Meet the Artists of Prismatic 2023!

Check out this year's phenomenal festival lineup!

From September 29th – October 8th, 2023, Prismatic Arts Festival is celebrating innovative work by Indigenous artists and artists of colour from across the country.

Prismatic 2023 will bring vibrant, boundary-pushing works in theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts, media arts, and spoken word to Kjipuktuk / downtown Halifax!

We can’t wait to see you at the festival, but for now, meet the artists of Prismatic 2023!

Akpik Theatre – develops stories of the circumpolar, whether oral tradition or contemporary inspiration, into dynamic professional theatre productions. They encourage and mentor the development of Indigenous stories for live performance.

Atlantic Ballet – featuring award-winning director and choreographer Igor Dobrovolskiy, and multi-disciplinary artist Nipahtuwet Naka Wespahtuwet (Possesom) Paul, Pisuwin is a first ever Wolastoq contemporary story-ballet set to the soaring music of Polaris Prize and Juno Award-winning composer Jeremy Dutcher.

Alan Syliboy – an established Mi’kmaq artist whose work is influenced by the Indigenous Mi’kmaq rock drawing and quill weaving traditions. His animated films “Vistas: Little Thunder” and “Wolverine and Little Thunder” depict his distinct style.

Andrew Jackson – a Juno Award-winning trombonist and composer based in Halifax, his versatility and unique sound have made him one of the Maritimes’ first-call players. He is an artist constantly exploring new sounds and not afraid to blend genres.

Jacques Mindreau – makes music for the soul and the human spirit and has performed and toured with countless musicians all over Canada and the world. He uses violin and lyrical voice to create fresh, haunting orchestral sounds.

Basset – a Toronto-based indie-folk duo full of timeless heart. Acoustic songwriters Sam Clark and Yasmine Shelton will take you through city streets in the hours before the world has woken, or to a corrugated steel home north of the treeline.

Crazy Smooth – a street dancer, performer, choreographer, instructor, judge, and community leader in Canada. He is the founder and artistic director of the Bboyizm street dance company, which has been instrumental in preserving street dance in Canada and internationally.

Anyma – a Canadian electro-pop artist hailing from Wendake, Quebec. A member of the Wendat Nation, her music finds parallels in her Indigenous heritage and her roots as a professional composer and dancer.

Logan Staats – a veracious Mohawk singer-songwriter who views music as a healing salve, contemplatively composed and offered to listeners in need of comfort. He is reclaiming his sound through honest storytelling and unvarnished reflection.

Jeanette Kotowich – Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, Jeanette Kotowich creates work that reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within the context of Indigenous performance, Indigenous futurism, and contemporary dance.

Leonard Sumner – an Anishinaabe MC, singer, and songwriter whose storytelling through hip hop, spoken word, country, and rhythm and blues flows from the shores of Little Saskatchewan First Nation, located in the heart of the Interlake of Manitoba.

Sameer Farooq – a Canadian artist of Pakistani and Ugandan Indian descent with a versatile approach that shifts between sculpture, photography, documentary film, and anthropological methods to investigate representation and museums’ methods.

Lux Gow-Habrich – a multidisciplinary visual artist, arts facilitator, and support worker of mixed Chinese and European heritage, they explore storytelling through tactile craft and installation processes as ways to unearth buried intergenerational pain and power.

Guyleigh Johnson – a proud African Nova Scotian author, spoken word artist, community advocate, and arts facilitator from Dartmouth. Guyleigh has a passion for inner and collective healing, youth engagement, and creative expression.

Syreeta Hector – a dance artist and educator in Toronto who has worked with
internationally recognized companies such as Adelheid Dance Projects, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, & Toronto Dance Theatre.

Aly Keita – an artist from Guinea who graduated in dance and circus arts at the Keita Fodeba Acrobatic Art Center where he also honed his musical skills. He came to Canada in 2016 with a cultural exchange project between young Inuit and Guineans.

Reequal Smith – a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Charlottetown, PEI, who is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Oshun Dance Studios. She continues to express her art by collaborating with artists and fusing cultural patterns together as one.

Mali Obomsawin – an award winning bassist, songwriter, and composer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak with a background in American roots, rock, and jazz. Mali’s debut album, Sweet Tooth, highlights centuries of clever adaptation and resistance.

OKAN – Fusing Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk, and global rhythms in songs about immigration, resistance and love, OKAN takes their name from the word for heart in their Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria.