Welcome to our 2022 Artist’s page. We were thrilled the Ryga Arts Festival returned "in-person" August 13th to 21st, with ten days of festival activities. If you have a few moments, please click below to meet last summer's visiting and local artists.
With a confident voice and boundless energy, Cardinal owns a stage, connecting deeply with her audience through humour, passion and love. In 2020, Cardinal achieved one of Canada’s highest musical accolades, a JUNO Award for Indigenous Artist of the Year. She also received two Western Canadian Music Awards nominations, including ➔
Catherine MacLellan, is a musician’s musician, respected by her peers since releasing Dark Dream Midnight, her first solo album, in 2004. As with many performers, Catherine feels most at home on stage. That moment of connection is what matters most. ➔
Jane toured her acclaimed, self-penned solo show, Disco Goalie, across Canada on the Fringe Festival circuit and was featured on CBC TV's "Hockey Day in Canada". Her current solo micro-performance, These Are the Songs That I Sing When I'm Sad, premiered at Boca del Lupo in Vancouver and ran at the Blyth Festival. ➔
Andrea Warner writes and talks. She’s the author of Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography. Andrea is co-writer and associate producer of the forthcoming Buffy Sainte-Marie documentary, Carry It On, and co-hosts the feminist pop culture podcast, Pop This! ➔
Made in Canada: an agricultural operetta was the inspiration for this song cycle. It was planned to premier at Performance Works on Granville Island as a rice & beans theatre production in collaboration with Playwright Theatre Centre. ➔
Roark Critchlow is a Canadian actor and writer. He grew up in Summerland , BC, studied theatre at the University of Victoria and spent 5 years building a theatre and tv career in Vancouver before spending 20 years in Hollywood. There he starred ➔
Erick Thompson is a communications professional, documentarian, and outdoor enthusiast. Prior to co-founding ET2media in 2011, Erick spent more than 20 years in television and radio. He has created several shows, feature segments, and ➔
Mackenzie “Ken” Shaw (any pronouns) is a West-Kelowna-based poet, writer, and performer, living on the traditional, ancestral and unceded land of the Westbank First Nation. His poetry is usually inspired by themes of grief, gender, and his work on the ➔
An in-person entertainer, as well as a film & stage performer, Peg has been making people laugh, cry & smile all her life. Vocalist, actor, standup comic, narrator, writer, balloon & facial artist, she’s been working at her craft through improv, murder-mystery dinner theatre and ➔
Dawn has been involved in theatre since she was a teenager. She originally started mostly doing design work and holds a Diploma in Stage Management from Studio 58 and an Extended Degree in Technical Theatre from Simon Fraser University. While at SFU, Dawn ➔
Having once had the privilege of participating in a workshop conducted by George Ryga, Rob is a big supporter of Rygafest! He particularly enjoys being part of mysteries, comedy or both! ➔
Lovers of all things theatre, avid outdoor adventurers, religious beach swimmers, strong beer drinkers, for fun writers, always laughing parents, makers, masterminds of Hallowe’en frights, lovers of life and each other! ➔
Small Kitchen Chaos is the figurative and literal marriage of Trista Bassett and John Fraser, a couple who met through music, seven years ago, and who have been inspired by touring across Canada, seeing the world and approaching music from vastly different backgrounds and ➔
Ed has been on stage one way or the other since he was four years old and is still enthralled by its magic. He has worked with theatre companies in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan for as long as he can remember. Currently Ed is Director/Producer/Publicist for ➔
Glen Cairns is a writer, performer and director who lives in Kamloops. He's worked across Canada, the UK and Latin America. Some memorable gigs have taken him to The International Film and Television School in Cuba, The Old Red Lion pub theatre in London, Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Factory Theatre and ➔
Gena Lock is a Critteraid animal cuddler, avid lake swimmer and outdoor enthusiast. She loves too many things, among them reading, listening to music, and enjoying local theatrical productions. Gena is excited to be making her debut at the Ryga festival reading poetry and ➔
Silvia González Taylor, born and raised in Spain. Finishing her studies of psychology, she decided to live her dream and set off to travel. In these four years of journey, she came across different teachers who showed her the art of wire-wrapping and now, thanks to this gift, she ➔
Joanna Chiu is a senior reporter covering national and world affairs for the Toronto Star, a former foreign correspondent and the author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder. "Doggedly reported and fiercely argued, according to Publishers Weekly, the book details China's rapid ➔
Ann Doyon is a writer from Regina, Saskatchewan. She is an accomplished multi-media artist with a career that has spanned decades garnering national and international attention for her powerful wordplay and intense performing ➔
For 25 years “Brakeman Jack” Godwin has been a songwriter and heritage entertainer with The Kettle Valley Brakemen. He has admired George Ryga’s work since seeing the original version of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe in Vancouver. Jack has enjoyed living in ➔
Jan has been enjoying be a part of the SS&P for over 5 years. This is the second time she has been able to participate actively in the Ryga Arts Festival. Being a part of the community theatre is something she finds rewarding and ➔
Eviah’s work aims to educate and empower those who interact with it through the collective exchange of mutual empathy. They have been doing this through a practice of self-advocacy “soft” activism focused on the communities ➔
Betty-Ann has been involved in community theatre for over thirty years. This is her directorial debut. ➔
Jenni is new to community theatre. She was able to participate in the KVR Murder Mystery and now in the Ryga festival and is enjoying the challenges and the experience acting in various roles. ➔