Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchors the northern end of what Statistics Canada defines as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor", a region spanning between Edmonton and the city of Calgary, Alberta’s largest city, which includes the many smaller municipalities between the two.
The culture of Alberta refers to the art, customs, and traditions of the people of Alberta. Alberta entered into Confederation in 1905, placing her in a tie with Saskatchewan as the country's second youngest province. Despite her short history, the province possesses a rich culture. The vastness of the land and variation of geography – which includes mountains, foothills, grassland, parkland, forest, and rockland – have served as important sources of creative inspiration across all art forms. Alberta's primary industries of farming, ranching, and petroleum also play a major part in the province's culture and identity.
Alberta has a diverse music scene of pop, rock, country, jazz, folk, caribbean, classical, and blues music. Music festivals in the Summers are representing these genres. Choral music, ethnic music of many nationalities, all are found in Alberta.
Stephen Mandel is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta Party from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as an Alberta cabinet minister from 2014 to 2015 and as mayor of Edmonton, Alberta for three terms from 2004 to 2013. Prior to being mayor, he was a councillor for three years.
The Honourable Thomas Benjamin Banks was a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator. Banks began his career at 14 as a professional jazz pianist. He would become a great contributor and supporter of Canada's music scene, volunteering greatly to local musical projects. His contributions to Canadian culture extended beyond music with his contributions to public service, serving as a senator in the Parliament of Canada from 2000 to 2018. Throughout his life, Tommy Banks has left a lasting mark on the cultural landscape of Canada.
A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales.
Rapid Fire Theatre (RFT) is an improvisational theatre company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Vue Weekly was an alternative weekly newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with issues released every Thursday. It covered topics on artists and events that are often ignored, marginalized, or misrepresented by the mainstream media, and aimed to bring balance to Edmonton's media mosaic.
The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is an annual, 10-day performance festival that takes place in mid-July at Sir Winston Churchill Square, in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The festival was founded in 1985 by Sheldon Wilner and Dick Finkel with the intention of bringing the art of street performance to Edmonton’s downtown region. Every year, the festival brings in performers from around the world, and gives an opportunity for local performers to showcase their talent. In 2014, the festival featured roughly 1500 performances, and was attended by 250,000 people.
The Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta (FAVA) is a Canadian non-profit, charitable film organization based in Edmonton, Alberta, which provides training, equipment, studio spaces and networking opportunities for emerging and established filmmakers. Established by independent artists in 1982, FAVA represents one of the oldest artist-run co-ops in Canada and reached its 40th anniversary milestone in 2022. Since 2019, the society has operated out of the City of Edmonton's Orange Hub, where they now offer access to multiple large-scale studio spaces, a recording suite, editing suites, and a dark room. FAVA's successful model is now copied by other non-profit cooperatives; having grown from 16 initial members to today's more than 300. Early years of meager supplies and limited resources helped to nurture a communal sense of sharing and a pooling of equipment that extended even to the National Film Board of Canada who shared office space and an infamous "late-night key" with FAVA in the Ortona Armoury. Today, young and emerging artists have access to equipment, expert advice, and an established network of linked-in artists and policy advisers, that enable them to engage in creative and experimental projects that would be nearly impossible to attain on their own.
Rocky Mountain cuisine is a cuisine of Alberta and British Columbia in Canada; Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana in the United States. Some distinguishing dishes include bison and Rocky Mountain oysters, or prairie oysters as they are known in Canada.
Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) is a four-day craft beer festival held annually from 1988 to 2019 and 2022 at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon, except in 2020-21 when the COVID-19 pandemic and 2023 when low attendance and hot weather from last year caused it to be cancelled. OBF has become the most popular outdoor beer festival in North America, based on attendance. Each brewery brings one beer. The attendance peaked in 2014, however it has been declining since. There is a Root Beer Garden for those who are under 21 or loathe alcohol.
Colleen Brown is a Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Edmonton, Alberta.
The TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival is an annual 10-day music festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The festival was founded in 2005 by the Edmonton Jazz Festival Society, and focuses on making jazz music accessible to as many people as possible. To this end, the festival showcases many different sub-genres of jazz, played by international stars as well as emerging local musicians.
Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective is a Canadian artist collective based in Edmonton, Alberta with a mandate to develop innovative and experimental projects involving Indigenous artists.
Baby Jey is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band originally from Edmonton, Alberta, founded in 2015 by core members Jeremy Witten, and Dean Kheroufi. In 2017, Baby Jey started performing as a four-piece band with the addition of Trevor McNeely and Connor Ellinger (drums).
