Join us for EmberFest celebrations from February 14th-21st 2026
Pageant Finale on February 21st
EmberFest is a celebration of creativity, community, and connection. Over a period of weeks, professional and community-based artists work in collaboration with folks in the community to create a large-scale outdoor ‘pageant’ performed with more than 1,000 folks in Golden’s Spirit Square. Together, we make low tech magic.
The theme this year is Positive Futurisms: Portals of Possibility. The uncertainty of the future can be daunting and incomprehensible, but when we choose to embrace our imagination and curate a future that we want to see and live in, we reshape the impossible into the possible and those feelings of fear and powerlessness begin to melt away. The power of the imagination is within all of us, waiting to be tapped into and cultivated. It encourages us to challenge our ways of thinking and making, to move beyond the ordinary. It unbuckles the repetition and rigidity of our lives and within society and moves us to an ever reaching range of possibility and creativity. Problem solving, radical change, and agency become new and exciting and tangible. The obstacles we face in our everyday become things we can move, hop, or skip around.
We invite you to play with the impossible and turn it into the possible.
For Inspiration:
What We Are Looking For
Local artists interested in creating public art and stage design for EmberFest. There are also opportunities to work with the public at the Imaginarium Open Studios throughout January and February.
Public Art for Spirit Square
The community will be filling Spirit Square on the night of February 21st, why not fill it with art? Ideas can be, but are not limited to:
– murals
– interactive installations
– projections
Stage Design:
There will be four music venues on the night of February 21st at the Rockwater, the Bar, Whitetooth Brewery, and an all-ages venue at the Civic Centre. We’re looking for stage design that will elevate these spaces to create an engaging and inspiring environment. Artists will be in charge of designing, installing, and taking down their set (installation will be on February 21st and take down on February 22nd).
Imaginarium Open Studios:
The open studios will be held at the Civic Centre and are a space for the community to come and prepare for the festival, from costume design, prop building, and workshops, the Imaginarium comes alive with possibility. We invite local artist to activate this space with us through activities, facilitation, and group projects. Studio dates are:
January 24th – 25th
January 31st – February 1st
February 7th – 8th
February 14th – 15th
