June in Festival City Offers High Energy Hi-jinks around Edmonton, Alberta

In June, Festival City comes alive with the artistic talents and comedic timing of local and international talent.

Nextfest is a glimpse into the artistic energy of Edmonton's young people. On any given night of the festival, expect to see music, theatre, dance, film, visual art and more, and sometimes all in the same venue. Nextfest, from June 11 --21, is a fascinating, illuminating and often startling trip inside the heads and hearts of young people.

"This Edmonton festival is 14 years-old now, so we've been saying that our festival is a lot like a 14 year old: enthusiastic, precocious and a bit brash," says Steve Pirot, festival director of Nextfest. "We're opening the doors of established venues like The Roxy Theatre to young artists and saying, 'Okay, take over the stage and show us how it's done." For more information on Nextfest 2009, visit www.nextfest.ca.

There is also the equally high energy Improvaganza, the biggest invitational improv comedy festival in the world, with more shows, more performers, and incredible amounts of fun.

Improvaganza, from June 17 – 27,gives the chance to see many once in a lifetime things, like what happens when you mix a six foot man from Belgium with a five foot woman from Japan. Yann Vanden-Branden from Belgium and Yuri Kinugawa from Japan form The Bonzai Twins, one of the many teams that will be competing in this Lolapalooza of laughs. There's also La Gata, a team from Columbia, Canadian improv stars Pete Oldring and Pat Kelly of CBC TV's Pete and Pat show. With many others, they're competing to take the winning place on the finale night of the event, which is very popular among annualEdmonton things to do.

"It's quite a night," says Karen Brown-Fournell, general manager of Rapid Fire Theatre. "The energy level is quite something: screaming, hollering... it's similar to any Stanley Cup play-off game, really." For more information on Improvaganza, visit www.rapidfiretheatre.com.

For more information about Edmonton Festival City, visit www.festivalcity.ca.

Jenifer Christenson
Executive Director, External Relations
780.917.7890
Edmonton Tourism