Hudson Bay Allied Arts Council

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life isn’t just a show, it’s a cause. A heartfelt passion project that began as a nudge after Keith Alessi’s life took a major turn, it has been his mission to raise money for causes close to his heart. Through donations, including 100% of all artist fees, the show has raised over $1.2 Million Dollars (CAD) as of December 2025 for various charities including cancer organizations, music programs, community groups and artist funding and development. All Proceeds from the performances at the King’s Head Theatre will benefit the theatres Angels of Angel program which supports creation and production of new theatrical productions. The show has sold out runs across Canada, Off-Broadway in New York City, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland 3 years in a row. It has toured internationally, including Canada, the US, England, Scotland and Australia. Keith shares his exceptional true story of leaving the world of corporate board rooms behind to follow his long-delayed passion-playing the banjo! When faced with a deadly cancer battle, his musical pursuit took him on a journey that became the key to saving his life. Told through authentic storytelling, heartfelt humor and music, Keith’s story is an uplifting tale of challenge, triumph, and the the healing power of the arts and music.

2025 - Celebrating 15 years and releasing Brahms, Balkans & Bagels! Oktopus presents Brahms, Balkan & Bagels, a concert that explores the elements of folklore that inspired great classical composers. In a virtuosic, moving, and unique performance, Oktopus brilliantly blends classical and folk music from Eastern Europe. How did Hungarian folk melodies inspire Brahms and Liszt? How does Enescu's native Romania appear in his works? What traces has klezmer music left in Mahler’s great symphonies? A recipient of numerous awards, Oktopus is a prominent figure on the Canadian world music scene, with over 300 performances both nationally and internationally. The group is primarily dedicated to klezmer music and stands out with a fresh approach that incorporates elements of classical and Québécois repertoire, along with some jazz and Balkan accents. The eight virtuosic musicians deliver a show that is as festive and lively as it is melancholic and profound, sprinkled with humor and stories.

Last Birds’ intimate, one mic performance style blends contemporary folk and traditional country music. Through haunting vocal harmonies and interwoven acoustic guitars, the duo tells stories of small-town experiences and the challenges of prairie life. Mike Davis and Lindsay Arnold draw audiences into a shared experience with their honest lyrics and authentic spousal banter that is satisfyingly bittersweet, often humorous, and always mesmerizing to watch.

In 1991, The Johner Brothers took the Canadian country music audience by storm. Brad and Ken were named "Duo of the Year" by the Canadian Country Music Association, kicking off a string of awards. After being crowned 'Entertainer of the Decade' and releasing a remarkable 26 singles from six hit albums, Ken retired from the music business in 2002. Brad continued with a hugely successful solo career, recording six highly praised albums and awarded "Male Artist of the Year" by the CCMA. After twenty years, the Johner Brothers are back together and looking forward to a busy year playing shows across western Canada. Backed by two of Brad's sons, the show is a fresh version of what Johner fans have come to expect as they are astute professionals and true gentlemen of the stage.

Organized by Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery; Touring Saskatchewan through the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils; Curated by Jennifer McRorie The exhibition, Storied Telling, features photographic works by Canadian artists, whose images present as lens-based performance. The photographs reflect a performative nature, taken as video stills or documentation of performance art or presented as elaborate figurative compositions within settings that border on the fantastical or are imagined recreations of historic scenarios. In their adornment and positioning within their environments, the subjects of the photographs become powerfully iconographic. The resulting images are rife with story, reflecting diverse narratives that are poetic, political, surreal, spiritual, or perhaps even mythic; stories that inform and speak to cultural and diaspora identities that are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew through transformation and difference.Organized by Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery; Touring Saskatchewan through the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils; Curated by Jennifer McRorie The exhibition, Storied Telling, features photographic works by Canadian artists, whose images present as lens-based performance. The photographs reflect a performative nature, taken as video stills or documentation of performance art or presented as elaborate figurative compositions within settings that border on the fantastical or are imagined recreations of historic scenarios. In their adornment and positioning within their environments, the subjects of the photographs become powerfully iconographic. The resulting images are rife with story, reflecting diverse narratives that are poetic, political, surreal, spiritual, or perhaps even mythic; stories that inform and speak to cultural and diaspora identities that are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew through transformation and difference.

Invisible Winds: Stories You Can Not See, Journeys toward wholeness Curated by Dean Bauche, featuring Mary Anne Baxter, Dani Bauche, Dean Bauche, Leah Marie Dorion, Susan Gordon, Iris Hauser, Holly Hildebrand, Roger Jerome, Robert Jerome, Emily Johnson, Karlie King, Bonny Macnab, Jon Philpott, William Philpott, Paul Trottier, Rebecca Toderian, Lyndon Tootoosis, Carol Wylie, and JingLu Zhao. Invisible Winds is a timely and inspiring exhibition featuring the work of established and emerging artists from across Saskatchewan. It invites us to stop and listen, to see and hear invisible stories carried by so many around us. Accompanied by the thoughts of David A. Robertson, author of 'All the Little Monsters' and winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, this exhibition explores issues such as mental health, grief, and the invisibility of trauma in our lives. It highlights the importance of sharing one's story and the necessity of being seen for one's pain to start healing. Invisible Winds "honors those with Lived Expertise, [it] uses art to speak that experience to others". Rebecca Rackow, Assistant Executive Director Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatchewan Division

The exhibition Wóknaga1, Nakoda for "He Tells His Own Story"2, features paintings by Métis, Nêhiyawak/Nakoda/Anishinaabe/Scottish artist, Dave Pelletier, of môso-tâpiskan3, now known as Moose Jaw. Working within a Woodland School style, Pelletier honours Indigenous intergenerational transfer of knowledge through storytelling within these canvases, while offering his own imagined narratives that play out through the graphic and colourful compositions of animals and figures of Turtle Island. Inspired by the work of Norval Morriseau, Pelletier’s compositions, of stylized, abstracted forms, bold colours and crisp, black outlines and energy lines, offer narratives that speak to the artist’s own search for traditional knowledge and his journey to place himself and connect with his Indigenous cultures. 1 Pronounced WOKE-nah-gah in Nakoda. 2 Translated by Nakoda speaker, Matthew Spencer, May 12, 2024. 3 Pronounced moh-so-TAHP-skun in nêhiyawak (Cree).