These doors, like the people they represent, have their own stories to tell.

Ruslan Kurt, a Ukrainian activist and contemporary artist from Melitopol whose main focuses are the concepts of time and connection, relocated to Canada after the full invasion by Russia in February 2022. In an attempt to illustrate the tragedies faced by millions of Ukrainians and wanting to affirm the catastrophe, he begins to bring evidence of the physical destruction to North America.

His ultimate goal is to bring 25 damaged and destroyed doors, symbolizing the 25 Ukrainian Oblasts (regions). As an emblem of the full reunification, the cumulative 25 doors are more than a representation or a symbol for Ruslan - they reflect the complete version of his installation.

This film brings stark awareness to the lives of the people who lived behind these doors, while illuminating the hardships of maintaining prolonged media attention and financial support in this ever-in-conflict world.

Club SAW and the Nordic embassies warmly invite you to escape the cold and settle in for a cozy evening of Nordic indie and folk music. Enjoy a complimentary warm toddy while experiencing live performances by Norwegian singer-songwriter Marthe Halvorsen and Icelandic-Canadian artist Lindy Vopnfjörd—an intimate night of Nordic sounds you won’t want to miss!

Free admission / Cash Bar / All ages welcome / Trivia and prizes

A rage quilting and sound making event to process collective grief and rage through co-creation at Artengine!

Non-ticketed event.

Arriving February 6th, 2026, Blue Hour marks synthesist Nick Schofield's first foray into ambient jazz. Created as an ambient ode to Miles Davis' In A Silent Way, Blue Hour features the intuitive and totally improvised trumpet playing of Scott Bevins (No Cosmos) and introduces Schofield's childhood instrument, drums, to his ambient-electronic practice.

Get started creating and learn how TouchDesigner can influence your artistisc practice.

Bring a laptop with TouchDesigner already downloaded

A lively discussion about how we can learn to get more comfortable with uncertainty and embrace the possibility that comes with the unknown.

Doors open @ 6:00pm, event will get underway @ 6:30.

Cash bar.

Digital Arts Resource Centre is excited to present our annual Resolution screening! Resolution is a public screening featuring a selection of works created by DARC members Emilie Azevedo, Ketsia Beboua, Pixie Cram, Lynda Hall, and Penny McCann during the previous year.

Join us in the Arts Court Theatre on Thursday, January 22 at 7PM. Artists will be in attendance to participate in a brief Q&A with the audience followed by a reception at Arts Court Studio.

My interactive 8-bit art piece at the UPSTAIRS gallery show in November got a lot of interest and a lot of questions about how it was made.

Creating Gameboy-style games and art is more accessible than you might think - no coding required.

I'm hosting a creative get-together at Art Engine to share what I've learned using GB Studio, a free drag-and-drop tool for making interactive 8bit experiences. - David Bigg

📅 Jan 21, 6:30pm @ Art Engine

💻 Bring a laptop with GB Studio (download from itch.io)

✨ No experience necessary - we'll cover the basics together

Links we will use Download this for the meetup

GB Studio by Chris Maltby

these work in browser

Pic-to-GB GB

Studio Background Text Generator by zebradontcare

This new storytelling performance traces a personal and cultural journey through stories of womanhood, weaving legend, family history, and lived experience into one evening. It begins with a Vietnamese legend, a tale of unwavering devotion that shaped both a nation’s landscape and the storyteller’s early ideas of a woman’s role. From there, the stories move through three generations of her own family, whose lives during and after the Vietnam War echoed that same longing and resilience. Together, these stories chart an awakening, illuminating how myths, memory, and modern encounters intertwine to expand one woman’s understanding of the female experience.

Holiday Secrets: Your secrets, improvised.

From the team behind Ottawa Secrets comes Holiday Secrets — a completely improvised show inspired by real, anonymously shared secrets about the holiday season. Maybe one of them will even be yours!

Our cast takes these true holiday confessions and spins them into funny, touching, and totally unexpected stories — all made up on the spot. We’re so grateful to be trusted with your secrets and promise to treat each one with care, humor, and heart. Because the stories come from real life, our shows explore everything that makes us human — the joy and chaos, the awkward moments and small victories, and the laughter that gets us through it all.

Ottawa Secrets was inspired by Austin Secrets, created by our friend Roy Janik at The Hideout Theater in Austin, Texas. Just like StoryCorps, PostSecret, Mortified, and This American Life, Ottawa Secrets celebrates real people and real stories — finding truth, humor, and connection in everyday life.

Cirquonscient - Ottawa’s premiere circus arts collective - presents Jingle Jazz; a unique holiday inspired live music and circus acrobatics experience! Step into the sparkle of the season with live jazz, dazzling circus acts, and holiday cheer all wrapped into one unforgettable show!

Join us at LabO Theatre on Saturday, December 13 for this one-of-a-kind experience where the rhythm swings, the lights shimmer, and circus artists perform to the sound of a live jazz band.

Two showtimes: 2PM & 7PM — perfect for an afternoon outing or a magical evening escape! Bring your friends, your family, or your holiday spirit — support local artists - get ready to jingle, get jazzy, and be amazed!

Presented by DARC & Business In the Streets (BITS), The Playbook is an engaging free online workshop designed to help creative individuals understand how to turn their ideas into sustainable businesses. Held on Wednesday, December 10th, from 6 pm to 8 pm over Zoom, participants can expect to engage in guided discussions, storytelling, and practical exercises.

SKETCH Art Sale and Auction Fundraiser

Thursday, December 4, 2025, 7PM–11PM

SAW (67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa)

Preview: Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 and 4, 11AM–6PM

Silent auction: Thursday, December 4, 7PM–9PM

Art sale: Thursday, December 4, 7PM–11PM

Admission:

Advance tickets (until Monday, December 1): $10

After December 1 / At the door: $15

SAW members, seniors, students, unwaged or underwaged: $5

Participating artists receive two complimentary tickets at the door.

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SAW is pleased to invite you to a special expanded edition of its much-loved fundraising event SKETCH, returning on Thursday, December 4, 2025, from 7PM to 11PM, at SAW.

Spanning both floors of the centre, this year’s event features a two-day preview, an art sale, a silent auction, DJ performances and a special welcome cocktail. This special edition of SKETCH is generously supported by art collector Bill Staubi.

The art sale and silent auction will include over 150 works by regional, Canadian and international artists. Featured artists include Barry Ace, Lori Blondeau, Pat Durr, Evergon, Mendelson Joe, Mélanie Myers, Rehab Nazzal, Yoko Ono, Josie Pootoogook, Nujalia Pootoogook, Barry Pottle, Guillermo Trejo and Paul Wong, among many others.

All proceeds support SAW and the Nordic Lab, funding residency and educational programs. Launched in 2021, the Nordic Lab is a research and production space for artists from the circumpolar world, fostering intercultural and intergenerational collaboration and exchange.

DARC and Qu’ART are proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2025 by presenting Meet Us Where We’re At, a program of six videos that forefront the experiences of drug users and harm reduction practices as they intersect with the ongoing HIV crisis.

Meet Us Where We’re At… will feature newly commissioned videos by Kenneth Idongesit Usoro (Nigeria), Hoàng Thái Anh (Vietnam), Gustavo Vinagre & Vinicius Couto (Brazil/Portugal), Camilo Tapia Flores (Chile/Brazil), Camila Flores-Fernández (Peru/Germany), and José Luis Cortés (Puerto Rico).

Commissioned videos by artists in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany, and Vietnam journey across a range of spaces, revealing the complexity of drug use. Several videos document the visible world of drugs—a harm reduction program in a Berlin park, a night out during Rio’s Carnival—while others reveal private, often hidden spaces where safety is found: bedrooms, underground clinics, and moments of connection between lovers.

Meet Us Where We’re At speaks not only to the variety of physical locations where contemporary harm reduction is practiced, but also to a broader shift: centering drug users as authors of their own experiences. Rooted in the philosophy of meeting people at their personal reality without judgment, the program affirms the full context of drug use—its pleasures, its risks, and its role in how people survive, care, and connect.

Harm reduction has long been central to the AIDS movement through practices like needle exchange and safe injection sites, and people who use drugs have been affected by HIV since the earliest days of the epidemic. This program brings their perspectives to the forefront, amplifying the voices of drug users as storytellers, cultural producers, and essential participants in the global response to HIV.

As this is a program centering harm reduction, it will contain depictions of sexual activity and drug use.

Join us on Monday, December 1st, from 6 pm to 8 pm in DARC’s Microcinema for Meet Us Where We’re At’s opening talk and screening. Starting Tuesday, December 2nd, through Thursday, December 4th, the screening will be looped from 10 am to 5 pm.

Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

Get ready for the immersive artistic experience that is Stories In Ink Live edition. This intimate tattoo performance is something this city has never seen before, join the multi-disciplinary madness of Lucille Giwa as they take us on a journey through time, craft and culture. Grounded in the reclamation of the black body, Lucille will be tattooing three artists from various disciplines while exploring their individual journeys of reclamation through the arts.

Conversations will weave through art, ballroom, theatre, tattooing and more whilst being black. Network with artists and share your stories in ink with us!

Explore the potential of screenprinting beyond traditional methods to create printed images with different materials, processes and outcomes

Learn the basics of Risograph printing through experimentation in this fun, collaborative introductory workshop.

The workshop will begin with a brief overview of the print process, the resurgence of the Risograph machine within graphic art and design circles, and examples of work from international print artists. You'll then get hands-on for the majority of the workshop: play with cut-outs, collages, drawings and text to experiment and create (1) a collaborative mini-zine and (2) collaborative art print to take home.

Participants also have the added option of having their own 2-colour design printed after the workshop .

Join us for our last event to celebrate and close off our 10th year!

Thanks to all the artists, collaborators, customers, friends and family who have supported PW this year. Stop by for yuletide beats, refreshments and anniversary cake. Our shop will be open for your holiday gift shopping - pick up a unique print, publication or record from Canadian and international artists. Find out more about our 2026 programming.

All are welcome, and entry is free.

In Screenprinting 101, learn the step-by-step process of one-and two-colour screenprinting of detailed artwork using the photo emulsion method.

Ottawa’s arts community is vibrant, ever evolving, and rooted in creativity. We’re thrilled to invite you to our Launch Party for the newly reimagined Arts Ottawa Awards.

November 12th, 2025

6:00 - 8:00pm

Black Box Studio, Arts Court

This celebration is your first look at the newly reimagined Arts Ottawa Awards and the exciting ways we’re celebrating Ottawa’s incredible Arts Community. Spend the evening enjoying food and drinks, while connecting with local artists, arts supporters, and community members as we toast to Ottawa’s creative spirit and the opportunities ahead.

In February 2026, five awards will be presented to outstanding Ottawa-based artists whose work reflects the richness and diversity of our city. The journey begins here - come raise a glass.

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La communauté artistique d'Ottawa est dynamique, en constante évolution et ancrée dans la créativité. Nous sommes ravis de vous inviter à notre Soirée de lancement des nouveaux Prix d'Arts Ottawa.

12 novembre 2025

18h00 - 20h00

Studio black box, Cour des arts

Cette célébration vous offre un premier aperçu des tout nouveaux Prix d'Arts Ottawa et les façons passionnantes dont nous célébrons l'incroyable communauté artistique d'Ottawa. Passez la soirée à déguster des mets et des boissons tout en rencontrant des artistes locaux, des supporteurs des arts et des membres de la communauté, alors que nous porterons un toast à l'esprit créatif d'Ottawa et aux possibilités qui nous attendent.

En février 2026, cinq prix seront remis à des artistes exceptionnels basés à Ottawa dont le travail reflète la richesse et la diversité de notre ville. Le voyage commence ici - venez lever votre verre.

Touch Designer Club: Audio Reactive Jam Session

Join us at Artengine for a focused and highly collaborative TouchDesigner jam session centered on refining audio-reactive visuals.

This is a working session we are looking for users with at least basic TouchDesigner proficiency who are ready to work together, share discoveries, and contribute ideas to the group.