Live Music | Tourism Winnipeg

May 10, 2024, 8:00pm

Save the date and join us for a coming together of folk musicians collaborating for a unique entertainment experience representative of the very best folk and roots talent synonymous with Winnipeg and Home Routes / Chemin Chez Nous. 

Mitch and Ava’a Hootenanny is a celebration of Mitch Podolak and Ava Kobrinsky, of their baby Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous, and of Home Routes’ founding ideal of building a national community and livelihood for folk musicians across Canada. 

“In many ways our community has been kept apart by the pandemic,” said Home Routes spokesperson Beth Azore. “As we renew our tours across Canada, it’s time to re-emerge in our home community of Winnipeg, and welcome in a new era, one grounded in inspiration from the past. It’s been five years since folk legend Mitch Podolak passed, and as Ava Kobrinsky prepares to move into a new role at Home Routes, it’s time to celebrate our founding elders”. 

Home Routes represents so much more than great music, there’s an ideology behind it. The belief that when we nurture artists, a healthier society is the result. The understanding that this requires organization and support to achieve is something exemplified by Mitch and Ava. When it all comes together, the “result” is Canadian culture at its finest! Each one of the long-standing arts infrastructures Mitch and Ava were instrumental in creating proves this beyond a doubt. Imagine Canada without the Stan Rogers Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival or Vancouver Folk  Festival. Imagine Winnipeg without the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Children’s Festival or West End Cultural Centre. For folk musicians and folk music fans, this is unimaginable.

“The Home Routes experience is like no other in Canada”, Azore continued. “It provides dignified labour and expansive audiences for a broad spectrum of musical talent. It positively impacts rural communities, connecting them through music. It has always been our mission to put artists and audiences first. We are a non-profit organization, where fully 80% of ticket sales go directly to the artist. Our national network of cherished volunteer hosts recognize the benefits Home Routes bring to their communities, and are at the heart of what we do.” 

Don’t miss this arts community event that carries forward the work of two of Canada’s most important folk music impresarios - Mitch Podolak and Ava Kobrinsky. 

Artist Line-Up announcements forthcoming.