Province launches PEI Creates to elevate Island talent with ongoing arts grant funding

The Government of Prince Edward Island is making it easier for the world to recognize creative professionals with the launch of PEI Creates, a new brand identity to represent the Island’s creative industry, as provincial investments continue to be made towards supporting its workforce. 

Designed by One Stone Studio & Design, PEI Creates will strengthen the multidisciplinary nature of the Island’s creative industry in national and international spaces. The selected colours and design represent the Island’s natural landscapes of red soil, green fields, and blue waters, using sea glass-like silhouettes to capture the distinct geography of our province. Whether seen in the end credits of a screen production, the entrance of an art exhibit, or the back of an album, this new look will ensure projects developed in PEI or by Island creative professionals are instantly recognizable. 

“Individually, Island professionals have done a phenomenal job representing themselves in their disciplines, and our government saw a need to empower them and this sector with one cohesive brand that will help elevate the tremendous talent and creative workforce that exists here. This is an opportunity to strengthen Prince Edward Island’s competitive edge in television, film, music, and beyond."

- Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Artificial Intelligence Jenn Redmond. 

The province continues its work to support economic growth, market diversification, workforce development, and professional Island artists. This year, 64 artists are receiving a total of $211,200 this year through the PEI Arts and Indigenous Arts Grants to advance their work, contribute to the growing Island creative sector, and continue producing the high-quality work that will be represented under this new visual banner. Innovation PEI will also be recognizing the important economic, social, and cultural contributions of creative professionals at its annual PEI Arts Awards in November. The call for nominations is currently open and will close on October 5, 2026.

“Island talent can be seen through the stroke of a pen or brush, on canvases, the turn of a potter’s wheel, and on stages and screens of all sizes. This sector continues to demonstrate how creators can transform their passions into livelihoods, and as a collective, directly contribute to our economy. PEI has the talent, and this sector deserves the support and recognition of the economic force it can be,” added Redmond.

Learn more about provincial financial supports for PEI’s creative sector here.

Media contact:

Vicki Tse
Department of Economic Development, Innovation and Trade
vickitse@gov.pe.ca 

Backgrounder: 

PEI Arts Grants Recipients

First-time grant recipients are identified by an asterisk.

Charles Aondo (C. Ruth)
Music, $1,000
This project supports C. Ruth’s travel from Prince Edward Island to Toronto, Ontario, to perform at the prestigious NXNE Festival with the Mango Street Trio. Funding will help cover transportation, accommodation, and related expenses, enabling him to present his original work to national audiences. This opportunity will expand the artist’s professional profile, strengthen industry connections, and showcase PEI's vibrant music scene on a renowned international stage.

Christopher Bailey 
Writing and Publishing, $6,000
With support from this grant, Chris Bailey will create THE TRUTH IS BAD ENOUGH, a clear-eyed examination of life and fishing in eastern PEI through the firsthand experiences of the author. Based on a journal kept by Bailey in his father's final season as captain, the book expounds upon this life through entries, reflections, poetry, and visuals. Here the back of the picturesque PEI postcard is shown.

Jordan Beaulieu
Visual Arts, $2,000
With support from this Share grant, PEI artist Jordan Beaulieu will exhibit original artwork in the Atlantic Canada Zone at the 65th Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF). Taking place at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto, Ontario, from July 10 to 12, 2026, the fair will feature eight artists from the Atlantic region as part of the showcase curated by Bushra Junaid, entitled "The Land and the Sea Bind Us."

Patrick Brunet*
Visual Arts, $4,000 
Red Beds will be the artistic sum of five years of Patrick Brunet's fossil fieldwork, study and collection, brought to life through a visual art installation. A panelled ceiling-mounted mural will show the creation of the "red beds", the red sandstone cliffs, of what is now Prince Edward Island and all the snapshots of life captured within its strata 295 million years ago. Inspired by all the fossils he has discovered, Patrick Brunet will use the visual arts to share this land's prehistoric tale. To accompany the artistic installation, a program will be created. Patrick Brunet will also present an artist talk to explain the artwork and share the prehistoric and geologic story of Prince Edward Island. 

Marlene Campbell
Theatre, $7,000
With support from this Create grant, theatre artist Marlene Campbell, in partnership with Halstead Electric, will design, rehearse and present the world premiere production of the play The Conversation, touring it with professional actors to five venues across Prince Edward Island in September 2026. The Conversation tells the story of an independent and successful career woman and mother, who is not gracefully accepting the confinements of aging, and taking out her frustrations on her primary caregiver, a daughter. Both women desire more from their relationship, especially as the mother is moving towards her final chapter. But it will require each of them to become real and vulnerable. Can a mere conversation be the answer?

Nishta Gokul*
Dance, $2,000
Nishta Aadesh Gokul, an emerging Charlottetown-based Kathak dancer, will undertake an intensive training residency in July 2026 at the India School of Dance, Music & Theatre in Winnipeg. Building on nine years of guru-led study in this North Indian classical dance form, the residency will consolidate her technique for solo performance and lay the foundation for sustained Kathak presentation and teaching on Prince Edward Island.

Rebecca “Becca” Griffin
Theatre, $2,000
Catching Fish is a puppet show created by Becca Griffin and produced by Brielle Ansems with music by Jasmine Michel. This piece follows The Old Man and The Child, as they become unlikely friends with an extended cast of seabirds and fish. This 25-minute, memorable piece has no dialogue, but through movement choreographed to an original score, it is an accessible show for folks of all backgrounds and languages. With a story for all ages, Catching Fish is sure to capture your heart. The show will be presented as a scheduled production at the new children’s theatre festival, the Silly Goose Theatre Festival, taking place at Beaconsfield Carriage House from August 10 to 21, 2026. 

Adam Hill
Music, $7,000
Led by artist Adam Hill, the Charlottetown Improvisers Orchestra is a new large-ensemble project bringing together musicians from across Prince Edward Island to explore conducted improvisation, collective creation, and experimental performance. The orchestra will present three unique concerts in 2026 and 2027, including outdoor site-responsive performance, immersive spatial sound, and newly commissioned works.

Carlie Howell
Music, $8,000
With support from this Create grant, Carlie Howell will rework and expand upon their contemporary classical composition "Seeking Congruency" and arrange it for symphony orchestra. Established arranger and composer Natalie Williams-Calhoun will provide mentorship to Howell as they undertake this ambitious project.

Elder Francis Jadis
Crafts, $3,540
With support from this Create grant, Elder Francis Jadis, a respected basketmaker from Abegweit First Nation, will travel to the mainland with an apprentice to harvest Black Ash, process it and bring it back to the Island where he will pass down cultural practices and traditional basketweaving skills to younger generations in the Mi’kmaq community.

Sandy Kowalik
Interdisciplinary, $4,620
Post-war bungalows were built across Canada to house returning veterans and their families. The Alexander Drive Project chronicles the social history of one such neighbourhood built in 1948, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Interdisciplinary artist and author Sandy Kowalik blends archival research, interviews, and photographs, along with images of assemblages using found objects recovered from her garden, to create a portrait of how the street evolved, touching on themes of affordable housing. The project will culminate with the publication of a book and the presentation of a solo exhibition. 

Emmanuelle LeBlanc
Music, $5,000
With support from this Create grant, Emmanuelle LeBlanc will develop a new body of original compositions and arrangements of traditional Acadian songs through an approach that explores rhythm, voice, language and contemporary performance. Inspired by both her own compositions and the archives left by her twin sister Pastelle LeBlanc, the project will also incorporate the development of "snodhrán," an original Acadian percussive approach.

Cameron MacDuffee
Theatre, $2,500
With support from this Share grant, artist Cameron MacDuffee will present Become, an original theatrical work for one actor and four musicians exploring the theme of transformation. The piece consists of 12 original songs linked by prose exploring the theme of Becoming. The work is written by Cameron MacDuffee and publicly presented by Farmgate Theatre on August 30, 2026. 

Annie Martin
Visual Arts, $7,000
Annie Martin will create a 60-inch (5-foot) round, hand-burned and painted wall piece exploring resilience, renewal, and personal power. Funds will be used for the purchase of materials required to work at this scale and to cover documentation of the finished work through professional photography and video. This grant gives the artist dedicated time and resources to complete a technically demanding large-scale project and expand her practice into new subject matter.

Julie Pellissier-Lush
Film and Media Arts, $5,000
Through this project, Mi’kmaw artist Julie Pellissier-Lush and the Mi'kmaq Heritage Actors will give back to the community through stories, connection, and food by creating a monthly cooking class to teach community members how to preserve food and make it last longer. The classes will be filmed, and videos will be made available online afterwards. 

Robin Gislain “Gessy” Shumbusho
Film and Media Arts, $4,840
The Ones Who Stay is a portrait series and photo book documenting the real cultural fabric of Prince Edward Island. From June to October 2026, Robin Gislain Shumbusho will photograph 30 to 50 Islanders across various communities in their own spaces. The project will culminate into a professionally designed and printed photo book, distributed locally and made available to community libraries across PEI.

Reequal Smith
Dance, $6,000
Daughter in the Soil is a contemporary dance work by Bahamian artist and choreographer Reequal Smith exploring the relationship between women, land, ancestry, and resistance. Rooted in Afro-Caribbean movement traditions and emotional cartography, the work transforms the body into a living archive of memory, survival, ritual, and resilience through grounded movement, percussive rhythms, and embodied storytelling.

Lisa Steele*
Crafts, $1,000
With support from this professional development grant, artist Lisa Steele will attend an intensive five-day pottery course to expand into more advanced throwing technical pottery skills and learn about smoke and primitive firing in a downdraft barrel kiln. These new skills will benefit her work in pottery in PEI.

Zac Thompson
Writing and Publishing, $5,000
The Prison Doctor's Assistant is a neo-noir graphic novel by Zac Thompson about the weird history of so-called Canada. Set in the 1950s, it follows a med-school dropout doing hard time at Oakalla Prison Farm in British Columbia. It's here where he finds himself assisting the experimental plastic surgeries performed at the prison during this time.

Jeremy Thornhill*
Film and Media Arts, $6,500
Dearly Discarded is a poetic short film by Jeremy Thornhill that explores the relationship between consumer waste and human neglect on Prince Edward Island. The film is driven by an original spoken-word poem, an original piano score, and poetic slow-motion imagery ”from single-use garbage to dumpsters to expansive landfill sites" culminating into a quiet, human portrait of homelessness.

Maggie J. Whitten Henry*
Visual Arts, $3,500
For the month of June 2026, Maggie J. Whitten Henry will be taking up residence at The PEI Crafts Council Studios. During her residency, the artist will explore the concept of "lines" and themes of climate change (particularly "climate stripes") through textile experimentation and quilting techniques, creating an installation piece as well as guiding the creation of a community art quilt.

Natalie Williams-Calhoun
Music, $6,500
This Create grant will support the creation of string quartet arrangements to be included as part of a new “Acoustic East Coast” show that will be produced in 2027. Following on the success of the original Acoustic East Coast, this show will feature instrumental cover arrangements of favourite Canadian East Coast songs, written for the Bayfield Quartet by composer and arranger Natalie Williams-Calhoun.

Erin Arsenault
Writing and Publishing, $3,100
With support from this grant, author and illustrator Erin Arsenault will create a children's picture book for ages 4 to 7. Inspired by Frankenstein and the journey of parenting an autistic child, the book explores themes of societal expectations, uniqueness and acceptance. The illustrations will use mixed media (gouache, colour pencil, etc.) with a playful, image-driven vision. This project synthesizes the artist's history in portraiture with her recent abstract sequential art series.

Willow Bell
Music, $4,750
This grant will support electronic music duo Liftkit to create and release a four-track debut EP, capturing the energy and experimentation of their live electronic music performances on recording.

Patricia Bourque
Visual Arts, $7,825
With this visual storytelling project, Mi'kmaw photography artist Patricia Bourque will capture portraits of Elders from Epekwitk, immortalizing their presence and wisdom. This series of photos will illustrate the Elders' teachings, stories, and connection to the land.

Kassinda Bulger*
Film and Media Arts, $2,000 
Kassinda Bulger will train in motion capture (mo-cap) acting in order to expand upon her artistic capabilities, and to sculpt a future in which she can dedicate herself full-time to her multidisciplinary training in the arts.

Shawnte Burrell
Theatre, $2,500
With this grant, Shawnte Burrell will attend a four-day personalized intensive wig training course with industry professional Sharon Ryman, who has over 44 years of experience in the field. Shawnte will be elevating her knowledge from Intermediate to Advanced, gaining skills that will benefit her work in theatre and film in PEI.

Diana Castro Roa*
Music, $5,000
With support from this grant, Diana Castro Roa will create Delirio, a collaborative album blending Latin jazz, folk, blues, rock, cumbia, and electronic sounds. Featuring six original tracks, including instrumental and vocal pieces, the album reflects the artist's cultural journey and artistic growth. In 2026, Diana will perform the songs live, share her creative process on social media, and connect with audiences across Colombia and Prince Edward Island.

Ashley Anne Clark*
Writing and Publishing, $1,600
With support from this grant, visual artist and author Ashley Anne Clark will bring to life "Animals and Water", a children's picture book that explores how animals rely on water to survive. Through vibrant watercolour illustrations and simple, engaging facts, the book reveals the vital and unique connections between wildlife and water. From whales communicating across oceans to otters floating hand in hand, it inspires young readers to reflect on the importance of clean water and engages them to protect our planet's most essential resource.

Millefiore Clarkes
Film and Media Arts, $2,200
With support from this grant, filmmaker Millefiore Clarkes will present the event "Talking to Humans", a multi-disciplinary presentation and gathering that provides a space for community to embody their climate grief through experiencing and participating in film, poetry and music.

Trevor Corkum 
Writing and Publishing, $7,200
With support from this creation grant, Trevor Corkum will bring to life “Be Brave When I Am Gone", a coming-of-age young adult novel in which Devon and Ruby, both seventeen, take a road trip to PEI for Ruby's final summer.

Brynn Cutcliffe
Theatre, $5,500
In preparation for a premiere production, PEI playwright Brynn Cutcliffe will finalize a rehearsal draft of the script and music of their play, "The Weatherman," in collaboration with composer Cameron MacDuffee and dramaturg/director Keshia Palm.

Tanya Davis
Interdisciplinary, $5,000
With support from this grant, multidisciplinary artist Tanya Davis will develop her solo show "Seeker" into an export-ready production by undertaking major revisions of the script and working with a creative director/dramaturg and lighting designer. 

Darrell DesRoches*
Crafts, $2,000
PEI craft artist Darrell DesRoches has been chosen as one of eleven Atlantic Canadian artisans to share his wood turned vessels at the 2026 Collect Art Fair to be held at the Somerset House Gallery in London, UK. Darrell will create a series of open and closed vessels in oak and ash that portray his unique style of texturing (hand carved, sandblasted) and completing the pieces using ebonizing, copper verdigris or iron oxide finishes.

Donnalee Downe
Interdisciplinary, $7,500
In the first year of a multi-year project, artist Donnalee Downe will create work for a new exhibition and various performances tentatively titled, "Once the artist is gone". The new body of work will explore themes of loss, aging and death by posing the question, What is to become of the curated collections of an archival artist once the artist is gone?

Doug Dumais
Visual Arts, $4,750
"Ultra Deep Field" is a series of large-scale mixed-media photographs by Doug Dumais inspired by constellations, scientific imagery, and cosmology. Created on eight-foot by four-foot drywall panels layered with stars, poems, and photographs, the works borrow the visual language of scientific imagery to evoke awe and mystery, as well as explore the limits of the scientific understanding of our universe. The series will be included in an exhibition presented in PEI in 2026.

Leah Ellis
Interdisciplinary, $1,600
Tunes and Tales will tour their new multidisciplinary show "Under the Same Sky", which features two original stories, "Ballad of the Beavers" and "The Frog's Journey", in the Maritimes. The production combines live music, storytelling, and crankie illustrations to highlight themes of community, interconnection, and the natural world. This grant will directly support hiring a bass player for rehearsals and performances and hiring an audio technician for this tour.

Clare Engen*
Visual Arts, $545
This professional development grant will enable visual artist Clare Engen to further develop her skills in acrylic painting by providing her with an invaluable opportunity to gain knowledge, guided practice, and mentorship from an established artist. 

Shawn Hogan
Comedy, $6,450
PEI comedian Shawn Hogan will record his debut comedy album live at The Guild in Charlottetown on April 18, 2026. After fifteen years performing across Canada, this album will showcase Shawn's sharp writing, storytelling, and East Coast voice. Mixed, mastered, and released nationally, it marks a defining step in his career and celebrates his roots while reaching audiences across the country. 

JoAnna Howlett
Visual Arts, $2,000
Visual artist JoAnna Howlett makes art that addresses superstition and tradition in the Atlantic lobster fishery as well as her relation to it. With support from this grant, they will create two new artworks, an installation and a sculptural diptych, for their upcoming solo exhibition "As Waves Break" presented at the Hilda Woolnough Gallery.

Nathan Lacroix
Film and Media Arts, $3,000
The Co-Op is a four-part short-form dramedy series (12 to 15 minutes per episode) created by emerging PEI filmmaker Nathan Lacroix. Set in a small cooperative housing complex in Charlottetown, the series follows a queer teen of immigrant parents navigating self-discovery, community, and belonging among a lively group of LGBTQ+ residents. Blending humour and heart, The Co-Op explores identity, inclusion, and the everyday complexities of shared living. 

Karson McKeown 
Music, $6,600
This project bridges past and present through the reimagining of archival family fiddle recordings from western PEI. Led by musician and composer Karson McKeown (of Inn Echo), the album will blend traditional Celtic influences with contemporary instrumental textures, creating a modern sound rooted in heritage. The project will culminate in a physical album release, live performance, and workshop celebrating the family's musical legacy.

Richard Pellissier-Lush
Writing and Publishing, $5,000
Being Indigenous, but not looking Indigenous, has been a constant struggle throughout Richard Pellissier-Lush's life. The Mi'kmaw artist captured his story in the children's book "The Creator's Plan", which was also adapted as a theatrical play for the stage. With the success of his first children's book, Richard will continue building on this story to create the second volume of the series.

Julie Pellissier-Lush
Interdisciplinary, $6,000
MMIWG2S is a song composed by Julie Pellissier-Lush together with her son, Richard, as a tribute for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirited people. With this project, Julie and Richard will create a recording of this song with members of the Northern Lights ensemble, as well as a music video in collaboration with a dancer. Their vision is to amplify the message of this impactful song and together help to end some of this pain through healing.

Lisa Theriault
Visual Arts, $4,500
Lisa Theriault's project explores the architecture and culture of artist-run centres through large-scale coloured-pencil drawings and paper installations. Beginning during her residency at the Nordic Artists' Centre Dale in Norway, she will create reconfigurable cut-out works that merge research, imagination, and lived experience. The series will culminate in a solo exhibition at Galerie Sans Nom in Moncton in 2026, linking Atlantic and international artist-run contexts.

Konrad Wendt
Interdisciplinary, $880
Support from this grant is contributing to the completion of Konrad Wendt's upcoming exhibition Welcome to the Art Gallery (working title) with This Town Is Small by giving the artist the means to take care of printing and framing required to professionally prepare the work for display. The solo exhibition will be presented in the Hilda Woolnough Gallery in May 2026.

Larry “Jay” Whitehead 
Theatre, $2,500
333: The Toronto Bathhouse Raids, written by Jay Whitehead, will be staged at The Guild in Charlottetown from June 18 to 20, 2026. This powerful play revisits the 1981 police raids on Toronto's queer community, a pivotal moment in Canadian LGBTQ2S+ history. Through bold storytelling and live performance, the production amplifies queer voices, sparks dialogue on human rights and connects PEI audiences with a vital chapter of national history.