Winnipeg, Ontario?
For a weekend, at least, our arts scend took over Toronto’s lakeshore
Stacey Abramson

Caught Live
A
FROM THE ’PEG, July 28-30, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

I realized just how unique Winnipeg is in the art world while dancing to Elvis Costello with a Lesbian Ranger and local artist KC Adams in a tent on the Lake Ontario shorefront.

It’s this distinctiveness that prompted Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre to hold From the ’Peg, a weekend-long festival celebrating some of the best art and culture Winnipeg has to offer.

Patrolling the festival grounds to spread awareness of the delicate balance in lesbian wildlife were the Lesbian National Park and Services (LNPS) Rangers, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan. Dempsey and Millan treated a packed theatre to their witty and wonderful performance about the life, the history and future of LNPS, and what we all can do to help.

In the Marilyn Brewer Gallery just inside the Harbourfront Centre, an exhibition curated by Steve Loft of Urban Shaman was an amazing showcase of Winnipeg’s aboriginal artists. KC Adams’ Cyborg portraits elegantly invaded the space with their beautiful composition and haunting reminders of racism. Rosalie Favell’s photo montages depicting a Dorothy-like character waking up in Kansas surround by Aunty Em, family and Louis Riel were one of the humorous highlights of the show.

Winnipeg’s eclectic music scene was also well represented at the festival, with acts such as Eagle & Hawk, Christine Fellows and Moses Mayes entertaining crowds throughout the weekend. Almost as famous as Winnipeg mosquitoes, The Weakerthans unsurprisingly drew a swollen crowd of music lovers on Saturday night. Starting the set off with One Great City, a song that infamously (and ironically) proclaims “I haaaate Winnipeg” in its chorus, John K. Samson and co. put on a wonderful show that brought a tear of pride to the eyes of many Winnipeggers in attendance (yours truly included).

Four fantastic packages curated by Video Pool and the Winnipeg Film Group were spotted throughout the afternoon slots of the festival. Featuring a wide range of video- and film-makers, the programs intended to let viewers into various aspects of Winnipeg life and culture through themes such as isolation (in Transcona), determination and insanity.

The controversy surrounding L’Atelier national du Manitoba’s Death by Popcorn and its appropriated CTV images had died down (or had not even fizzled west of Kenora), and it was a real treat to see a hilarious and nostalgic collection of Winnipeg commercials, Kubasa in a Glass, with a small yet enthusiastic crowd that included 1980s CKND personality Bea Broda (who is now working in travel journalism in Toronto, FYI).

Despite a combination of poor promotion, extreme heat and lack of knowledge of the festival in Toronto art circles, the calibre of work was phenomenal.

As one of the artists at the festival, I found it hard to watch as crowds didn’t come, and it was impossible not to notice the Toronto media’s lack of coverage, but perhaps From the ’Peg simply drowned in the sea of art festivals and exhibitions that the city has each year.

Regardless, the event was a big step in letting the world outside the Perimeter Highway know how talented and bright Winnipeg’s artistic scene really is.

Things can only get bigger and better from here.