Winnipeg 
Events Description
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is excited to announce this open call for our 2026 Winter Institute, Too Two Spirited for You – Unsettling Two Spirited/Indigiqueer art in Canada. This session will be led by Adrian Stimson.
In Winnipeg in 1990, Elder Myra Laramee proposed the term Two-Spirit at the Third Annual Intertribal Native American/First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference. Its purpose was to unify, giving a pan-Indigenous word to reclaim spiritual, gender and sexual identities suppressed by colonization. Embodying both masculine and feminine spirits, it comes from the Anishinaabemowin niizh manidoowag, meaning “two spirits,” representing a unique blend of male and female energies revered in many Indigenous cultures for wisdom and healing. Further, coined by Theo Cuthand and popularized by Joshua Whitehead, Indigiqueer is a modern term for Indigenous people who are also LGBTQ+, created to offer an inclusive identity for those who may not identify as Two-Spirit but still connect with both their Indigenous heritage and queer identities, blending cultural pride with queer resilience, and acknowledging the diverse ways Indigenous LGBTQ+ people exist beyond traditional frameworks.
For the 2026 Winter Institute, Stimson proposes a gathering of TS/IQ artists to explore the past, present and future of TS/IQ art in Canada. Through individual artistic practice and together as a group we will deploy artistic and critical discourse to focus and map Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer resilience, past, present and future, with individual or group works addressing power, representation, sexuality, language, body, tradition, memory, colonial narratives and knowledge-sharing.
Participants can expect an open-minded space where ideas, conversation and developing art works are explored critically. Our hope is to create a safe space for exploring and sharing, removing the pressure to produce a final product, allowing for focused contemplation and research within an empathic yet holistic space that can translate to artistic endeavours and understandings for all of society.
Plug In ICA’s Winter Institute is part of its educational programs open to artists, writers, thinkers and various cultural workers from all backgrounds. It is a critical pedagogical context for communal learning, collaboration, and exchange.
The Winter Institute is a free, international artist research program for professional artists and cultural workers in all disciplines and media. Each iteration of the Winter Institute invites participants to expand upon their own interests and projects and includes opportunities to work in a collaborative peer-to-peer environment through group activities, guest lectures, and workshops.
Who is it for?
Adults
HOW MUCH
Tickets : Free
Free
How to get tickets?
WHEN & WHERE
Date: Monday February 9, 2026 to Friday February 20, 2026
The 2026 Winter Institute will run February 9 to February 20, 2026.
Applications are due January 10, 2026.
Venue & Address
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Wheelchair accessible
Street Parking
Paid Parking
Accessible by Public Transport
