Provocation Ideas Festival looking for your Stratford stories; announces fall programming

The True Tapestries: Threads of Stratford Stories event aims to embody the spirit of the cult classic CBC program Vinyl Café, as the Provocation Ideas Festival has started soliciting past and present residents to share their stories about Stratford.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Provocation Ideas Festival (PIF) is looking for your stories about Stratford this fall, as it unveils 2025/26 programming.

Mark Rosenfeld, founder of the festival, said that they are trying to evoke the cult classic “Vinyl Café” show in this year’s True Tapestries: Threads of Stratford Stories event.

“They used to solicit stories, and the stories had to be short, true and they had to be compelling,” Rosenfeld said about the old CBC program. “Each session they broadcasted those stories – and they were really, really gripping. So we came to the realization, you know, let's continue that tradition but for Stratford and Stratford-based stories.”

In collaboration with the Stratford Perth Museum, the Stratford Public Library and Blue Moon Publishers (a local publishing house), PIF is calling on past and present residents to share a true story or poem that’s 500 words or less and inspired by one word out of roots, risk, change, home, secrets, hope, loss, firsts, belonging or dreams.

Stories and poems will be selected by a panel of local writers and artists and brought to life on stage by performers and musicians on Nov. 15 and 22 of this year at the museum. Those interested are asked to submit by Sept. 8.

True Tapestries is not the only event slated for this year’s PIF. Continuing the theme of “City of Dreamers,” this fall organizers hope to explore

Highlights include Maker Multiverse: Constructing Futures, an all-ages, hands-on experience at the library where participants help build an imaginative cityscape using LEGO, robotics, 4D printing, and recycled materials. The program takes place Aug. 18 to 28 and culminates in October when the creations are publicly exhibited at Copperlight (the former Knox Presbyterian Church), after a panel of urban planners, sustainability expert and design thinkers discuss new visions for Stratford.

On Sept. 29, the spotlight shifts to Revival House for Unknown Talents, a benefit gala where celebrated Canadians unveil their hidden gifts – from visual art to musical performance – paired with a silent auction of one-of-a-kind creations.

Dream Weavers transforms the Grand Trunk site from Oct. 4 to 5 into a glowing village of story tents, inviting audiences of three or four attendees into the tents for a close, immersive experience with local storytellers.

“It'll be on the outside of the Grand Trunk site, and it will be a grassy area near it because we can't get into building for safety reasons,” Rosenfeld explained. “… We thought this would be a great opportunity to do something in front of the kind of the site as part of Culture Days Ontario, which would draw people to see what that site might become. And part of the storytelling that will take place is in transformation of change. Of course, that's an area that is slated for transformation … So just having the visual of 10 tents that are lit up at night in front of the Grand Trunk site will hopefully also convey to people, here are possibilities – these are the possibilities of what that site might become, and let's talk about it. Let's envision, let's dream and let's tell story.”

Fall programming continues with Constructing Futures from Oct. 16 to 30, a participatory visioning project for Stratford’s future. Flavours of Home takes place from October to March and is a culinary storytelling series celebrating newcomer journeys.

The season closes on Nov. 28 with Northern Wit, a live comedy event and CBC IDEAS panel hosted by Nahlah Ayed exploring how satire shapes Canadian identity. As Rosenfeld explained, humour and satire seem a core part of Canadian identity, and the panel will explore that relationship between comedy and nationalism. PIF and CBC IDEAS are in the process of finalizing the lineup for both the comedy event and the panel and will make announcements as they are finalized.

Rosenfeld shared that likewise more events are being considered for this fall’s programming and will be announced when details are confirmed.

For more about PIF’s 2025/26 lineup, visit https://www.provocation.ca/2025-events--stratford.