Olivia Shortt Residency

Friday, April 4 through Saturday, April 5, 2025
Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre
10124 96 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5H 2G5
Co-Produced by New Music Edmonton and Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre
All events are free.

It’s always exciting when we can welcome a really cool artist to town for multiple events, and it’s doubly exciting that Olivia Shortt will be appearing for the first time in ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ Amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton). Self-described as a noisemaker, video artist, curator, and troublemaker, Shortt’s work is inspired by their love of camp, drag, and gender expression and its relation to Indigeneity.

New Music Edmonton is honoured to be presenting these events in collaboration with the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, whose brilliant advocacy for, and presentation of, work by Indigenous artists is an invaluable part of our region’s artistic milieu.

Friday, April 4, 7:30 pm: Olivia Shortt, with guests Matthew Cardinal, and Mustafa Rafiq
What an amazing coming together of artists this will be! Two of our community’s most brilliant and in-demand creatives come together with Olivia Shortt in a unique, one-of-a-kind night of collaborative music making. Combining guitars, synthesizers, saxophone, electronics and much more. Calling this an improv show doesn’t come close to describing the magic of this experience.

Saturday, April 5, 2 pm: Olivia Shortt Artist Talk
Join us at Ociciwan this afternoon for an artist talk by Olivia Shortt, a great chance to get to know a great artist a little bit more!

Saturday, April 5, 2 pm: Olivia Shortt Performs Makwa
For the first time ever, this phenomenal solo performance work by Olivia Shortt, widely performed in other places, will be enjoyed live in our city. A sensory-dense, stream-of-conscious storytelling piece that switches back and forth between saxophone, voice, and video feed, Makwa explores the unexpected rage of living inside of yourself and being alone with your thoughts.