Manitoba Showcase is an annual visual & performing arts conference that features some of the best Canadian artists, from a wide range of genres, for Manitoban presenters and galleries, connecting them with future opportunities and collaboration. The preeminent event of its kind in Manitoba, Showcase engages over 150 artists, presenters, agents, managers, and industry stakeholders to exchange ideas and develop and rekindle relationships.
Manitoba Showcase is a place to discover innovative ideas, opportunities for leadership development, and skill-building workshops, along with networking events and one-on-one business meetings between artists/agents and presenters/buyers.
Please join us next year for Manitoba Showcase 2022. If you missed Showcase and want to access replays of performances and professional development please contact us. To view the program click here.
15 performing artists, 4 Indigenous emerging artists, 4 Black emerging artists, and 4 emerging artists will be selected by jury to pre-record their virtual Showcase to be uploaded to an online platform. Delegates will watch the showcase videos over a 1-2 week period prior to our online conference giving them the chance to preview and virtually meet artists they may want to bring to their community for the next touring season.
Manitoba Arts Network is the only organization that organizes performing arts and visual art showcases and coordinates tours in rural Manitoba. An average touring season coordinated by MAN yields 10-15 tours and 50-60 performances in member communities across Manitoba — resulting in up to $190,000 in artist fees throughout the year.
Our members don’t book all their exhibitions or performances through our Booking Programs, so showcasing performing artists can receive future bookings beyond the next touring season. The rural Manitoba touring market is valued at an estimated $300,000 per year.
Why showcase?
Showcase events are an opportunity for artists to offer a 15- to a 30-minute sample of their show to a dedicated audience of presenters and buyers. These events also offer a contact room (trade show or exhibit hall), a networking forum, and a marketplace where artists set up booths, make new connections and have discussions with the presenters. It is often in the contact room where business deals begin.
Benefits for presenters and buyers
A presenter attends the conference to gain access to artists in a variety of disciplines to fit their programming needs and budget — and to begin booking their upcoming season. Presenters also attend workshops, exchange ideas, and rekindle relationships.
Connecting artists with opportunities in rural Manitoba
Showcase engages over 150 artists, presenters, agents, managers, and industry stakeholders. MAN concludes Manitoba Showcase with a block booking meeting collecting the interest from presenters in the performances they saw and want to bring to their communities. MAN liaises between presenters and artists/agents over the next 5 months to collect bids from presenters and submit tour offers to the showcasing artists/agents.
- Registration
- Schedule
- Artist Showcases
- Professional Development
- Apply to host MB Showcase
“As an Artist this was my first time showcasing. The opportunity to showcase has given me access to an incredible network that I would have otherwise needed years of effort to reach. It was really and truly a game-changer for someone who has put in serious time developing a show, but just didn’t have the reach and relationships to turn that into a viable business.”