Gwe, Bonjour, and Welcome to Confederation Centre of the Arts!

What does it mean to have a national arts centre right here on P.E.I.? Through engaging visual arts exhibitions, theatrical performances, music, dance, education, and heritage programming, Confederation Centre of the Arts (CCOA) provides you with an opportunity to experience multiple cultures, histories, stories, and contexts of Canada’s origins and evolution. This is your arts centre and we hope you will explore and experience all it has to offer.

This year we celebrate 30 years of one of our banner arts education programs, dance umbrella, founded by Peggy Reddin and Julia Sauvé. Its first ever year-end performance showcase was entitled Steps in Time, held back in 1989 at the Mack, and this year they will perform Steps in Time: The Sequel. Come celebrate this outstanding dance program that has helped build dance and movement skills, self-confidence, and creativity in thousands of young Islanders for three decades.

Springtime means we are gearing up for summer! In early April the Charlottetown Festival Company began our co-production of Mamma Mia! with the Grand Theatre in London, ON. After a few weeks of performing in Ontario, the company returns to Charlottetown to rehearse Anne™ and Kronborg—The Hamlet Rock Musical, which both open in June.

You’ll also need to hurry to catch two very popular Gallery exhibitions, A Documentary Impulse and Who’s Your Mother? Both carry unique Island focuses and both finish their exhibition period this spring. Also, we have just concluded another successful season of Arts Education Days in both English and French for hundreds of Island students.

Lastly, we will be releasing our new 5-year strategic plan this summer which will outline our efforts to build community, strengthen program quality, and achieve sustainability for the future. The Centre is very excited to welcome P.E.I.’s own Kateri Coade to our Board of Directors and we look forward to her guidance for years to come.

On behalf of the dedicated team at CCOA, we welcome you to the exciting lineup in the weeks and months ahead — hope to see you soon!

Steve Bellamy
CEO