With the Peterborough Folk Festival set to return for its 37th year from August 13 to 16, festival organizers are now accepting submissions from established musical artists who want to perform at the 2026 festival and are also accepting applications for the 2026 Emerging Artist of the Year — with a celebratory concert set for Friday (January 23) that will feature three past recipients.

Over 16,000 people attended the festival in 2025, so securing a performance slot is both highly desirable and highly competitive, with the festival receiving almost 1,000 artist submissions last year.

Submission forms to perform at the festival are available at peterboroughfolkfest.com/artist-submission, with separate forms available for local artists in Peterborough and the Kawarthas (including those originally from the region) and artists from outside the region.

As for the 2026 Emerging Artist of the Year, submissions will be accepted until February 20 at peterboroughfolkfest.com/emerging-artist, with the recipient to be announced in June.

Award recipients are given showcase performance spots at the festival and receive a trip to the Folk Music Ontario Conference, where they have the opportunity to interact with many people from the music industry including artistic directors, agents, promoters, and other musicians.

Starting in 2025, the Peterborough Musicians Benevolent Association (PMBA) began supplementing the award with the $1,000 PMBA Lynn Morris Memorial Award and Electric Alchemy Recording Studio began providing the recipient with recording and production of a single.

The Emerging Artist Award is selected by a committee who assess applicants on skill, dedication to a musical career, and artistic merit.

Applicants may be solo artists, groups or bands and must live in Peterborough and the Kawarthas, including Hiawatha, Curve Lake, and Alderville First Nations, and must either be under the age of 30 or otherwise considered emerging (for example, by starting a musical career after pursuing education, work, or family).

The inaugural recipient of the award in 2001 was a 19-year-old Serena Ryder, who has since gone on to achieve international success, releasing eight studio albums and winning seven Juno awards, most recently for her 2021 album The Art of Falling Apart.

Here’s the full list of recipients of the Emerging Artist Award (no award was given in 2020 due to the pandemic):

• 2025 – Jeanne Truax
• 2024 – Calvin Bakelaar (aka VANCAMP)
• 2023 – Irish Millie & Nicholas Campbell
• 2022 – Nathan Truax
• 2021 – Lauryn Macfarlane
• 2019 – Paper Shakers
• 2018 – Hillary Dumoulin
• 2017 – Mary-Kate Edwards
• 2016 – Nick Procyshyn
• 2015 – Evangeline Gentle
• 2014 – The Lonely Parade
• 2013 – Dylan Ireland
• 2012 – Jos Fortin
• 2011 – Melissa Payne
• 2010 – Kate LeDeuce
• 2009 – Missy Knott
• 2008 – Sean Conway
• 2007 – Dave Simard & Kelly McMichael
• 2006 – Drea Nasager
• 2005 – Benj Rowland
• 2004 – Beau Dixon
• 2003 – Jill Staveley
• 2002 – James McKenty
• 2001 – Serena Ryder

Three of the most recent Emerging Artist Award recipients — Jeanne Truax, Calvin Bakelaar, and Irish Millie — will be joined by some special guests to perform at a concert celebrating the legacy and impact of the festival’s Emerging Artist program at 8 p.m. on Friday, January 23 at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.

Tickets for the concert, which cost $44 for assigned cabaret table seating or $34 for regular assigned seating, are still available at markethall.org.

With planning now underway for the 2026 festival, organizers are encouraging community donations to support the festival’s $200,000-plus cost, which includes artist fees, rental of stages and other equipment, artist and volunteer hospitality, production, site and security, and insurance and permits. Donations of $25 or more at peterboroughfolkfest.com/donate include a charitable tax receipt.

“Don’t take this festival for granted. There are a lot of world-class festivals all over and ReFrame is of that quality for sure.”

That high praise for the ReFrame Film Festival comes from Rob Viscardis, an acclaimed Peterborough filmmaker who recognizes how fortunate he is to have a film festival of ReFrame’s calibre in his own community.

Back in 2016, Viscardis had his first feature film (Before We Arrive: The Story of The Weber Brothers) premiere on the big screen at the festival, and since then he has returned nearly every year.

“That first film I screened at ReFrame was a huge moment because Showplace was packed, and it got me hooked on filmmaking big-time,” Viscardis says. “As a filmmaker, having all that inspiration and then being able to screen films alongside some of these world-class filmmakers — it’s pretty incredible.”

This year, when the festival returns to downtown Peterborough in person from January 30 to February 1 and online across Canada from February 3 to 8, Viscardis will once again be in attendance as his latest short film is premiered.

Echoes in Steel follows Douro metal artist Garrett Gilbert after he loses a defining source of material and inspiration for one body of his work, following the closure of his favoured vintage car scrapyard.

“The film reflects on the themes of his work and get you thinking about how we value objects and our past with industry and labour, and how these objects that continue to stick around interact with the environment while we’re here and how they’ll continue to interact after we’re gone,” Viscardis explains.

“It’s an interesting subject matter in particular for Peterborough with our industrial past. While it doesn’t necessarily delve too deeply into the issues, I think it’s fun exploration of some of these things that we’re needing to think about in a post-industrial city like Peterborough.”

As a filmmaker, Viscardis says there aren’t many chances to talk about his work but festivals like ReFrame are an opportunity to do so, without the added travel costs of going out of town.

This year, both Viscardis and Gilbart will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening of Echoes in Steel on Friday, January 30 at 4:45 p.m. at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough. The 13-minute film will also be included in the online programming.

“For films where there is a message that we want to get out there or spread awareness for a cause, (the Q&A is) a great way to do it and be able to really emphasize certain things that you may not want to put such a fine point on in the film,” Viscardis says. “It encourages a deeper connection when you’re able to be in the same room and really connect as humans.”

Viscardis’ name is also attached to another documentary on the 2026 festival lineup. He is the editor of No More Silent Battles, a film produced by Dr. Jenny Ingram and supported by local cinematographer Pawel Dwulit. Being screened online and in person on Saturday, January 31 at 4:45 p.m. at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough, the 47-minute film tells the story of four families navigating the complexities of dementia care.

VIDEO: “No More Silent Battles” trailer

No More Silent Battles is the debut documentary produced by Ingram, an award-winning trailblazer in geriatric medicine and seniors’ care and the founder of the Kawartha Centre, the site for international Alzheimer research trials. Amplifying her belief in the need for community-based health care in the home, the film came out of Ingram’s concern during the pandemic as she watched her patient population being isolated from family caregivers.

Describing herself as a longtime movie lover, Ingram has used snippets of movies when teaching personal care assistants. Upon speaking with other professionals who had a hand in transformed health care in British Columbia, she realized how urgent it was to get the public informed — but in a way that did not involve medical professionals lecturing them.

“A light went on in my head: a movie that had me talking was going to be of no value, but a movie having people and families who are living with dementia talk is really what we need to describe the inadequacies or the challenges of the home care system as we deliver it in Ontario today,” Ingram says.

“It was the combination of liking movies as a medium to tell stories and the recognition that nobody wants to hear from doctors. They want to hear from people who are living the experience. Even though I think I live a different experience from most, nonetheless, my patients were the ones who needed to get on the movie screen.”

Ingram notes that her goals for the film are three-fold: expose the system that’s been developed in Ontario and Canada, challenge the stigma of dementia, and explore how the future needs to involve family in decisions made about care.

Ingram will sit down for a Q&A following the screening and notes that she plans to have panel discussions when the film is later screened by organizations and agencies exploring conversations around healthcare.

“This film is designed to provoke discussions and panelists have been lined up for discussions for future film viewings, if requested,” says Ingram.

Though she hopes the film will start wider discussions, Ingram is “delighted” No More Silent Battles is making its premiere close to home.

“I have many, many good memories of ReFrame film viewings that taught me a great deal about issues I knew nothing about,” she says. “I’m hoping the audience at ReFrame comes and learns about an issue they probably know very little about through our film and join us in this effort to improve health care.”

Though Ingram is a new filmmaker, even those who are well-versed on the festival circuit suggest ReFrame stands above other festivals.

VIDEO: “The Survival of the Wooden Canoe” trailer

That includes local filmmaker Rodney Fuentes, who screened his documentary The Monarch Ultra — a behind-the-scenes look as a group of long-distance runners followed the 4,300-kilometre migratory path of the monarch butterfly from Peterborough to Mexico during the inaugural Monarch Ultra relay run in fall 2019 — at ReFrame in 2025 before submitting it to other festivals.

Calling ReFrame the “best experience,” Fuentes says the festival is unique in its support for filmmakers.

“There’s a fee (ReFrame pays) for the filmmakers to have their film and to come and talk and do a Q&A, and that doesn’t happen everywhere,” he says. “The fact that it’s so community-driven — that organizations and individuals can support the festival, donate money to make things happen, and sponsor the films — I think really brings the community together. That’s also not very common in so many other festivals that I’ve been to. The community-driven aspect to me is extremely important — that’s why I do what I do.”

Fuentes is returning to this year’s ReFrame Film Festival as the editor and co-director, alongside Joan Barrett and Matt Snell, of The Survival of the Wooden Canoe. The 20-minute film documents 50 years of Barrett and her partner Ted Moores (who is the film’s creative director) as they built a business, Bear Mountain Boats, based on teaching the art of canoe-building. The film won the Best Canoeing Film award in Rapid Media’s Film Festival 2025.

“For me, the biggest story was not just the story of Ted Moores and Bear Mountain Boats, but it’s the story of how they survived at a time when kevlar and fibreglass canoes came in and a lot of the companies that were doing wooden canoes went bankrupt, but they didn’t,” says Fuentes. “They changed the strategy, so instead of just building canoes — which at some point — wasn’t a very sustainable business — they started sharing their knowledge and teaching people how to make canoes and that helped them to survive and continues today.”

The Survival of the Wooden Canoe screens in person only at 10 a.m. on Sunday, February 1 at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough. Though Fuentes will not be attending the screening due to a family commitment, there will be a Q&A with Barrett following the screening.

“I think that’s pretty awesome that we can have a little bit of discussion, especially when the kind of films that are shown at ReFrame are focused so much on social justice,” Fuentes says. “These are the kinds of films that require discussions, and I think it’s a great bonus to have because it gives you more insights of the subject that is being covered during the screening.”

After nearly two decades of living in Peterborough, Fuentes moved to Quebec just a few months ago, but he still feels he is “a part of the community” and suggests it’s organizations like ReFrame that continue to draw him back to the city again and again.

“I think ReFrame does a tremendous job with the kind of films they show, but also with the impact that they have on the locals in Peterborough, including as filmmakers,” he says. “I absolutely love it.”

In addition to these three films, other local films screening at ReFrame include Shropshire Sheep Scandal by Maya Bastian, Home by Linda Schuyler and Will Bowes, Mr. Possible by Matt Snell, and They Called it the Butcher Shop: The Fleck Strike in Images by Lauren Stoyles.

There are four festival pass options available, including a $145 hybrid pass that allows access to all in-person and online film screenings, a $120 all-access in-person pass, a $75 watch-with-a-friend virtual pass, and a $60 single virtual pass. The hybrid and in-person passes also provide access to all ancillary performances, workshops, exhibits, discussion panels, and Q&As related to this year’s lineup.

Tickets for individual films, both in person and online, are also available for $15 or pay what you can. They can be purchased in advance online or, for in-person screenings, at the door at Market Hall or Showplace 15 minutes prior to each screening.

For festival passes and tickets and to see the full lineup for the 2026 ReFrame Film Festival, visit reframefilmfestival.ca.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2026 ReFrame Film Festival.

To the continued great benefit of local audiences, longtime Peterborough musician John Hoffman has a bucket list of things he wants to do musically before striking his last note.

High on that list is playing “pretty music.” That’s an aspiration he’ll check off next Sunday (January 25) when he performs at the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre at 2505 Pioneer Road as part of a newly formed Celtic string trio coming together for the first time to mark Robbie Burns Day.

Joining Hoffman for the 2:30 p.m. concert will be harpist Tanah Haney and cellist Jessica Lindeman, with Karina Bates providing vocals on a few select songs. Admission to the family-friendly concert is free, but any donations received will be shared by the trio and Camp Kawartha.

“I’ve played a lot of music in my life, a lot of music that I really like,” says Hoffman, who has played with the bands Whiskey Jack and Carried Away, to mention a few of his previous music associations.

“But I haven’t had the chance to play that much of what I call pretty music — down tempo, more sedate music. People tend to want rowdy music. It’s fun and I know people like it. I like it too, but I wanted to play some pretty stuff.”

The formation of this new trio is rooted in his past musical collaboration with Haney, most notably their joint involvement with the annual pre-Christmas In From The Cold concert at Market Hall that, for more than 25 years, has raised thousands of dollars for the YES Shelter for Youth and Families.

“I approached Tanah and said ‘Hey, do you want to form a duo to play this kind of music?” recalls Hoffman. “She said ‘Some of the things I was doing before sort of went astray during the pandemic and never came back. Yeah, I’m looking for something.’ I pitched it, telling her I want to play not jigs and reels but more quiet pretty stuff.”

That led to the formation of their duo, Banish Misfortune, which performed Irish, Scottish, and Scandinavian music. Fast forward to last summer when Lindeman — who has performed with Haney on and off for the past 20 years, including in The Stringwood Trio along with flutist Sally Wolf — started coming to Banish Misfortune’s monthly gigs at the Crook & Coffer in downtown Peterborough.

“For one gig, no one was available except Jessica,” says Hoffman. “I said ‘You want to try this? Just the two of us?’ So, we did and we killed it. We had never tried to play music as duo. We knew a lot of music in common, but let’s try playing with a fiddle and a cello. It was really great to have the cello, some rich bottom end, in this kind of music. I wanted to play with Jessica more, so I said to Tanah ‘Hey, you want to start playing with Jessica?'”

Noting that he and Tanah “had been doing a fair bit of Scottish music,” Hoffman says that led to a discussion around doing something specific to Robbie Burns Day, which the three agreed to work toward. As for a possible venue for the performance, there was an in of sorts: Lindeman is married to Camp Kawartha executive director Jacob Rodenburg.

In advance of the show, Hoffman, Haney and Lindeman “kind of pooled the Scottish tunes we already knew” and determined they had enough material to form the basis for a concert.

As of this writing, the trio hasn’t been named, although Hoffman floats the idea of The Banish Misfortune Trio — “We’ve got to figure that out.”

“I’m excited about this,” says Hoffman. “We’re making some beautiful instrumental harmonies. I thought, for years, that the cello is the most beautiful sounding instrument, but never really had the chance to play seriously with a cello player.”

“We’re really enjoying the music we’re making,” Hoffman adds. “It’s kind of exciting.”

According to Hoffman, the musical menu for the Robbie Burns Day concert will feature airs, waltzes, jigs, and reels, as well as “grand old Scottish songs” such as “Wild Mountain Thyme,” “The Parting Glass,” and “Auld Lang Syne.” The latter features Scots language text penned by Burns in 1788.

Hoffman says the performance of both traditional Scottish and “neo-trad” music will serve to pay proper homage to the beloved Scottish poet, celebrated and remembered each year on the date of his 1759 birth.

Now, as trio’s debut draws nearer, Hoffman thinks the continued reverence of Burns is rooted in the fact that “people still love his poetry.”

“I’m going to recite a (Burns) poem while Tanah and Jessica play. I haven’t told them that yet. I thought we need to have more Burns on Robbie Burns Day.”

As for the ingestion of haggis — a pudding made from minced sheep’s heart, liver and lungs mixed with oatmeal, suet, onions and spices traditionally cooked inside a sheep’s stomach — that is a part of traditional Robbie Burns Day celebrations, Hoffman isn’t sold.

“I’ve never met anybody who says they like haggis. The first time I tried it, a Scottish guy came to our house when I was a kid. He brought canned haggis. Can you imagine? My mother dutifully put in a pan and heated it up. I don’t remember being disgusted by it, but I didn’t like it much.”

“But the people that like haggis, they can find events to go to (that serve it),” he notes.

Robbie Burns celebrations are held around the world on January 25. In fact, in Scotland, Robbie Burns Day is more widely observed than St. Andrew’s Day, that country’s official national day.

The basic format of a Burns supper sees it starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed by the Selkirk Grace. After that comes the piping and cutting of the haggis, at which point Burns’ famous “Address to a Haggis” is read and the haggis is cut open.

At the end of the meal, a series of toasts, often including a “Toast to the Lassies,” and replies are made. This is when a toast to “the immortal memory” of Burns is made, and an overview of his life and work recited. The supper usually concludes with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.”

While you won’t find any haggis at Hoffman’s concert, there are other Robbie Burns Day-related offerings throughout the region.

Hutchison House in Peterborough is offering Robbie Burns take-home dinners available for pick-up at the museum at 270 Brock Street from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday (January 23). Meals cost $30 each, and include a Scotch egg, tatters and neeps, oatcakes, cheese, a potted salmon sample, shortbread, and a clootie dumpling. For an extra $5, a slice of haggis is also available. The deadline to order is Monday (January 19). For more information or to order, phone 705-743-9710 or email info@hutchisonhouse.ca.

This Saturday (January 24), Market Hall in downtown Peterborough welcomes Tartan Terrors. With a distinctive sound and a tradition rooted in making Celtic music fun and accessible, the band has performed at festivals and theatres across North America, blending the energy of a rock show with step dancing and lots of good humour. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert cost $60 at www.markethall.org.

On Sunday (January 25) from 4 to 7 p.m., the Black Horse Pub at 452 George Street North in downtown Peterborough will be hosting a Robbie Burns Night. Washboard Hank will lead the fun from the stage. The event will also feature the “Address to a Haggis,” with Amanda Higgins piping in the uniquely Scottish delicacy. There is no cover charge for this event.

The Rotary Club of Northumberland Sunrise is hosting a Robbie Burns Night and scotch tasting event from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday (January 24) at the Dalewood Golf Club at 7465 Dale Road in Cobourg. Along with a curated selection of fine Scotch whiskies and a three-course dinner, tickets holders will be treated to Highland dancers, food pairings, the traditional “Address to the Haggis,” and a silent auction. Tickets cost $150 at sunriserotary.ca with proceeds supporting ongoing Rotary initiatives.