Folklorama wraps up first week, launches next set of pavilions

Evans Coffie plays the gyil, a Ghanaian xylophone, at the Ghana pavilion with Folklorama on Aug. 6, 2024. (Scott Andersson/CTV News Winnipeg)

Winnipeg’s largest cultural festival is already halfway through, and a new week is bringing a new set of pavilions for people to check out.

From Aug. 4 to 10, Folklorama had 19 pavilions located in different pockets of the city, including the first-ever Ghana pavilion.

“(The Ghana pavilion) did outstanding for their first run of show,” said Folklorama executive director Teresa Cotroneo. “Lots of energy, lots of group tour activity, people coming in from outside of the city, and really, really solid attendance throughout the week.

“The energy of Folklorama was definitely apparent throughout the city,” Cotroneo said.

Starting Sunday, 19 new pavilions are popping up. That includes the inaugural Latin American pavilion, which hopes to highlight communities that haven’t been represented before.

“Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador – some of the smaller communities that don’t have a pavilion. So we’re very excited about that as well,” said Cotroneo.

Cotroneo also said the festival is a way to showcase Winnipeg’s deeply-rooted cultural diversity.

“I think that it’s important for us to really be able to look at the different cultures that are represented in the city and to learn a little bit more about some of the really, really special things that perhaps we take for granted,” Cotroneo said.

“It’s really nice to be able to explore some of the different communities and their traditions,” she continued. “They take so much pride in that beautiful intangible heritage that really informs every day of our lives.”

While the 39 pavilions span across five continents, Cotroneo said festival organizers hope to have more cultural representation in the years to come.

“It’s actually the communities themselves that decide that they’re ready to have a pavilion and take part in the festival,” she said. “So if that’s something that they’re interested in doing, we always encourage them to get involved so that we can keep expanding and be more representative of the beautiful communities that live here.”

While Folklorama collects 50 per cent of proceeds from admission sales, the funds collected by the pavilions through food, drinks and marketplaces stay with the community, Cotroneo emphasized.

“When people are going out to visit those communities, their pavilions, they’re not just having a great night of entertainment and education and immersive experience,” she said. “But those funds help to maintain these communities and to have them grow and to thrive year-round.”

More information about Folklorama Week 2, including how to purchase tickets for the pavilions, can be found on the festival’s website.

For those looking ahead to 2025, Cotroneo said the team already has some ideas in the works. The licence application process for pavilion hosts starts mid-September and ends Nov. 1.