Ava Val has heard enough performative allyship since coming out as a trans woman in her thirties. “If I get one more ‘Yasss Queen!’ while I’m picking a wedgie in a park, I’m detransitioning,” the Toronto comedian jokes in So Brave, her gut-busting debut comedy special. “I love your support, but fuck! Being called brave […]
Arts & Culture
Posted inArts + Music
Every big show happening in Halifax in March 2025
Spring is almost here—finally!—and with the longer days of March, Halifax is coming back to life. From film festivals celebrating homegrown talent to some of Canada’s biggest rock acts coming to town, there’s a whole lot more to look forward to this month than just the promise of warmer weather. (Although that certainly helps, too.) […]
Posted inArts + Music
“Stories to tell”: Halifax Black Film Festival shines spotlight on local filmmakers
Andre Anderson can still recall the feeling of watching Ava DuVernay’s 13th for the first time. The Preston-raised African Nova Scotian actor—and now filmmaker—had been so moved by the 2016 documentary on the US prison-industrial complex that he screened it for his classmates at Saint Mary’s University. Then again at the Marquee Ballroom. Anderson says […]
Posted inArts + Music
Every big show coming to Halifax and beyond in 2025
The New Year might have just arrived, but the lineup of shows coming to Halifax in 2025 is already jam-packed. Here we keep track of the major shows—music, theatre, comedy and events—scheduled for the city and around Nova Scotia throughout the year. To help our team of event hunters, we hope you’ll let us know […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trio of art shows on Black resilience, faith, cultural pride opens at Dalhousie Art Gallery
This February, African Heritage Month, let the Dalhousie Art Gallery be a beacon for community power, intergenerational knowledge sharing and creative resistance. Let it be a salve for the isolating chill of not winter but the racist, fascist and systematic efforts to scapegoat, divide and erase communities, cultures and histories. From Feb 4 through Apr […]
Posted inArts + Music
Every big show happening in Halifax in February 2025
The New Year isn’t so new anymore—but as the calendar turns from January to February, there’s a brand-new lineup of shows coming to Halifax. And from weekend jams packed with surprise guests to some of the best in Canadian theatre, there’s plenty on offer that’s worth venturing out into the cold for. As always, The […]
Posted inArts + Music
This Nova Scotian’s podcast has become a queer hit—and it’s coming to Halifax for a live show
There is some kismet involved in Dane Stewart’s path to podcast prominence. Long before the Truro native’s show, Resurrection, claimed the top spot on Apple Podcasts’ Arts chart in Canada—and eventually reached #13 in the world—he met a man at a gay bar in Montreal. The year was 2016. It was Montreal Pride, and Stewart, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Comedian Julie Kim brings Doing Too Much tour to Halifax
Julie Kim is used to doing it all. Before the Toronto-born, Vancouver-based comic made a name for herself doing sold-out theatre shows with Ronny Chieng and writing for TV’s Run the Burbs and Kim’s Convenience, she made her stand-up start as a “one-time” thing to help further her other careers. At the time, she was […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jeremy Hotz is still miserable—and as funny as ever
Jeremy Hotz is having a bad day. There’s a rat in his kitchen and it’s decided to take up residence. It started with a crash the other day. Hotz came downstairs to find his newly-bought hot dog buns knocked off the counter and on the floor. “The whole bag, for fuck’s sakes!” he laughs, speaking […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax authors delve into the craft of writing on King’s podcast
Years before Aaron Williams and RC Shaw became published authors, each with a pair of books under their belt, the friends and former University of King’s College classmates had a fever-induced idea one night. It was the winter of 2017. The two were rooming together in New York City for a weeklong authors’ residency. Williams […]
Posted inArts + Music
12 books by Halifax authors for your end-of-2024 reading list
What do you get when you mix a celebrity jewel thief with the Halifax Explosion, and then throw in a few tales of family secrets, Haligonian oddities and bike-bound hijinks? Well, you end up with this: The Coast’s end-of-year list of the best books written by local authors in 2024. Last year’s book roundup went […]
Posted inArts + Music
Marc McLaughlin has a voice—and a video—you need to see
If there’s one artist you need to listen to before this year’s end, it’s Marc McLaughlin. Fredericton-based and Newfoundland-born, this former Halifax resident is hot off the release of his latest single—the title track of his soon-to-be-released EP—”All I Can Say”, accompanied by a new music video. This single, coupled with his first EP, […]