Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba CLOSES NEXT WEEK BUY NOW — FREE PRESS Book by Jessie Nelson Music & Lyrics by Sara Bareilles Based upon the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly “This Waitress delivers” Laura Olafson, Stephanie Sy & Rhea Rodych-Rasidescu in Waitress. Photo by Dylan Hewlett ON NOW TO FE BRUARY 1 TUE-THU, JAN 28-30 | 7:30 PM TICKETS & INFO wso.caMUSIC DIRECTOR DANIEL RAISKIN CONDUCTS THIS FIRST-EVER 360-DEGREE ON-STAGE ORCHESTRAL EXPERIENCE! THURSDAY JANUARY 23, 2025 ● ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: JILL WILSON 204-697-7018 ● ARTS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ARTS ● LIFE SECTION C CONNECT WITH THE BEST ARTS AND LIFE COVERAGE IN MANITOBA ▼ ARTSPACE, home to nearly two dozen arts and cultural organizations, has been closed to the public since last week due to a broken sewage pipe. “I’m trying to keep a smile on and some of the frustrations we’re living are also a reminder of the importance of this cultural hub,” says Eric Plamon- don, Artspace’s executive director. Established in 1986, the six-storey Ex- change-based organization facing Old Market Square hosts such organizations as the Dave Barber Cinematheque, the Winnipeg Film Group and Jazz Win- nipeg. The building was constructed in 1900 and Plamondon says the broken pipe is likely of that vintage. While many of the tenants operate as administrative offices, public-facing groups such as Cinematheque and Plat- form Centre for Photographic and Digi- tal Arts have had to suspend screenings and exhibitions until further notice. The Winnipeg Film Group’s rentals are also suspended until further no- tice, while film equipment pick-ups and drop offs are by appointment until the issue is resolved. While the broken pipe is being re- paired, updates on public access to the building will continue. “Whatever happens, there’s some good allies around that are helping us out. It’s nice that we exist in an environ- ment in Winnipeg where it doesn’t feel like it’s competition,” Plamondon says. Screenings of Winnipeg-native Mathew Rankin’s Universal Language, previously set to take place at Cinema- theque this week, have been moved to a single première at Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain (340 Provencher Blvd.), tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all three prior screening dates will be honoured at the St. Boniface venue and refunds are available for ticketholders unable to make the new event. The feature film is in French, English and Farsi with English subtitles and is one of three Canadian films put for- ward for Oscar consideration this year. Before the 44-year-old Rankin found international success, his films long enjoyed a home at Cinematheque, some- times premièring at the indie cinema. “The fact we can’t host (Universal Language), not only does it suck, but this is the calibre and this is a com- munity that we’re talking about. The Matthew Rankins can exist because Artspace existed,” says Plamondon. A conversation with Rankin and Guy Maddin hosted by Cinematheque Saturday at 5 p.m. has been relocated to the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St.). The event, in which the acclaimed filmmakers are set to discuss the impact of Winnipeg’s film community on their respective careers, is sold out. Visit art-space.ca for updates. conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca CONRAD SWEATMAN RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Artspace’s broken sewage pipe has caused tenants to cancel and move events. Artspace remains closed due to broken sewer pipe Winter music festival raises the temperature around town COLD SNAP I T might be a surprise consid- ering the weather, but Win- nipeg is in the middle of one its richest annual stretches of live music. While the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra delivers the sounds and fury of contemporary classical at the Winnipeg New Music Festival over the next three nights, the annual Win- terruption festival, ending Sunday, presents some of the best in new local and Canadian alt-pop this week. Co-presented by Real Love and the West End Cultural Centre, Winter- ruption features local luminaries and international stars over 17 remaining concerts across seven venues. On the regional front, this includes jazzy post-rockers Slow Spirit, indie folkie and TikTok star tofusmell, R&B songstress Snackie, and soulful croon- er Gabi Ocejo. The festival’s headlin- ers include New York’s Kool Keith, one of hip-hop’s pioneers and most legendary oddballs, the Polaris Music Prize-winning Owen Pallet (formerly known as Final Fantasy), and L.A. indie rockers Cheekface. “Winterruption was created to bring artists to Winnipeg in the wintertime, in the coldest weeks of our year, so they could experience what a Mani- toba winter is like,” jokes Real Love co-founder Adam Soloway, who man- ages the concert promo company with co-founder Gil Carroll and shares the stage in dream-pop band Living Hour, which has toured widely and enjoys a notable online following. Winterruption organizers aim to create a vital musical happening in the season between September and June, when festivals are scant. “This year, we’re bringing in more acts from out of town than we ever have before, which is exciting to us,” Soloway says. Exciting not only because it’s fun, but because these kinds of exchanges with outside acts helps to create a more cosmopolitan local music scene, he adds. In this spirit, it’s fitting that Winterruption coincides this year with Manitoba Music’s annual Sound Waves Music Meeting, a conference and showcase that brings together many of Canada’s top music industry figures as presenters and offers cheap registration options for local musi- cians. “(Sound Waves) has typically run at other times of year. But we moved it to run in conjunction with Winterrup- tion to be able to highlight the activity of the local music scene for visiting delegates,” Rachel Stone, Manitoba Music director of operations and com- munications, says via email. One of Winterruption’s performers, the Toronto-based rapper DijahSB (Kahdijah Payne), also serves as a conference mentor. Payne speaks at a Manitoba Music event today at a 12:30 p.m. and performs tonight at a sold-out show featuring Kool Keith and Winnipeg rapper Dill the Giant, a member of now mostly inactive hip- hop trio 3Peat. “I’m just really excited to travel and experience a new place in Canada. I wouldn’t just say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go to Winnipeg,’” says Payne. Payne is part of a wave of musicians in recent years who have started fus- ing hip-hop with house music, an early electronic dance genre from Chicago. The impact of Montreal DJ and producer Kaytranada, who acceler- ated the organic sound and swinging rhythms of certain 1990s rap produc- ers such as J Dilla to a more dance- able house tempo, has been key here. “I call it house-hop. People will send me beats and they’ll be too electronic. And I’m like, ‘Nah, I need some hip- hop,’” says Payne. CONRAD SWEATMAN FESTIVAL PREVIEW WINTERRUPTION ● Tonight to Sunday ● Tickets and schedule at winterruptionwpg.ca Winteruption sampler Tonight ● West End Cultural Centre, 8 p.m.; Slow Spirit and Owen Pallett ● Park Theatre, 8 p.m.; Cheekface, Strawberry Punch, Tired Cossack Friday ● Sidestage, 9 p.m.; Witchy Woods, the Haileys, Blond(e) Goth, Nap Eyes Saturday ● The Forks Market 2nd Floor Lounge; Hera Nalam (noon), KC is Lazy (1 p.m.), Gabi Ocejo (2 p.m.) ● Canadian Museum for Human Rights, 4 p.m.; sakihiwe festival Round Dance ● The Forks, Room 201, 7 p.m.; Keisha Booker, DJ Zuki, Diaphane, Snackie, Dplus and others Sunday ● West End Cultural Centre, 2 p.m.; @canada.gov.ca SUPPLIED SUPPLIED ● CONTINUED ON C3 CHEEKFACE SLOW SPIRIT ;