Isle of the Arts festival | Gabriola Arts Council

We are thrilled to announce that proposals are now being accepted for the Gabriola Arts Council’s 16th annual Isle of the Arts Festival! We can’t wait to see what kinds of arts, culture, and culinary arts workshops and events you have up your sleeves. IoTA hosts happenings in pottery, paint, textiles, drawing, poetry, music, dancing, theatre, printmaking, woodworking, cooking and more, with, truly, something for everyone. If you have an event or workshop you’d like to share as part of this fun and fabulous festival, we want to hear from you.

GAC is actively seeking a wider range of diverse voices, experiences, and skills among our 2026 workshop facilitators, from Gabriola and beyond! If you identify as Black, Indigenous, a Person of Colour, and / or as a part of the LGBTQ2S+ community, we very much welcome your workshop proposals! We are also extending a special invitation for youth-focused and youth-LED workshops.

IoTA is a unique opportunity for our community to gather to make, share, learn, and be adventurous. Keep in mind when you dream up your proposal that this is a time for participants to try something new, embark on challenges, and get creative. Pull out all the stops, tell all your friends, challenge yourself. Remember: the requirements are that your event has to take place on Gabriola during the festival dates, and can accommodate a minimum of 12 people. We can go larger; 12 is the minimum unless you can host in your own space.

GAC pays $75 per workshop hour, reimburses the cost of materials, covers venue and admin, and shares marketing efforts with facilitators.

The Arts Council is   e x p a n d i n g   the scope and the time frame of IoTA 2026, with workshops and events happening from Friday April 10 through the first weekend of May!

Our core festival dates will be Friday April 10 – Sunday April 19, to include workshops of all sorts, as well as an Arts Pro-D day.