Winter Music Pop-Ups bring vibrancy and energy beginning this month

Destination Stratford is pleased to once again support the Winter Music Pop-ups that will keep residents entertained throughout the winter season from December to March. With 14 venues planning events there will be something for everyone’s tastes and styles.

With Lights On Stratford, a multi-week winter lights festival, acting as a cultural anchor tenant, there will be all the more reason to stay out and enjoy what Stratford can offer.

“As we do winter development and as there’s more for our community to participate in, we should see, forgive the pun, a snowballing effect in the wintertime where we demonstrate people will come downtown. People will come to Stratford and they will come for cultural reasons,” said Zac Gribble, executive director of Destination Stratford and festival director of Lights On.

Applications were made to participate in this program with venues selected based upon criteria determined by Destination Stratford’s committee to ensure the events align with the spirit of the program. A fund was established in 2023 to help support musician’s fees at local venues, kicking off during Lights On.

“Stratford always does have a lot going on, including in winter, but really turning that on in a major way was the premise and if we could do it as a pilot project and demonstrate that that was successful, that these venues would attract people and also supporting directly and indirectly our sort of burgeoning music scene, it felt like a really good fit,” said Gribble.

The pilot project was a success, so they did it again, and now there are two programs covering the year; one for the winter and spring, and one for summer and fall called Stratford After Dark. With these two programs, local musicians and music enthusiasts come together in intimate settings for the after-dinner, after-theatre or night-out crowd.

“It is lovely to see venues that normally don’t have live performances experiment with that because part of this is to demonstrate that it can work in an entrepreneurial sort of way. We are derisking a local business to say we want to try being a venue and we also want to try an unconventional time of year. We’re allowing them to innovate, and to be creative. They can successfully host a quality experience, and this is in support of the artists,” said Gribble.

Destination Stratford takes a community first approach to what it does, and a big part of that is the quality of life, the cultural opportunity and the economic opportunity for local residents.

“A warm glow vibe that we’d like to see blossom is what this program, the winter music program, is in support of and we’re seeing a lot of success. I mentioned the entrepreneurial aspect. We have seen some that we helped a couple of years ago to try some live music in the winter and who, without our help, have continued to have music series and it worked for them,” said Gribble.

This is a great opportunity for every calibre of performer, from showcasing the seasoned artist to introducing new and upcoming performers embarking on their career. This is also an opportunity for local residents to discover the talent that is here and to feel that they’re invited and included. Some events are free or at low cost, making the pop-ups accessible.

Events cover the spectrum of art, from music to spoken word. For more information, and to learn about venue events, visit visitstratford.ca/winter-music/.