Thank you so much to everyone for supporting and attending the 2024 Ryga Arts Festival! Stay tuned as we begin to plan for 2025.

Celebrating Creativity: Highlights from the 2024 Ryga Arts Festival and What’s Coming in 2025!

The 2024 Ryga Arts Festival in Summerland was a vibrant celebration of creativity and culture, uniting a diverse group of artists and performers to honour George Ryga’s legacy through community and art. With incredible live performances and a unique blend of music, theatre, literature, and workshops, the festival was an unforgettable experience for locals and visitors alike. Attendees immersed themselves in the thriving arts scene of the Okanagan, celebrating the immense talent that made the event truly special. As we look ahead to 2025, excitement is building for another year of showcasing a dynamic range of artists and creating unforgettable moments. Explore this year’s featured talent on the Artist page of the Ryga Arts Festival website and get inspired as we prepare for another fantastic celebration.

Testimonials

You ran a beautiful festival. We felt cared for and the vibe was calm and generative and fun - so good work! And congrats!
- Emelia Symington-Fedy, Writer • Radio Broadcaster • Theatre Maker
 I love the Ryga Fest. Its community-minded focus on justice, equity, and social change make it one of my favourite arts festivals ever. I look forward to returning again and again, and I can't wait to see where the team takes Ryga Fest over the next 10 years.
- Andrea Warner, author of Rise Up and Sing! Power, Protest, and Activism in Music, The Time of My Life: Dirty Dancing and We Oughta Know: How Céline, Shania, Alanis, and Sarah Ruled the '90s and Changed Music.
Sharing my work at the Ryga Arts Festival was an absolute dream: seamless logistics, a beautiful venue, and a warm & attentive audience made for an unforgettable experience.
- Meghan Fandrich, author of Burning Sage: Poems from the Lytton Fire
There are many reasons why Summerland is the ideal location for a festival inspired by George Ryga – it’s a charming town with good venues and amenities, hospitable people, beautiful scenery and a mild climate. But most importantly, it’s where the nationally acclaimed playwright and author lived from 1963 until his death in 1987 and where he wrote most of his major works. Over the last ten years, the Ryga Arts Festival has done more than bring world-class arts and cultural offerings to Summerland; it has allowed for George Ryga’s legacy to finally be recognized by his home community.
- Doug Holmes
We were very grateful to be part of the 2024 Ryga Arts Festival. The Organizers arranged a fabulous festival that included a really inspired array of artistic offerings from theatre productions, music concerts, films, creative writing public readings, and wonderfully engaging panel discussions and workshops. The team of artists running the festival are very welcoming and accommodating. We felt well taken care of, and really appreciated all the work that went into organizing the festival. We would come back again in a heartbeat!
- Jane Miller, Performer & Co-Creator of Nightswimming's These Are The Songs That I Sing When I'm Sad.
We felt especially well-hosted by the business owner of Heartspace Yoga Boutique, Celeste, who stepped up to provide her studio as a performance space for our show, and went to extra-lengths to make it feel really cosy and welcoming to audiences. The community in Summerland is spectacular, and we were so grateful to be able to experience it.
Julia Mackey & Dirk Van Stralen
Jake’s Gift • Juno ProductionsRyga Arts Festival 2024