04/20/2026
💛 INTRODUCING the 2026/27 Associate Artists! 💛
We are thrilled to welcome five (5) artists and creative collaborators into our Associates Artists program this year. While they develop powerful new projects over the next two years at SummerWorks, they will present works-in-development as part of this year’s Festival lineup:
NOVA BHATTACHARYA & SUVENDRINI LENA | Tandava
Co-created by playwright Suvendrini Lena and choreographer Nova Bhattacharya, Tandava draws on verses of 6th century Tamil poet Karaikkal Ammaiyar. Set against events that occurred in the North and East of Sri Lanka during the civil war, including the burning of a library, and disappearing of Tamil civilians, Tandava asks: where is justice for the disappeared, and how do we honour their memories through a performance experience that offers a space for collective healing?
AMY NOSTBAKKEN, NORAH SADAVA & VICKY ARAICO | Little White Room
An American, a Mexican, and a Canadian walk into a U.S. customs detention cell… Little White Room is a three-woman, multilingual, multinational satire that forces you to laugh while it kicks you in the groin and pulls a bag over your head. Three women are trapped together in purgatorial space where power, injustice, and one dying air vent collide. The work exposes how authoritarian systems shape behaviour in big and small ways, pointing a finger at the patriarchal forces that quietly and violently turn us against one another.
Get to know these amazing artists along with our current Associate Artists: The Switch Collective, Johnnie McNamara Walker, and Chimerik 似像 !
Stay tuned for more SummerWorks 2026 updates... 👀
Image of Nova Bhattacharya by Dahlia Katz, Image of Suvendrini Lena courtesy of artist, Image of Vicky Araico courtesy of artist. Images of Norah Sadava and Amy Nostbaaken by Vanessa Heins
