Community-envigorating Kaleido Festival asking for help for its 18th birthday
Some 600 artists and 50 vendors will enliven Kaleido, whirling along and around 118 Avenue Friday through Sunday
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Perfectly named, the shifting and colourful Kaleido Family Arts Festival easily has the widest, most diverse range of interactive cultural experiences of any annual fête in the city.
Music, theatre, dance, film, a Cree cultural village, street performers, circus acts, clever activity booths, visual art (indoors and out, including a lantern parade), markets, loads of food vendors and even prize-money soccer matches are all part of the head-spinning lineup of activities this year, the fest’s 18th birthday.
“We’re finally adults now,” festival founder and producer Christy Morin laughs. “That’s why our alcohol-consumption size has increased,” she says, alluding to the expanded, family-friendly beer gardens at Main Stage and Jazz Alley on the generally fenceless, definitely gateless site.
In all, there are some 600 artists and 50 vendors at Kaleido Friday through Sunday, whirling along and around 118 Avenue between 90 and 95 streets.
Just in terms of its two-and-a-half days of music, Toronto bands My Son the Hurricane and Birds of Bellwoods will headline Main Stage at the corner of 92 Street and 119 Avenue Friday and Saturday night, respectively, a tiny fraction of the total action.
Theatre events in the community hall at 9210 118 Ave. include Up-and-Comers Improv at 10:15 p.m. Friday and Grindstone Theatre’s improvised musical, 11 O’clock Number, at 10 p.m. Saturday.
And besides street performances from the Hong De Lion Dancers and the Bhangra!! Punjabi Folk Dance Academy, the dynamic Cirque Kalabanté Productions will be doing drumming, dancing and acrobatics on Main Stage, 7:45 p.m. Saturday.
Other musicians, meanwhile, include Martin Kerr, Jeremiah McDade and, on the Rhythm Speaks Hip Hop Stage, MCs Don Welsh and Jon Jon Rivero.
And let’s not forget the very cool Front Porch Music Series in the Hood, kicking off with a festival preview before everything else begins Thursday at 1:30 p.m. with Heaven and the Ghosts playing at 11236 95A St.
“On your way to the festival,” Morin explains, “there are front porches that are alive with music all weekend.
“You can listen to Mallory Chipman and other artists, so even before you get to the festival you’re already experiencing the festival.”
Check out the entire schedule and map at kaleidofest.ca, including its comprehensive program.
Kicking back
But now more than ever, the always-free Kaleido could seriously use some financial support. Thanks to various downward shifts in funding, the festival is rallying to raise $50,000 through individual donations both one-time and monthly, a 50/50 draw and other means.
“The grants have changed dramatically since COVID,” Morin explains, noting that not only has pandemic-recovery funding ceased, government grants the festival usually received dropped by some 40 per cent.
And as not-for-profits across the board are noticing, corporate sponsorship has also been pulling back.
“We’re just asking people to give a little,” says Morin. “If people can give $500, wow, that’s great.
“We have between 30,000 and 50,000 coming to this free event, so if everyone gave just $10, it would most certainly help.”
Grown intentionally from the sometimes overlooked or even stigmatized Alberta Avenue area, Morin breaks down what this enduring festival is all about.
“We’re a radically open arts festival that celebrates and creates rituals and traditions in the community and for the community,” she says. “We invite Edmonton to sit on our front porch and see who we are, and our identity as a community.”
This community would include Jeff Collins, who lives in the 118 Housing Cooperative and runs Collins Studio Gallery at 11741 94 St.
As an artist and local, he speaks to the value of Kaleido’s annual whirlwind of expression from so many perspectives.
“Kaleido is my favourite festival in the city,” says Collins. “It brings all the disciplines together and really breaks down all the barriers. It doesn’t matter where you come from, if you’re houseless or very rich, it’s just a really great time where everyone is invited.”
From a public tour including the big Love Your Bean sculptures to art from Eastglen High School on the festival grounds, visual art has long been a big part of Kaleido, with openings and existing shows up at The Carrot and Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts.
On Saturday and Sunday at Collins Studio Gallery, the versatile, style-hopping artist is providing art supplies for anyone who wants to drop in between noon and 5 p.m.
“I’ll be giving demos and techniques for people to create their own works, and they can walk out with the painting that they created,” says Collins.
Outside, he’s organized a separate art event called Stop, Drop and Paint where four established artists will paint for 45 minutes each on a canvas, then move on to the next one, creating a series of collaborations.
And, starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, an experimental music showcase at the gallery will feature Zeezeedeedee (Billie Zizi and Don Ross), Wayne DeFehr, James Parrot and Raylene Campbell.
Kaleido’s theme this year, Hearts a Bustin’, comes from the name of a strawberry variety — the strawberries you’ll find all over the festival imagery having symbolic meaning to the Indigenous and Métis communities deeply imbedded in Kaleido from the beginning.
“It’s all about the unity, the renewal that the strawberry means,” says Morin. “With our lantern parade, which kicks everything off Friday, there’s always light and drumming, which is the heartbeat of the festival. So it’s all connected.”
Takwakin (autumn in Cree) Village at 91 Street and 118 Avenue starts with Elder Tom Snow’s blessing at noon Saturday, then two days of programming including hand-drum singing by Shane Redstar, contemporary music by Vanessa Baudry and Tammy Lamouch, storytelling by Travis Dugas and not-to-be missed country by Stirling John both days at 4 p.m., followed by mini powwows at 5 p.m. centred around Running Thunder Dancers.
There’s also the Compliment Booth, which essentially ritualizes kindness, the medieval larper action of Barony of Borealis, and Snap Your Joy featuring a photographer sitting inside a giant Polaroid camera.
Finally, the Free Bluegrass Pancake Breakfast runs 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, with Local Union 488 supplying the food, Byron and Alfie Myhre the music.
Morin looks at the impact of Kaleido and her work with Arts on the Ave.
“It’s super cool because it’s sort of caught on that we’re this creative district,” she says. “Honestly, I never knew it would stick.
“It’s been a bit of a nail-biter at times and I definitely never thought I would be doing this for 18 years … but, I look at it and go, ‘Wow, this is something community can do.’”
PREVIEW
Kaleido Family Arts Festival
When 7 p.m. – 11 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. Saturday; noon – 6 p.m. Sunday
Where 90-95 Streets on 118 and 119 Avenues
Admission By donation
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