About Us
MISSION: We are an arts collective in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a mission of supporting music and arts in our local community and enhancing the social well-being of humankind.
VISION: The GentleFolk vision is to be the most enjoyed, safe, and artistically and musically diverse small summer music festival in Manitoba.
VALUES: To curate a welcoming space for creative expression and enjoyment all while staying true to the simple motto of, “Be excellent to each other.”
The GentleFolk: an arts collective with humble beginnings
We started as a group of friends with the goal of bringing a little more magic to the summer music and arts festival scene in Manitoba. Over the years, we have grown into a non-profit organization full of artists, professionals, tradespeople, educators - wonderful, unreasonably enthusiastic humans with the shared goal of building community, supporting the arts, and curating spaces to share in all of it together. Check out Our Team!
We didn’t get there overnight. Our adventure is quickly nearing a decade!
In the beginning, we simply wanted to emulate some of the magic created by those who came before us, bringing our own touch of wonder and whimsy to the festivals we loved. We sailed the Theodore H. Pennybottom pirate ship from festival to festival on the backing of donations, volunteer time and effort, and the pursuit of good times. Eventually, we decided to create something of our own.
GentleFest began in 2020 as a small grassroots music and arts festival and has since grown into the heart of The GentleFolk: a place for musicians, artists, performers, makers, and curious people to come together, share their work, try something new, and get a little weird. Along the way, The GentleFolk has grown beyond the festival, producing and participating in arts and community events (Events + Projects) throughout the year and collaborating on opportunities whenever and wherever we can.
Today, we find ourselves curating more than just vibes. We’re thinking about what it means to build something long-lasting: more opportunities to make and share art, deeper connections with our community, and spaces where music, creativity, nature, learning, and a little bit of nonsense can coexist… our vision mixed with the many visions of the communities that helped build us.
You could say we’re putting down roots…
Through it all, one philosophy has stuck with us:
“Be excellent to each other.”
Make art. Have fun. Build community. Leave things a little more magical than you found them.