quest of a lifetime. Accept the invitation and join the monks on a journey for a good time in this shockingly dumb interactive clown show featuring magical realism, live music, unbridled chaos, and every interpretation of the word ‘ass’.

About the Artists:

Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján are Dora-award-winning actors, clowns, and theatre creators. They have been friends and collaborators for over 15 years, with a shared passion to infuse modern clowning into Canada’s theatre landscape. Fully developed by the duo, MONKS marks their debut as directors, creators, designers and performers in their own work. This absurd, raucous and rollicking clown show serves as a testament to their commitment to play, audience and the ridiculous.

Saturday 27 June 7PM @ Oddfellows Temple

The God Space by Dienye Waboso Amajor

What if artists don't create ideas? What if we receive them?

The God Space explores the possibility that creativity is not an act of invention, but one of translation. That artists, writers, musicians, et al. are less like authors and more like visionaries with antennas, who receive signals from the unconscious, the collective imagination, spirit, or forms of intelligence that exist beyond ordinary, in the space before language and before certainty.

What does it mean to serve as a translator of an unseen intelligence? When something arrives through us like a vision or the melody to a song, or an image we must translate, or a feeling we must feel and convey? What responsibility do we have to the message? Is the artist's role to communicate clearly or to simply remain faithful to what was received?

Must art be understood to be art? If a work resists interpretation, if its meaning cannot be fully understood, has it failed or is its mystery part of its purpose?

And who is art ultimately for? The artist seeking revelation; a divine connection? The audience seeking release and meaning? Or the force that called the work into existence in the first place?

Drawing from art, psychology, spirituality, philosophy, and lived creative experience, The God Space investigates the hidden architecture of inspiration and the enduring mystery of creation itself.

Because sometimes the work arrives before the understanding. It's like a feeling, a twinge in the body, a spark of a thought, or a lightning bolt. And sometimes the most important question is not what art means but where it comes from.

The God Space.

Not a show about art.

A show about where art comes from.

Friday 26 June 9:30PM @ Oddfellows Temple

Suitcase Scratch Night Featuring:

Brian Foster, Del Stephens, Farai Tigere and Alex Brown

Join us for the last monthly Scratch Night of the season and see new work by writers, musicians, comedians, playwrights, filmmakers and more! Scratch Nights are where we let it all hang out in the spirit of curiosity and experimentation - and are ALWAYS a memorable night.

Suitcase Scratch Nights started in October 2022 and are all about local and visiting artists testing their works-in-progress with an eager, supportive audience.

A great big thanks to St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program for funding this beloved program for local artists and to Loewen Design Studios for championing these nights as our returning Scratch Night sponsor! Thank you!

More info on the artists can be found here: https://suitcaseinpoint.com/original_production/scratch-night/

Chapel Drone

Saturday 27 June 9:00PM @ St. Thomas Church

We couldn't not have a little music at the fest so we partnered with our friends at Chepel drone, for an experimental concert series that explores (but is not limited to) chilled out, meditative destinations. 

This month Chapel Drone will be presenting Niagara-based musician halfdecentheart and W L C, the ambient project of Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist Danny Sheahan. They’ll each perform solo and then give us an improvised collaborative set. In addition, local film and video artists Ren Kangas and Connor Wilkes will be providing visuals for the show.