Comox Valley Arts

The 5th Annual Comox Valley Record Show
2025-10-26 11:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | Comox Valley Curling Centre, 4835 Headquarters Road, Courtenay, BC, V9J1P2, Canada
Vinyl lovers, collectors, and music enthusiasts, mark your calendars! The 5th Annual Comox Valley Record Show is set to groove its way back into town on Sunday, October 26, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Comox Valley Curling Centre, located at 4835 Headquarters Road, Courtenay.
This beloved event brings together dealers from across Vancouver Island and the Mainland, offering thousands of records spanning every genre imaginable—from classic rock and jazz to punk, soul, and beyond. But it’s not just vinyl: attendees will also find posters, books, CDs, tapes, and other music memorabilia to explore.
What to Expect:
A spacious venue filled with vibrant energy and rare finds
Food and drinks available on-site, including
Elevator access and plenty of free parking
Friendly vendors and fellow music fans ready to share stories and swap treasures
Tips for Attendees:
Prefer a quieter browsing experience? Arrive later in the day (2 to 4 PM)
Bring cash—while vendors increasingly accept digital payments, vinyl culture still loves the old-school paper vibe.
Come prepared to dig deep—hidden gems await!
Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just starting your vinyl journey, the Comox Valley Record Show is a can’t-miss celebration of music, nostalgia, and community. As the organizers say, “It’s like Christmas—it comes but once a year!”
Admission is still only $2 and kids under 12 are free. Lots of parking and the kitchen and Extra End Lounge will be open, not to mention curling to watch alongside the record show.

Artful : The Poets
2025-11-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Join host Natalie Nickerson on November 3rd with our feature poet Toni Dunne. Feature poet followed by open mic, sign up at the door (5 mins each spot).
Toni Dunne is an earthen creatrix, eco-sensualist, social butterfly, silly goose. Her poetry is inspired by paradox, the stretchy, crunchy, achy beautiful journey of the human condition. She weaves her observations of the mundane with the miraculous and makes room for many truths.
Born of her love for the garden, forest, river, mountain and sea, her poetry emphasizes and explores relationship with the natural world. A long time yogini and embodied mindfulness practitioner, Toni infuses her craft with a certain quality of attention and attends to her life, garden and writing as an ongoing practice of noticing and being with.
Her most beloved muse is the clawfoot tub in the yard.
When she’s not writing poetry or in the bath, Toni can be found playing with her 10 year old son and ragdoll cat. She works as a teacher, group facilitator, somatic therapist and gardener in the Comox Valley, a place she has called home for over 20 years.
Please join Toni as she midwives you through the seasons of cycles of the Pacific Northwest, seduces you into the luscious world of petal, stamen, bloom and decay.
Come enliven your senses and remember the magic you are embedded in.

Poetry Reading at Artful : The Gallery
2025-11-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Artful : The Gallery welcomes Damian John for an evening of poetry.

Poets Kelly Madden and Kristina Campbell will start the evening off, and Damian John will be the featured artist.

Poetry Reading and Book Launch
2025-11-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
On Nov 13, Arleen Paré and Wendy Donawa are hosting a poetry reading as they launch their recently published poetry collections Encrypted (published by Caitlin Press) and The Time of Falling Apart (Harbour Publishing) respectively.
Arleen Paré is a Victoria writer with ten collections of poetry, one chapbook and one co-edited anthology. She’s been short-listed for the Dorothy Livesay BC Award, and has won the Victoria Butler Book Prize, a CBC Bookie Prize, the bpnichol Chapbook Award, the American Golden Crown Award for Lesbian Poetry, twice, and a Governor Generals’ Award for Poetry. She lives with her wife, Chris Fox, in Victoria on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people.

Wendy Donawa was raised in Victoria, but spent 36 years of her adult life in Barbados, where she raised her family, studied at the university of the West Indies, taught at the college and was for a decade, a curator at the Barbados Museum.
Now retired from the academic life, she lives gratefully on the traditional unceded territories of the Lekwungen-speaking Songees and Esquimalt nations, in Victoria.

Here, her heart and mind have turned to poetry, and she is grateful for the gifted and generous teachings Patrick Lane, Lorna Crozier, and many others. Her poems appear in numerous chapbooks, anthologies and poetry magazines. Her first book, Thin Air of the Knowable, was long-listed for the Raymond Souster and a finalist for the Gerald Lambert Award. Her second book, Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions, was one of the 2021 Frontenac quartet. The Time of Falling Apart is her third collection.

Improbable Objects Artist Reception
2025-11-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Five pillars of the Comox Valley Art scene are collaborating to bring their varied artistic endeavours to Artful : The Gallery with the exhibition “Improbable Objects”. Collaborating for inspiration has always been a productive creative strategy, and this exhibition reflects the varied sensibilities of the artists: Ed Varney, Marci Katz, Martha Jablonski-Jones, Jeff Hartbower and Bill Friesen.

The absurdity and illogical scenes of Surrealism and Dadaism led the to the overall theme for this exhibition. From there, each artist followed their own creative path into the dreamlike imagery. The broad variety of artistic expression utilized by this group of artists includes printmaking, collage, painting, sculpture, drawings, paintings and contributes to the unexpected juxtapositions created by their artworks. The result is a playful exhibition of contrasts with bizarre and uncanny combinations to stimulate the unconscious; the ultimate source of creative freedom.

“Improbable Objects” runs at Artful : The Gallery November 26 thru December 20. Join us for the Artist Reception, Saturday, November 29th, 7-9 pm. Regular gallery hours are Weds to Sat, 12-5pm. The gallery is located at 526C Cumberland Rd, in Courtenay.

Artful : The Poets featuring Pam Stewart
2025-12-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Join host Steven J. Thompson as he welcomes our feature poet Pam Stewart from Victoria, BC. Pam Stewart writes about change and self-acceptance, the beauty and the not so. She’s a performer, facilitator and event producer. A former Victoria slam champion, she got her start in spoken word before publishing a book of personal essays, I Really Thought It Would Be Easier Than This, in 2019. She represented Victoria at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word four times, twice at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, was once a frequent contributor to Elephant Journal, and was the first and only Riot Grrrls Poet in Residence. To see her perform live is to feel it.
Stewart’s feature spot will be followed by an open mic. Sign up at the door for the open mic, 5 minutes max per poet, $10 or pwyc.

Solstice Singalong
2025-12-13 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-12-20 10:30 - 11:30 | St. Georges United Church, 505 6th Street, Courtenay, BC, V9N 1M5, Canada
Celebrate the magic of the season with a joyful community singalong! Join Teacher Zoë for a cozy 45-minute Music Together® session filled with songs, movement, and musical play to welcome wintertime. Whether you’re a returning family or new to our classes, this is a chance to reconnect, make music together, and share in the warmth of community as we head into the new year.
These singalongs are also a sneak peek of what’s to come—Music Together® classes are returning in January at our new central location in Downtown Courtenay!
Each singalong event will be geared towards families with children 0-7, but older children are welcome too.
👉 Register by emailing thesqueakywheelcreative@gmail.com

Artful : The Poets
2026-02-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Join host Steven J. Thompson as he welcomes our feature poet Jeremy Loveday. Jeremy’s feature spot will be followed by an open mic. Sign up at the door for the open mic, 5 minutes max per poet, $10 or pwyc.
Jeremy Loveday is a poet, arts educator, and community builder from Victoria, BC, on the territory of the lәk’wәŋәn People. He founded and served as the longtime artistic director of the Victorious Voices youth poetry festival. Jeremy’s dynamic performances earned him the title of Victoria Poetry Slam Grand Champion three times. In 2020, he was honoured with the Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award. His work has been published in reputable platforms such as Huffington Post, CV2, Funicular Magazine, National Observer, CBC, Claudia, and Best Canadian Poetry 2023.
Loveday’s performance to celebrate his Book Release:
Maybe the Starling, the debut full-length collection from award-winning poet and dynamic spoken word performer Jeremy Loveday, invites us to explore the intersections of crisis and care, grief and joy—a testament to poetry’s power to ignite change and nurture the human spirit.
In a world marked by inequity and climate crisis, Maybe the Starling is a poetic response to uncertainty, confronting urgent questions while offering both salve and spark. Rooted in a deep love for the land and an abiding wonder for nature’s abundance, these poems illuminate the ways we belong to each other and the world around us.
From mosh pits and Elvis impersonators to the quiet patience of growing food, these poems refuse to turn away from contradiction—they embrace it. Maybe the Starling offers both comfort and challenge, reminding us that poetry is a powerful call to wonder, to witness, and to action.

Friday I'm in Love! A Tribute to The Cure & other New Wave/Goth Favs
2026-02-13 18:30 - 22:30 | Comox Valley Curling Centre, 4835 Headquarters Road, Courtenay, BC, V9J1P2, Canada
12 Vancouver Island original musical acts each playing 12 minute sets of their interpretations of songs by The Cure and other New Wave/Goth/Dark wave/post-punk icons from that amazing 80s musical era.
Including: Amy Muloin & the Alley Flowers, Avro, Bath Slut, Night Mirrors, Pink Plagues, Pranatricks, Rudeboy, Short Circuit, Soft Top, Sonder, Trip Sitters, & Valley Edge Choir.
Plus drag performances by Kara Nedge and Rat King!
CVGBs returns with their third fundraiser tribute show. After sold out events honouring and re-imagining the music of first Nirvana in 2023, then David Bowie in 2024, this coming Friday the 13th of February takes a bit of a detour with the music of the Cure, mixed with the anthems of other New Wave/Goth/Dark wave/post-punk icons from that amazing 80s musical era. The concept is the same: A dozen radically different Vancouver Island original acts will do twelve-minute sets with the intent to play songs they love, but not necessarily as you might expect them to sound. These are not straight cover versions! The musical acts are all donating 100% of their performance funds towards Foundry Comox Valley, a safe space where youth can get free, confidential help and support, without judgement. https://foundrybc.ca/centre/comox-valley/

Eros & Psyche
2026-02-18 12:00 - 2026-03-14 17:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Eros and Psyche brings together the work of eight BC artists exploring sexuality, intimacy, love and desire as vital forces in human life.
Drawing from the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche, the exhibition considers erotic desire not only as romance or sexuality, but as a generative energy that shapes creativity, relationships and personal transformation. In the myth, Eros embodies desire while Psyche represents the human soul. Their love begins in darkness, without knowledge or awareness. When Psyche dares to look at Eros, she breaks the spell of unconscious union and is forced into a series of trials. This journey marks a movement from innocence to awareness, from blind love to conscious relationship. Psyche’s story suggests that love, and the soul itself, must mature through curiosity, loss, endurance and growth.
Psychologically, Eros can be understood as libido: a life force that drives creativity, connection, sensuality and curiosity. Libido is not limited to sexual desire alone, but describes the energy that compels us to make, to love, and to reach toward others. In this sense, artistic creation is deeply erotic; it is the act of giving form to inner impulses and lived experience.
Within North American culture, sexuality is often narrowly defined by ideals shaped by religion, youthfulness, and moral restraint. Aging bodies, spiritual sensuality, and expressions of desire that fall outside accepted norms are frequently marginalized or ignored. The artists in Eros and Psyche challenge these limitations by presenting desire as expansive, enduring and deeply human. Their works suggest that libido does not disappear with age or devotion, but evolves; remaining present through change, vulnerability and transformation.
Each artist approaches these themes through a distinct artistic practice, reflecting the many ways love and sexuality are experienced. Across materials, forms and gestures, the exhibition reveals desire as plural rather than singular; sometimes tender, sometimes fractured, sometimes quiet or overwhelming. Together, these works form a shared meditation on intimacy as something deeply personal, yet universally felt.
Eros and Psyche invites viewers to consider love and sexuality as ongoing processes rather than fixed states. Like Psyche, we are shaped by what we desire and by the risks we take in bringing those desires into awareness. In honouring libido as a life force, the exhibition affirms creativity as a space where instinct, consciousness, body and soul meet—and where transformation remains possible.
Three Comox Valley Poets bring their erotic poetic selves to celebrate the opening of the “Eros & Psyche” exhibition at Artful : The Gallery. The Artist Reception will begin with poetic performances by Liza Hughes, Joanna Finch and Toni Dunne, on Saturday, Feb 21, 7-8pm ($20 or pwyc). The evening will conclude with the artist reception for the exhibition featuring the work of artists Tessa Nunn (Comox Valley), Annette Nieukerk (Sunshine Coast), Joyce Ozier (Sunshine Coast), Tannis Hopkins (Sunshine Coast), Matthew Hildebrandt (Salt Spring Island), Nicky Evans (Sunshine Coast), Gary Dillon (Gabriola Island) and Rosemary Burden (Sunshine Coast). Exhibition runs Feb 18 thru March 14 at Artful : The Gallery. Regular Gallery hours Weds to Sat 12-5pm.

Stir the Pot at The Courtenay and District Museum
2026-02-21 11:00 - 13:00 | the Courtenay and District Museum, 207 4th St, Courtenay, BC, COURTENAY, BC, V9N 1G7, Canada
The 2026 BC Heritage Week Theme, Stir the Pot, is an open invitation to celebrate food as a form of heritage that is both personal and widely shared.
That means it is time to get your soup recipes ready! The Courtenay Museum is hosting a drop-in recipe sharing table on Saturday, February 21 from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM.
Bring an easy-to-read copy of your favourite French onion or grandma’s minestrone, and the museum will make photocopies for everyone to share and take home.
If you’re unavailable but would still like to contribute, feel free to submit your soup recipes before hand to info@courtenaymuseum.ca and staff will include your printouts. The museum will also be supplying a few complimentary recipes from the archival collection.
The Courtenay and District Museum is located at 207 4th Street in downtown Courtenay.
FMI: 250-334-0686 ext 2.

Maureen F. Fitzgerald PHD Book Launch for "Wake the F Up"
2026-02-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Join Author Maureen Fitzgerald PhD as she launches her latest publication, “Wake the F Up – the Essential Guide to Spiritual Awakening and Freedom”. The evening will include a presentation from the author, opportunity to purchase her book and a reception to follow.

Every mystic has said the same thing: We can only end suffering and be truly happy if we wake up. But how do we do this?

In her engaging presentation, Maureen will describe her five-step process to awakening from an egoic-state of consciousness to awake awareness. You will learn how to use your life difficulties for opportunities to realize your True Self and:

 transcend the limits of your egoic mind;
 loosen the limiting beliefs in your shadow; and
 unlock the freedom and peace that is already within you.

Fitzgerald combines Western psychology and Eastern philosophy while referring to the words of the mystics including Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Michael Singer, Loch Kelly, Adyashanti and Osho.

Come and learn how to raise your consciousness and move from a place of darkness and ignorance to a time of abundance and freedom.

As Eckhart Tolle says: “Your main purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on this planet – because it is the purpose of humanity.”

Carys Owen "Love Letter to a Bee" Poetry Reading and Book Launch with musical guests Circle Complex
2026-02-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Carys Owen is a poet, educator, community builder and nature-lover who respectfully lives on the unceded territory of the K’omoks people. Her office is on the beach, by the river, in the forest, near a mountain.
For several years she has been sharing her poems at readings, community events and in her first poetry collection – Into the Ordinary. In 2023, Carys helped to create the Downtown Courtenay Poetry Walk. This public art project is now in its fourth year. It pairs poets with businesses resulting in a display of poetry on store front windows during National Poetry Month (April).
Carys’s poetry has been read at conferences and meetings to illustrate the life of various organizations, for example the BC Teacher’s Reading Conference, Lush Valley Food Action Society and CV Rotary Club. She is also very proud to have performed her poetry at Pride in the Park in Courtenay, BC. Carys is a founding member of ‘Artful : The Poets’ who meet once a month to share their poetry at ‘Artful : The Gallery’, Courtenay BC. She also helps to organize ‘Wordsmiths’, a group of poets, writers and singers in Cumberland, BC.
Her new collection of poetry – ‘Love Letter to a Bee’- explores the beauties of the natural world alongside the importance of caring for our environment.She is mindful of creating poems that celebrate the wonders of the natural world with the aim of encouraging connection and hope.

Artful : The Poets Featuring Landon Norris
2026-03-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Artful : The Poets welcomes Landon Norris as feature poet, with host Diana Kolpak, on March 2, 7-9pm.
Landon Arora Norris is a visual artist, actor, and poet, bringing an abundance of energy and colour to the stage, with vibrant brush strokes and line-work, wordplay, quirky subject matter, and eye-catching composition, leaving the ear a myriad of details to explore and become lost in. Landon mixes her personal experiences, interests in games and pop culture, along with her affinity for literary exploration and play.

Landon earned a BFA in Drawing & Painting from OCAD University, while working steadily as a professional on-screen and voice actor. Her engagement in the artistic world quickly segued into music and poetry, latching onto linguistic intricacies, like anagrams, palindromes, and spoonerisms. She enjoys the carefree exploration involved in abstraction, and cartooning, while having a deep-rooted understanding of realism, light and shadow. With this amalgamation of artistic expression, Landon crosses the lines between free-spirited childlike poetry and highly technical lyricism and flow.

Landon drove out from Toronto to Courtenay four years ago and planted roots on the island rather quickly, enjoying the pace of life, and the immediate connection to nature and the breathtaking outdoors this country is rich with. When she’s not glued to her creation station, playing games of the board or video variety, or out partaking in community events, you’re likely to catch Landon slinging ice cream at Blue Spruce during the weekdays.

New Exhibit “Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum”
2026-03-07 10:00 - 2026-05-23 16:00 | the Courtenay and District Museum, 207 4th St, Courtenay, BC, COURTENAY, BC, V9N 1G7, Canada
The Courtenay and District Museum is pleased to present “Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum”, a travelling exhibit created by the BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with the Royal BC Museum.
The exhibit reclaims and retells the complicated history of Black British Columbians and traces an unbroken line of strength and resistance from the distant past to the present and into the future by highlighting the contributions of Black leaders.
“Hope Meets Action” will be on display from March 7 to May 23, 2026. The Courtenay Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm.
FMI: (250) 334-0686

Poetry Reading and Book Launch
2026-03-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Artful the Gallery, 526 Cumberland Rd, Courtenay, BC, V9N 2C7
Join host Kelly Madden at Artful : The Gallery for the poetry reading and book launch of Ed Varney and Dan Kirk. Guest poet Kristina Campbell will also join the reading for an entertaining trio of Comox Valley Poets.

Ed Varney was inspired to become a poet during his second year of University and has followed that idea over the past 60 years. Along the way he has learned printing technologies, publishing strategies, book binding skills, graphics and fine arts, arranged exhibitions, edited anthologies, founded small poetry magazines and published over 20 books and chapbooks of his own poetry. Varney reports that poetry continues to engage him and new poems emerge on sheets of paper in his studio. Varney’s latest chapbook is ‘Crossroads’, published by the Poem Factory. It follows the path that thought takes as it expresses itself in words and how those words morph into poetry.

Dan Kirk has spent extended periods of time over the past 20 years reading American poets William Stafford, Robert Bly and Emily Dickenson, Spanish poets Antonio Machado and Juan Ramon Jimenez, Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer and Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge. They have informed and inspired Kirk’s writing in an ongoing conversation where he has responded to, argued with and extended their words and ideas and brought them into his world. This volume ’Still Talking’ represents a distillation of his ongoing dialogue with these poets and others who evoke a response. Kirk founded and ran the Red Tree Poetry Series and co-produced the first two Cascadia Poetry Festivals in Cumberland, B.C. with Adelia MacWilliam and Ed Varney. Reading in locations around Vancouver Island and Kelowna, Daniel has enjoyed the varied audiences for poetry in these communities.

Kristina Campbell is an artist and therapist who has lived in the Comox Valley since 2017. In 2020, Campbell established Artful : The Gallery to provide a home base for her multi-media art practice which includes painting, poetry and experimental film. Campbell has reached back through her Danish ancestry to bring the Nordic gods to her mythopoetic sensibility as an artist. Campbell’s style is an expression of her belief that using mythological imagery can inspire and lead to the creation of new narratives. Campbell’s fascination with mythology, symbols, memory and dream imagery is a unifying theme throughout her work.

Kelly Madden is a Vancouver Island poet whose writing is raw, unflinching, and deeply rooted in place. She speaks for the overlooked: those lost to the overdose crisis, those unhoused, and the ecosystems we continue to erase. Her work has appeared in numerous publications supported by the League of Canadian Poets, Reckoning, SAPPzine, Island Writer’s Magazine, CV2, The Poet, Drift, Drunk Monkeys and elsewhere. She is currently working on her second collection of poetry.

Spring Fling and Easter Magic 2026
2026-03-21 11:00 - 14:00 | the Courtenay and District Museum, 207 4th St, Courtenay, BC, COURTENAY, BC, V9N 1G7, Canada
The Courtenay Museum invites you to their annual “Spring Fling and Easter Magic” event on Saturday, March 21st, from 11 am to 2 pm. Admission is by donation.
This will be a fun-filled, action-packed three-hour event.
The ever-popular petting zoo provided by Barnyard Party Animals gives folks a chance to meet ducks, geese, bunnies, chicks, guinea pigs, and hedgehogs.
We have invited a special guest this year, “Magician Donald Dunphy,” who will be performing amazing magic shows. Audience participation is a must. There will be two magic shows, one at 11:45 and the other at 12:45. Each show will be different.
You will have the opportunity to visit with volunteers and a rescue bird from MARS Wildlife Rescue Centre, where you can learn about their amazing wildlife rescues.
A couple of games are planned for the Fling, including a scavenger hunt and guess how many treats contest. People can also enter to win door prizes. Don’t forget to bring your craft skills to make a cute Easter craft to take home with you.
The Elasmosaur mascot will be making an appearance for photo opportunities and handing out delicious chocolate treats.
