Edmonton Arts Council

10/21/2026

🎃 The EAC’s free family-friendly annual Halloween tradition, Scare on the Square, returns with a terrifyingly thrilling afternoon of Halloween activities for all ages!

DATE: Saturday, October 31st
TIME: 12 - 6PM
WHERE: Sir Winston Churchill Square

Kids of all ages are invited to dress in costume for a ghoulishly good time this Halloween!

🚂 Enjoy a thrilling ride on the ghost train
🕸️ Get lost in an eerie maze
🔮 Have your future revealed with a tarot card reading
🎵 Dance to music with a live performance from The Foolish Things and local DJs
☕ Warm up with hot chocolate and mint tea
📸 Have your photo taken with costumed characters

Plan your costumes now and get your family together to make fun new memories in the heart of downtown!

Photos by: Anthony Michael Media

10/20/2026

From coast to coast to coast, Canadians widely support the arts! The Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey 2025-26 from Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts indicates strong support for the arts across many measures.

Most Canadians think arts and culture make communities better places to live and believe they are important for local economies. Participation in the arts is strong in Canada, with six-in-ten Canadians having attended at least one arts or culture performance or event in person in the past 12 months.

While those numbers are impressive, Edmonton Arts Council's research indicates that our city is especially supportive of the arts!
✔️ 85% of Edmontonians attended at least one type of live performance or arts event in Edmonton (compared with the national average of 6-in-10 Canadians.)
✔️ $171 million dollars in economic activity is generated annually by arts organizations in Edmonton.
✔️ 80% of Edmontonians say that arts are important to quality of life.

If the arts have changed your life for the better, now is the time to speak up! We’re calling on Edmontonians to join our letter campaign to tell the City of Edmonton that the arts matter. As Edmonton City Council deliberates the next budget, they need to hear from residents about the role the arts play in our lives and community.

Visit our Why the Arts Matter toolkit and send your letter today at https://www.edmontonarts.ca/about/research-impact/why-the-arts-matter

10/19/2026

Will we see you out this week in the arts community? 👀

Come out to the community screening of "No Ordinary World," see a major player in Québec’s hip-hop dance scene at Mile Zero Dance, celebrate with Nice Photo Club for the opening of their first group exhibition "One Day in Edmonton" and more! ✨

Find all of the best arts and culture events in Edmonton at https://www.edmontonarts.ca/events ◀️

10/16/2026

"Arts matter more than ever because it brings community together in ways they wouldn't otherwise."

The Edmonton community came together at the end of August in O-day'min Park for the celebration of our newest public artwork "A Visible Mass" by Sanaz Mazinani. The gathering brought out both young and old for craft activities, storytelling, games, music and more.

You don't need to wait for a special event to get involved in the arts in Edmonton. Like Laura O'Connor of Alberta Craft Council mentioned in the video, make plans to see a show with a friend or neighbour, pick up a beautiful handmade mug to enjoy at home from a local business, and make arts a part of your every day.

Share your story about the arts - how they've made a difference in your life, what arts funding means to you, and what we gain as a City when we fund the arts in Edmonton - by joining our "Why The Arts Matter" conversation.

Here are some action steps you can take to have your say:
- Email the mayor or your city councillor with your arts story by using the template on our website: https://www.edmontonarts.ca/about/research-impact/why-the-arts-matter
- Comment below with a time the arts made a difference in your life.
- Support local artists and organizations by attending local arts events and markets (and bring a friend who hasn't been before!)

Thank you to Old Saw Studio Inc for helping us bring this series to life! And a special thanks to Alberta Craft Council, Craftforyeg and Audreys Books Ltd. for partnering with us on this wonderful event.

10/15/2026

Through the EAC’s project grants, organizations receive the support they need to share art with the public in new ways or build internal capacity to meet future challenges. In 2026, organizations had the option of applying for one of two programs to access funding to achieve their strategic goals.

29 successful Connections & Exchanges Initiative applicants will collectively implement the City of Edmonton's 10-year cultural plan through their projects. 10 applicants recommended for Invent & Adapt funding will undergo work centred on retooling and reimaging their organization's future.

Read about the funded projects on the EAC blog

Read the latest arts news in Edmonton - features, interviews, moving stories and more

10/13/2026

Be pulled into the emotion of the arts in Edmonton this week 📆

There are many festivals to take in this fall from design to literature and film. Plan to watch a theatre production from Shadow Theatre or Citadel Theatre. Or get mystical and witchy at The Witchery Market this weekend ✨

Find all of the best arts and culture events in Edmonton at https://www.edmontonarts.ca/events

10/09/2026

The Edmonton Arts Council (EAC), on behalf of the City of Edmonton, is seeking a local artist or artist team residing in the greater Edmonton area to create a free-standing sculpture in the recently completed Heritage Valley District Park. Indigenous artists and artists from equity-seeking backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Deadline for Request for Qualifications: 11:59 AM (noon) on November 2, 2026

Project Budget: $98,000. This budget encompasses all costs directly associated with the creation and installation of the artwork, including artist fees, travel, materials, fabrication, transportation, and installation. Foundation of artwork is provided.

Have questions? Join our online information session on October 15 at 2:00 - 4:00 pm. The full call and information session details are available at https://www.edmontonarts.ca/calls-funding/calls-to-artists/public-art-call-heritage-valley-district-park

10/08/2026

The EAC’s Collections Management team has begun work on a piece of Edmonton history! As part of the rehabilitation of the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium in Coronation Park, conservation work is now underway on the "Signs of the Zodiac" mosaics. Designed and constructed by Heinrich ​“Heini” Eichner in 1964, the twelve mosaics depicting the zodiac constellations are in the planetarium’s exterior concrete entrance plaza.

Heinrich (1922 – 1974), with the involvement of his wife, Edith (1928 – 2015), created the collection of mosaics. Frequent collaborators, both had significant careers as artists. The artistic family's legacy lives on, and one of the couple’s five children, Barbara Eichner-Shaw, also has an artwork in the City of Edmonton Public Art Collection!

Visit the EAC blog for more on the story behind the mosaics. https://www.edmontonarts.ca/blog/piecing-together-edmonton-history-the-signs-of-the-zodiac-mosaics

10/08/2026

A new edition to the Edmonton skyline thanks to Bacon with help from RYZER. Just one of the new murals Downtown bursting with light and colour.

10/06/2026

If the arts have made a difference in your life, now is the time to speak up! We’re calling on Edmontonians to join our letter campaign to tell the City of Edmonton that the arts matter.

As Edmonton City Council deliberates the next budget, they need to hear from residents about the role the arts play in our lives and community. The arts generate meaningful cultural, social, and economic benefits, yet funding has remained stagnant despite rising costs and significant population growth in the metro region.

We know that Edmontonians love the arts — 85% of Edmontonians attended at least one type of live performance or arts event in Edmonton in the past 12 months and 85% said that arts and culture make their communities better places to live. But we need Edmontonians, and their elected officials, to reflect that support in the 2027-2030 budget.

Voice your support for arts investment. Send your letter today https://www.edmontonarts.ca/about/research-impact/why-the-arts-matter