Digital Meets Live: FOLDA Festival Returns to Kingston with Powerful Lineup of Performances
Kingston, ON – May 5, 2025 — From spoken word to digital storytelling and ASL performance art, the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA) is set to return with its most ambitious program yet. Running June 4 to 7, 2025, the eighth annual festival will present five groundbreaking productions across Kingston, blending technology with urgent stories of migration, identity, kinship, and inclusion.
This year’s theme — Art for Better Times — highlights works that not only provoke and challenge but also build community in an increasingly fragmented world. FOLDA’s hybrid format continues, offering both in-person shows and upcoming livestream options for audiences beyond Kingston.
Among the standout performances:
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WindRush by Marcel Stewart fuses spoken word, projections, and a live concept album to explore Caribbean migration and generational identity through the lens of a Jamaican family’s journey.
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2021, a live video game-theatre hybrid by Cole Lewis, Patrick Blenkarn, and Sam Ferguson, invites audiences to play through a deeply personal story of memory and mortality in a digital age.
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Reflections & Refractions by PeerLess Productions features performers with mixed abilities challenging ableist preconceptions through an immersive sensory experience.
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The MaryRobin Show, from Deaf Spirit Theatre, offers a joyful, visually expressive showcase rooted in ASL storytelling.
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Kinomics by UK artist Iman Datoo is an interactive art installation using claymation and augmented reality to explore the economics of kinship across ecosystems.
The festival’s unique ALPHA-BETA-GO development model allows audiences to provide feedback directly to artists, creating a participatory experience that shapes the final evolution of each piece.
Events take place at cultural hubs across Kingston, including The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, The Broom Factory, Theological Hall, and the AGNES Garages. Tickets range from free to $25, with student and senior discounts available. FOLDA is produced by SpiderWebShow Performance and supported by national and local arts councils and institutions.
With its boundary-pushing programming and emphasis on accessibility, FOLDA continues to be a national leader in the future of performance art.
For full program details and ticket reservations, visit www.folda.ca.
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