Peterborough Arts Alive: Local Live Streams and Digital Events

Hello all,

The current pandemic may have shut down pretty much every venue and canceled or postponed more great events than we can count, but Peterborough artists and arts organizations are still hard at work. They’re finding innovative ways of bringing art and entertainment into people’s homes, often inviting audiences to participate along with them.

This Bulletin provides a list of digital arts events and live streams from Peterborough City and County artists. If there’s anything we’ve missed, please email us at electriccitycc@gmail.com and we’ll add it to this webpage and include it in future Bulletins.

We know you are enjoying all this great work from local artists, often at no cost, so please remember that artists are struggling extra hard during COVID-19 and need your support now more than ever!

Many of the artists and arts organizations below have Patreons, Kickstarters, donation buttons, memberships, merch for sale, and other ways to lend your support. Please support our local artists, so they can keep making art!

As always, keep checking the EC3 Facebook page, @ECThreePtbo on Twitter, @ec3ptbo on Instagram, and the COVID-19 Updates page on EC3’s website, where we are providing daily updates on programs and services available for ACH workers and organizations.

Please stay well and let us know how we can help.

Track the Impact and get in touch.

Literary Arts

April is National Poetry Writing Month, and the Peterborough Poetry Slam is posting a poetry writing prompt every day on their Facebook page. If you want, you can also share your creations on the SlamPTBO #NaPoWriMo2020 30/30 Facebook group.

Theatre and Performance

4th Line Theatre's annual Artists Talk series, which honours the achievements of women in the Canadian theatre landscape this year, is going online this spring, with a series of free, live stream artist talks and a play reading. Check out this Facebook post for a list of talks and how to sign up.

Every week, Public Energy is streaming a new performance from their archives in the Rewind Room. Follow along on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Public Energy’s website.

Two offerings from The Theatre on King. First, their Cut & Paste Theatre Project is an attempt to put on a play from home, with each actor recording their part from home, to be edited together later on. They just selected Macbeth as their play, and are currently looking for actors. Follow along (or join in!) on the Cut & Paste Theatre Project Facebook group. Second, the Theatre has uploaded almost 60 videos of past performances to YouTube, which you can watch from the comfort of your home.

Visual Art

ACME Art & Sailboat Company has moved the planned First Friday May opening for Teresa Van Neste's exhibition Organized Chaos online, with an online exhibition and auction, and a Zoom opening reception on May 1. Follow Teresa on Facebook for details.

Aging Activisms has set up a new site, Co-Creating During COVID, an inter-generational place where they are encouraging people to share art, music, recipes, poetry, and other creative endeavours. Submit your own, or take a look through their extensive galleries.

The Art Gallery of Peterborough is offering a number of stay-at-home activity options during the pandemic. You can visit their current exhibitions virtually through photo and video galleries on their website. They have a call for submissions for Our Heroes!, a digital art gallery tribute to local heroes during COVID. They’re offering an online version of their monthly Family Sunday drop-in experience this Sunday, May 3 at 1pm. And they’ve posted a number of family activities on their AGP Studio Online site.

The Art School of Peterborough’s Together We CREATE is a weekly paint-from-home streams taking place every Friday night. Find out more here.

Subscribe to Artspace’s newsletter for access to their Flashback: From the Archives series, highlighting hidden gems from the Artspace vault. The current edition features an interview with Dorothy Caldwell. Artspace has also partnered with Public Energy to present Company Town, an exhibition online (and in person in mid-July) about the legacy of General Electric in Peterborough.

The SPARK Photo Festival has been delayed, but the Festival is posting virtual photography exhibits, including the Motion juried exhibit and a special Earth Day 2020 exhibit.

Music

Local musician Rick Fines has been going live on his Facebook page with live music and music lessons.

Folk/country singer Melissa Payne is going live on her Facebook page twice a week: Saturdays at 8pm, and a kid’s show Sundays at 11am.

13-year-old Peterborough fiddler Irish Millie Shadgett is doing live streams on Facebook and Instagram every Friday at 6:30pm and Saturday morning at 10am.

The Peterborough Singers have been posting a number of videos to their Facebook page, including past performances and new music.

The Morrow Park Farmers’ Market may be closed for the moment, but market busking mainstay Benj Rowland is still going live with music on his Facebook page every Saturday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm, as well as doing a stream of original music every Tuesday from 5pm to 7pm.

Ken Tizzard’s Whiskey Wednesday concerts may be on hold right now as bars are closed, but he’s hosting a digital version on his Facebook page every Wednesday at 7:30pm.

The Electric City Singers are a new local choir for young people who have started regularly uploading performances to their Facebook page.

Film

Local filmmaker Lester Alfonso is digitally premiering new work every month through his Highlights Newsletter. Sign up here.

ReFrame Film Festival has launched ReFrame At Home, a new digital service that allows audiences to watch documentary films and support ReFrame at the same time.

Public Talks

Trent University is offering Trent Talks, a weekly interactive video series about issues during COVID-19 hosted by Trent chancellor, Dr. Stephen Stohn and featuring a range of guests. See their website for programming details.

Media

Peterborough Independent Podcasters has put together a COVID-19 playlist of favourite episodes curated by their podcast hosts. And explore the many, many podcasts in their network for hours of entertainment.

Trent Radio’s office and recording studio may be closed, but broadcasts continue nonetheless. This season of radio programming, appropriately titled Season Bizarre, features an extensive schedule of daily radio recorded from home. Check their website for the full schedule and streaming options.

Know of any more local arts live streams or digital events? Send us an email at electriccitycc@gmail.com and we’ll add it here.

And again, please donate and support these artists in any way you can. Together we can keep Arts Alive in Peterborough!

See our COVID-19 Updates page for more COVID-19 updates and resources for artists and ACH workers.