The Mayworks Festival of Working People & the Arts (Mayworks) is back in 2025, offering two weeks of programming that highlights the connection between labour and the arts.
The world may look bleak, but there’s no shortage of hope in the many ways we can come together and express ourselves creatively. – Sébastien Labelle
Opening on May Day (May 1), the festival launches with a live taping of the popular podcast Sandy & Nora Talk Politics, accompanied by a performance from Palestinian-Canadian pianist John Kameel Farah.
The momentum continues on May 2 with a hip hop concert headlined by Wiki, a staple of New York City’s underground rap scene. He’ll be joined by Brooklyn’s Lord Unknown and local artists DJ Uncle Fester and Tachichi.
In partnership with the Atlantic International Film Festival, Mayworks will also host a special screening of Union, a Sundance award-winning documentary about the historic first successful union drive at a U.S.-based Amazon warehouse.
Innovation and environmental commentary meet in XOSECRET, a virtual reality experience that places audiences in a speculative future where rising seas engulf Nova Scotia.
As part of a double bill, Flower Bed, Noella Murphy’s puppet-filled solo performance about living with chronic illness, is paired with Archive of Loneliness, a movement piece by Sara Coffin inspired by real voicemails from a long-term care resident during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Celebrating underrepresented voices, Mayworks will feature a film program made entirely by Indigenous women and a special showcase of Black animators, created in collaboration with the Animation Festival of Halifax. A partnership with Live Art Dance brings Altération to the stage, a work from Montreal’s Kira Arts that explores the broader scope of human relationships.
The festival also brings back its Working Class Heritage Tours of downtown Halifax. This year, the tours will be marked by a quilted banner created by artists Sarah Mosher and Hannah Genosko.
“The world may look bleak,” says festival director Sébastien Labelle, “but there’s no shortage of hope in the many ways we can come together and express ourselves creatively. May Day both celebrates and invokes the coming of a new dawn toward the world we desperately need.”
For complete event listings and more information, visit MayworksKjipuktukHfx.ca.