Check out this wonderful interview of PONY! Cabaret founder Michael V. Smith discussing the incredible annual event and its 10-year celebration on March 7, 2026 at Revelry.
This post is credited to Astrida Neimanis and originally appeared on the FEELed Lab website. Astrida is the Principal Investigator on the Biodiversities of Gender project.
For the last three years (give or take), the FEELed Lab has been involved in a project called “Biodiversities of Gender” (or BOG for short!)
This project (as you can read on the project page and in earlier FEELed Notes) sought to bring together ideas of gender abundance, Land relations (including being in good relations with syilx people on whose Land we work), and climate justice. All of these directions can support anticolonial ways of being and knowing, so we wanted to see what threads we could weave between them.
A land acknowledgment poem co-created by workshop participants.
In its latest iteration, this work has involved teaming up with the Inspired Word Cafe (IWC) as part of a SSHRC-funded Partnership Engage Grant to help see how the already amazing queer, accessible community programming that IWC does (full gender abundance!) could more explicitly attend to Land relations, decolonization and related responsibilities. The very practical goal of the project was to develop a set of tenets or guidelines for IWC to use as a way of guiding future priorities and actions.
After several amazing workshops, performances, and events, this iteration of the project concluded this week with a final workshop, led by facilitator Erin Delfs. We explored IWC’s values and how we could more clearly articulate these with our BoG goals.
We walked, free-wrote, sculpted, moved, laughed, thought, conversed, shared, discussed, noted, danced … and in the end, came away with a clearer set of objectives and action points. We are currently finalizing these into a document, which we look forward to sharing widely and freely! Stay tuned.
The BoG lives forever!
Inspired Word Cafe’s (IWC) New Leaves Festival of Arts and Culture returns this spring from March 5-7, 2026. The three days of film, music, literature, and performances are situated at venues across Kelowna, with events offered in both English and French.
This annual festival welcomes artists from the Okanagan and across Canada for high-calibre performance engaging the idea of how art can be used as a vehicle for sociopolitical resistance and community building. Taking the idiom ‘turning over a new leaf,’ the festival features an annually changing theme that responds to a community-expressed need or topical issue.
This year's festival welcomes writers, drag queens, filmmakers, musicians and more under the theme of ‘Abundance.’ This idea can be both a positive force, as in abundant harvest, or negative one, as in excessive waste, explains IWC Executive Director Cole Mash.
“We are responding to issues of abundance in the Okanagan, such as the growing disparity of wealth and the increasing effects of climate crisis, so we ask: how might the arts engage the duality of abundance, locally, to affect positive change? In which ways are we taking too much, and in which ways might we give more?” says Mash.
Read MoreThe Inspired Word Café is calling for spoken word poetry for an anthology to be printed for our 17th season.
The Inspired Word Prize aims to celebrate the power of spoken word poetry by poets within the Okanagan region, encompassing the vibrant communities from Osoyoos to Salmon Arm, and Keremeos to Lumby. This anthology project seeks to curate a collection of poetry that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our local poets.
A jury of IWC collective members, board members and staff will jury all submissions to choose the top twelve submissions to be printed in the anthology.
The top three will receive cash prizes: first prize: $250; second prize: $150; third prize: $100
Deadline to apply: May 30, 2026.
Submission Fee: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Need to purchase a membership? Click HERE
Please go to the SUBMISSION FORM to submit your poems and pay the fee.
(Note: there is no theme for the contest, anything goes!)
Image shows the IWC Anthology & Poetry Prize committee, left to right: Shauna Oddleifson, Caroline Costa, Rina Garcia Chua and Michael V. Smith.
The Inspired Word Anthology & Poetry Prize celebrates the power of spoken word poetry by poets within the Okanagan region. This anthology is a collection of poetry that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our local poets.
The inaugural IWC Anthology & poetry prize was launched at the open mic event on January 17, 2025 with the top three prize winners reading from their submissions.
The contest was judged by committee members Caroline Costa, Rina Garcia Chua and Michael V. Smith, and the winners were Kaito Hyde with How do I love?, Emmette MacMillen with rain shadow, and Tristan Biosvert with hunt; her son. The top three poems received prize money, sponsored by the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.
Also included in the anthology was WILDFIRE DIARIES by Grey Gardiner, Monsters Will Be Monsters by Meg Pearle, Peachland by John Thompson, She by Nisha Gnanasingarajan, 🚲 by Natalie Hoy and The Owls by Roz Wilson.
Copies of the anthology can be purchased for $10 each with all proceeds supporting IWC programming.
Inspired Word Café (IWC) is launching a new season, bringing poets and audiences together to celebrate the power of words.
For the past 16 years, Inspired Word Café has been a cornerstone for creative expression in the community, offering live poetry events where local voices can be heard, workshops for youth and adults featuring professional artists from near and far, and a yearly festival with a changing theme.
Inspired Word Café creates space for writers and audiences to come together through live poetry events where community members share their work. IWC also welcomes guest authors and poets, who join the community on stage at their Reading Series events. A highlight of the season is their queer cabaret, Pony!, which celebrates its 10th year with Pony! The Musical. This comedic variety show is part of the New Leaves Festival of Arts and Culture, their annual literary festival that occurs over three days in March.
“Not only is Pony! queer representation in our literary community in Kelowna, it’s also a really fun, and sexy, and silly time. We wait for it to return every year!” says Pony! co-hosts Erin Scott and Michael V. Smith. “We have lots of wild plans for this year.”
Read MoreThe second annual New Leaves Festival is a three-day weekend packed full of events including festival favourite, PONY! Cabaret. Planned for the weekend of March 6 to 8, the festival focuses on local artists and will celebrate Inspired Word Cafe’s (IWC) 15th Season. The three days of music, literature, and performance are situated around Kelowna’s downtown core, with events offered in both English and French.
The festival line-up kicks off at BNA Burger with IWC co-founder Rawle James headlining an open mic, and includes a night of multilingual music and storytelling, a workshop with renowned two-spirit, Oji-Cree poet and novelist Joshua Whitehead, and ends with the ever-popular PONY! Cabaret.
Read MorePlease join Inspired Word Cafe and Dr. Astrida Neimanis and Michael V. Smith (Co-Directors of the Biodiversities of Gender project) for a writing workshop facilitated by visiting author Joshua Whitehead.
Joshua Whitehead
Biodiversities of Gender investigates the intersections of gender, climate crisis, and place, with a particular grounding here on Syilx lands, in Kelowna, BC. Fostering a sense of abundance, BOG encourages creative process as an opening to more dynamic considerations around gender and climate equity. Overall, BOG will meaningfully contribute to a safer local community where new gender, climate and anticolonial cultural abundance can flourish through research-creation.
Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit storyteller and academic from Peguis First Nation on Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba. He is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies and English at the University of Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer, Jonny Appleseed, and the editor of Love after the End: an Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. His book of non-fiction, Making Love with the Land released in Spring 2022. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram at: @JWhitehead204.
Joshua prefers to write about Indigeneity, and more specifically, 2SQ (Two-Spirit, queer Indigeneity). His poetic style is usually lyrical, experimental, and intertextual, he likes to use repetition and anaphora to help structure his poems, along with a multitude of voices to help his speakers sing.
Please come with pen and paper!
Where: ORL Downtown Library Classroom 1 Upstairs
When: March 7th, 2025 from 12-2pm
Cost: Free
What: More details TBA!
To register to attend, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/1UW1JNZtBffQYAym6
Following a great fall of poetry readings, Inspired Word Café (IWC) is excited to continue the season with more poetry and readings with special guests, the launch of a printed anthology, and the annual New Leaves Festival—a three-day weekend packed full of events including the ever-popular Pony Cabaret!
“It is inspiring to see that people want to share their work with a welcoming and encouraging group of people at our monthly open mics,” says Cole Mash, IWC Executive Director. “Fostering an inclusive and responsive community is crucial at times like these globally.”
The first open mic and open slam of the year is scheduled for Thursday, January 16 at BNA Burger. The open mic welcomes the performance of music, poetry, stand-up comedy, a sketch, and is open to first-timers and experienced artists alike. The open slam invites people to come prepared with three original poems in any style to compete in rounds to win cash prizes.
This event will also be the launch of the IWC Anthology & Poetry Prize—a printed curated collection of poetry that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our local poets. The top three poems will receive prize money, sponsored by the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. Copies of the anthology are $10 each with all proceeds supporting IWC programming.
Read MoreKelowna's Inspired Word Cafe is hosting a holiday-themed open night to celebrate the launch of Okanagan College professor Norah Bowman's new poetry book, on Nov. 28.
The night of poetry, prose and Prosecco (or your drink of choice) at BNA Burger will begin with an open mic, where people are encouraged to dress up in festive outfits and share their writing, poetry, art and feelings about the holiday season.
Then, graduate student and artist Alana Firedancer will offer a poetry performance.
The evening will culminate with a book reading and interview with author, professor and artist Norah Bowman, PhD.
Read MoreInspired Word Café (IWC) is getting ready to launch its fifteenth season with a series of open mic and open slam events.
The open mic is for anyone to perform music, poetry, stand-up comedy, a sketch, or any genre you can think of to share in our positive space. The open slam invites people to come prepared with three original poems in any style to compete in rounds to win cash prizes.
IWC is also doing a call for spoken word poetry from the Okanagan for an anthology to be printed for their 15th season.
“Sharing on stage is just one part of being a poet or writer and so we wanted to create more opportunities for our local community through publication,” says Erin Scott, IWC Board President.
Read More
Inspired Word Cafe has always put the needs of our community first and foremost. After the Fireweed Eco-Fest, we wondered, would we do another Eco-Fest or create something unique? We wanted to continue with festival programming, but we needed to create programming that aligned with our values, listened to the needs and interests of the community, and could change alongside it. The inaugural New Leaves Festival of Arts and Culture takes the idiom “turning over a new leaf” as inspiration to focus on an annually changing theme speaking to expressed/urgent needs of the community.
Responding to a recent rise in anti-LGBTQ2SIA+ sentiment in the Okanagan and beyond, the 2024 New Leaves theme is “Queer Art as Resistance,” focussing on celebrating queer arts through drag, poetry, music, comedy, dance and more. For three days in Kelowna’s downtown core, a host of artists from from the Okanagan and across Canada will perform (in both French and English) and put on workshops.
Queerness isn’t always about gender or sexuality, rather, as scholar Janet Jakobsen writes, it’s also “resistance to norms and normativity.” Following this, New Leaves 2024 will not just celebrate LGBTQ2SIA+ voices, but explore art’s potential for resistance and change. In gathering for New Leaves 2024, we ask: How might art shift long-held societal perceptions of LGBTQ2SIA+ and other resistant communities? How might coming together to celebrate the contrast in our community help grow it into a safe and inclusive space for people from all walks of life?
The Inspired Word Café is calling for spoken word poetry for an anthology to be printed for our 15th season.
The Inspired Word Prize aims to celebrate the power of spoken word poetry by poets within the Okanagan region, encompassing the vibrant communities from Osoyoos to Salmon Arm, and Keremeos to Lumby. This anthology project seeks to curate a collection of poetry that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our local poets.
A jury of IWC collective members, board members and staff will jury all submissions to choose the top twelve submissions to be printed in the anthology. The top three will receive cash prizes: first prize: $250; second prize: $150; third prize: $100, sponsored by the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.
Deadline to apply: November 15, 2024.
Submission Fee: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Need to purchase a membership? Click HERE
(Membership is valid for the IWC Season 15).
Please go to the SUBMISSION FORM to submit your poems and pay the fee.
(Note: there is no theme for the contest, anything goes!)
The much-anticipated Inspired Word Café (IWC) Team Slam event is coming up on March 28th at BNA Brewing. Team Heroes and Team Villains will compete with their poetry to see who will reign victorious. A slam is a competitive event where poets perform original works to a lively and engaged audience.
The event is designed to foster high calibre performances, new work by local poets, and an interactive and rowdy night of fun for the audience. “Unlike other poetry events, a slam is interactive, with the audience playing a key role as the judges for the competition,” explains Ken Shaw, IWC collective member and one of the hosts of this year’s contest.
Read MoreIn addition to running the open mic series, which offers a space for writers to share their poetry, writing, music, and more, Inspired Word Café (IWC) collective members also run writing workshops for anyone to share their work and receive in-person and direct feedback.
“Attendees are asked to bring 10 printed copies of a piece of writing, not to exceed two pages, to be reviewed by an inclusive and positive group of fellow writers,” explains IWC collective member and workshop facilitator, Ryan Ennis.
Read MoreNow in its fourteenth season, the Inspired Word Café (IWC) is pleased to plan more events giving local literary artists more opportunities to share their writing.
Read MoreInspired Word Cafe is seeking applications for an Administrative Assistant. This position provides a wide range of administrative duties which supports the Executive Director and will run from August 1, 2023 - July 31, 2024.
Read MoreThe storied, epic battle of Science Fiction vs. Fantasy will be decided at IWC’s Team Poetry Slam on March 23rd. Join us at the BNA Tasting Room from 7:00pm – 9:00 pm to enjoy live music from local band Twin Towns, and to find out who will reign victorious.
Read MoreLast week a sold-out audience enjoyed an evening of drag and musical entertainment at the Pony Cabaret held in the Mary Irwin Theatre in the Rotary Centre for the Arts.
Read MoreTop-class entertainment, queer culture, music and food combine for a good cause as Pony Cabaret returns to Kelowna.
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