The Thousand Faces Festival Association welcomes artists and groups from all disciplines to submit proposals for inclusion of their mythically-inspired performances, films, and visual works at the 2025 Thousand Faces Festival.
Festival Dates: June 21 & 22, 2025
Festival Overview
The Thousand Faces Festival is a multidisciplinary arts festival in Edmonton, AB that celebrates and nurtures Edmonton's and Canada's richly diverse cultural scene through mythic art and food. Since 2012 we have brought together performances reflecting the richness of diverse cultures found within our community. Dancers, musicians, poets, painters, playwrights, and performers from many cultures share mythic stories ranging from short poetry readings to feature-length multi-disciplinary epics in our home on Alberta Avenue.
We strongly encourage submissions from people of all backgrounds and look forward to continuing our tradition of Edmontonians of all backgrounds discovering what connects them to each other when they share their cultures’ deepest stories through the arts.
Submission Details
The festival team is accepting proposals for mythically inspired performances and presentations for our 2025 Festival, scheduled for June 21 & 22, 2025, at our home at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre (9210 118 Ave NW, Edmonton).
New for 2025, all acts will perform on our outdoor stage between 2 PM - 9:30 PM on June 21, and between 1 PM - 5 PM on June 22. This stage will be located in the parking lot to the west of the Community Centre. We encourage presentations that not only showcase performers and stories of a culture, but that have an interactive element with the audience, whether that be active interaction within the performance, or a short workshop in the art form before or after the performance.
If you are interested in performing at this year’s Festival, we ask that you please prepare and send us a proposal which includes the following information:
- Whether you are submitting on behalf of an organization, a collective, or as an individual
- A bit about yourself (or your organization/group)
- Your history of past performance or artistic work (including links to samples of your work if possible)
- Your proposed performance or artistic presentation for the 2025 Thousand Faces Festival
- Why you want to perform at the Thousand Faces Festival
- The myth your piece is representing or responding to (see the paragraph below for how we define mythology)
- The discipline(s) involved in your performance or presentation
- The number of performers participating in your piece
- The anticipated length of your performance
- Whether parts of your performance may be presented in shorter parts (teaser performances), or if the whole performance may be shortened if required
- Any potential Technical requirements or support your presentation may need or want (in particular, any specific audio needs).
The main thing we ask is that you propose something that responds in some way to the world(s) of what we call mythology. What do we mean by that? To quote Joseph Campbell: "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths”. To us mythology is, as Joseph Campbell also said, “ . . .the song of the Universe”.
However, if you think mythology is a false construct, but believe in ancient stories or dreams for their deeper truths about the human condition and their possibilities for awakenings, please propose something that has to do with that! It can be as ancient, as modern, as reverent, or as lampooning as you want.
To apply, please email your proposal to info@thousandfaces.ca with the subject line “2025 Artist Application” by Monday, April 21, 2025.
Artist Benefits
The Thousand Faces Festival is proud of our long history of supporting mythically based storytelling from a wide range of cultures. Benefits of performing at our festival include:
- Participating in a Festival that values artists and believes in fair compensation for their talent and hard work.
- Access to an artistic and administrative team that has extensive experience presenting a diverse array of culturally based artists and shining a light on the stories that underpin the performances
- The Thousand Faces Festival consciously creates and sustains an ecosystem of opportunity where artists may develop their craft in collaboration over the long term.
- The opportunity to engage with artists from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and disciplines. In the past this has lead to unique collaborative opportunities and development of performance works
*Please note that you as the artist will be responsible for engaging and compensating any performers in your piece, travel to and from Edmonton, accommodations while you are in Edmonton, and any specialized technicians you may add beyond the sound technician provided by the Festival. Additionally, you will be responsible for all wardrobe, make-up, wigs, props, scenic, and sound design elements that may be required for your presentation.
Questions? Email info@thousandfaces.ca for more information.
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