Performer's Café
Open Mic Night at The HIVE
2023 Dates and Headliners
January 26th @ 7:00 PM
Headliner Tim Lenko
Saskatchewan born and raised, Timothy Lenko has traveled the world performing music and theatre (Germany, Japan, Latvia, America). His piano and vocal performances bring to mind Elton John, Ben Platt, and Sara Bareilles. Come enjoy his Broadway, gospel, and pop influenced sound.
IG: @TimothyLenko
February 23rd @ 7:00 PM
Headliner Wishbook
Wishbook is the Moose Jaw/Regina, Saskatchewan-based duo project of partners Steve Leidal (vocals/keyboards) and Zoe Saladana (guitars). With a shared belief of what’s best in life (drive-thru food, vintage heavy metal, classic amplifiers, paranormal investigation) and what’s best in music (crisp rhythm sections, chorused guitars, and layered synthesizers), they combine to create off-beat nostalgic synth rock that they write, record and mix themselves. Imagine Springsteen and Thin Lizzy – but instead of Racing in the Street and Dancing in the Moonlight, you’re sitting in a basement, ruminating in the dark. With two singles currently released and a full-length LP coming soon, Wishbook hopes their particular brand of introspective prairie pop will appeal to oddballs and sad song lovers everywhere.
March 30th @ 7:00 PM
Headliner Mark Fenton
Mark Fenton is a local writer whose short stories have appeared in Road Maps and Life Rafts, Montreal Writes, and Vaughan Street Doubles literary magazines, as well as the anthology From Darkness to Light. He is a retired member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, a husband, father, and grandfather. His first novel is in the final stages of completion, and his second is well underway.
April 27th @ 7:00 PM
Headliner Annie MacLeod
Annie MacLeod is a Moose Jaw singer-songwriter who loves to write about love, loss, joy, regret- all the things that make us human
May 25th @ 7:00 PM
Headliner Ell Bird
Ell Joy Bird is a 2Spirit writer & artist residing on Treaty 4 territory in Moose Jaw. Ell's poetry aims to articulate the feeling of being face to face with injustice from the perspective of an intersected minority. Visceral images and raw emotion communicate the process of moving through suffering and lament towards hope. To balance out these heavy meditations, Ell finds joy in crafting, reading, and spending time with loved ones.
June 29th @ 7:00 PM
Brittnee Prettyshield
Brittnee Prettyshield is a recent graduate of Peacock Collegiate. She loves making music and singing and has been taking voice lessons for the last decade.
The Performers Café has been running for a number of years and is a free open mic at a local café in Moose Jaw for emerging and established artists. We feature ‘headliners’ who are intended to serve as mentors for aspiring musicians, writers, storytellers, etc.
The Performers Café provides local artists with a venue to showcase their talents while also allowing new artists to gain experience performing in front of an audience, and an opportunity to network with one another. It is a non-judgemental forum with the goal of encouraging the expression of creativity with no barriers due to age, gender, race, religion, artistic discipline, or sexual orientation.
If you would like to be considered to be a headliner for the next season, please send an example of your work to performerscafe@festivalofwords.com.