IF 2025: Sixth-annual Improvisation Festival features two free days of programming!

November 4 (Guelph, Ontario)—The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) is thrilled to announce that Improvisation Festival (IF) 2025 will take place in ImprovLab at the University of Guelph from November 28-29, 2025. Curated by IICSI Director Dr. Eric Fillion, this year’s festival marks a return to Guelph after a stop in Mexico City last year. The two-day event is free and open to all attendees.

 

This sixth edition of IF will focus on experimental improvised work by artists from across Canada. Audiences will see exciting performances from legendary Quebec counter-culture figure and ESP-Disk recording artist Erica Pomerance, backed by local improvisers Joe Sorbara, Germaine Liu, and Dan Loughrin; Roger Tellier-Craig, a founding member of Fly Pan Am and Le Révélateur, with Karl Lemieux, Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s current projectionist and a cofounder of the Double Negative experimental film collective; acoustic feedback and David Tudor enthusiasts Matt Rogalsky and Dimitri Georgaras; electronic and improvisational harping dabbler Sarah Pagé; award-winning Cree multidisciplinary artist Vee J. Sparvier-Wells in a duet with dancer Chantelle Mostacho, a powerful artistic voice in today’s wh/aacking community; instrument maker and performance artist Kristina Guison; and many more! The festival’s community-minded focus also emphasizes the work of local artists, via performances co-curated with the Wet Sounds, Audiopollination, and coexisDance series. Furthermore, IF will present an online stream of material from IICSI’s performance archives.

 

Founded by Dr. Ajay Heble during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, IF began as a 24-hour online celebration of creative art making, showcasing an incredible array of new, improvised works not only for audiences in Guelph, but for digital attendees from around the world. The annual festival has since transformed into a hybrid gathering.

 

Now under the curation of Dr. Eric Fillion, IF continues to make the argument that art matters—that creative and collaborative forms of expression are vital in responding meaningfully to the polycrisis we face today.

 

For more about this year’s festival, including artist bios and headshots, please visit the festival website.