Theatre Network

Today’s Artist Feature: Agatha Lidia Chacinski!

Agatha Lidia Chacinksi, a first-generation citizen of Canada, was born 1986 in Beaver Hills House (Edmonton), on Treaty Six Territory. Despite Agatha’s love of the arts starting at age four, her career led her into psychology. Realizing she missed a vital component of practicing art in her life, she returned to her passion in 2017, pursuing a career as a self-taught artist.
Agatha is a mixed media artist, working in watercolour, acrylic, gouache, ink, coloured pencil, linoleum printmaking, and digital illustration.

"The subjects of my works for, The Chair Series, give a nod to the memories from my childhood. The vintage chairs that my mother loved and dreamt of owning. Some chairs like the ones that I fell asleep in at my elementary school library while I read during breaks. The plums that my mother and my grandmother would cook into my favorite Polish dessert dumplings. Those memories hold comfort to me and hence the chair series was born. It is a way that my heart needed to remember and to paint my roots. It was my way to heal a portion of my heart that I have been missing."

During Nextfest, you can see Lidia's work on display in the Miller Art Gallery, located within The Roxy Theatre!

You can get your Nextfest festival pass here ⬇
www.theatrenetwork.ca/nextfest/

Tonight’s the night Nextfest officially OPENS at The Roxy!⁠
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We couldn’t be more excited to welcome audiences, artists and community members through our doors for another unforgettable festival.⁠
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Over the next 10 days, The Roxy will be filled with bold ideas, fresh perspectives, experimentation, storytelling and the incredible energy that comes from ’s emerging artists sharing their work with the world.⁠
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Whether you’re catching one show or spending the week immersed in the festival, thank you for supporting independent art and the next generation of creators in .⁠
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Let the festival fun begin!!! 💛⁠
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Photo by Brett Boyd⁠
SupportLocalArtists EmergingArtists

Today’s Artist Feature: Moemen Gaafar!

Originally from Alexandria, Egypt, Moemen Gaafar is an emerging writer and director based in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). Moemen received the Mowat Diversity Award to stage his debut play, Genesis, at the 2025 Edmonton Fringe Festival.

At Nextfest, he is presenting a reading of his show Shams by Rumi, which will also be produced at the 2026 Edmonton Fringe Festival. In the coming years, Moemen hopes to expand his practice by staging new works that delve into questions of identity, existence and the role of art in our lives.

You can watch the reading of Shams by Rumi on Sunday, June 7th, at 12:00pm in Bradley Moss Rehearsal Hall.

Get your Nextfest festival pass here ⬇
www.theatrenetwork.ca/nextfest/