Want to Dream with Me? 

My Vision for Those of Us Staying in Edmonton.

By Mika Haykowsky

OPEN CALL to adventurers, creative storytellers, magpies, lost ones, map-makers, dreamers who wish to find grounded community together in newfound gathering spaces. Who aren’t “Still in Edmonton” but who are “Staying in Edmonton.” Putting down roots to grow deeper and further into each other’s tendrils, nourishing the ground we share.

Who wonder what happened to the underground scene; has it been gentrified out of existence? Edmonton has lost several iconic art spaces over the years… What will it take to build anew, without institutional support, but with each other hand in hand? There is a lot that could be said on this topic, but that’s not what I’m here to do… That’s where YOU come in.

Imagine drawing Edmonton… Start from the river and follow its flowing curves. Keep drawing concentric lines until it forms a circle. In the middle of that circle, caregivers gather around the elders and the young. These life-givers are granted a safe and sacred space. Keep drawing. A hybrid living space, school, and place of healing. Keep drawing. Spiraling outwards from here, build play spaces, makerspaces, studios, and workshops for creation, experimentation, and discovery. Keep drawing. Outward from there: community gardens and their tenders, hubs for sharing our creations beyond these imagined borders. Homes are communal, multigenerational spaces of cohabitation, joy, and safety. Keep imagining until you feel full.

“Still in Edmonton?” Me too. I’m surrounded by spring birds, new buds, charming, sparkling ideas, and a dream: to transform Edmonton into a creative utopia. To create a place worth staying in. A place to share, be heard, supported, and encouraged in the struggle of being an artist in this day and age. A place to give and receive freely. I dream of an Edmonton that nurtures its creative people deeply through gathering spaces that provide warmth, connection, and creative resources. Through events that bring people together for lasting connection, not one-night-stands or little shots of togetherness. 

When I first started branching my tendrils of care outward towards the larger community, I started a business. While maintaining my ceramic and music practice, I started offering grant writing, event planning, and consulting services under the name The Mika Method. I even took an intensive course that resulted in creating a business plan and finding clients. Which I did. But the business world says, Find a problem and try to solve it. 

Is a dream a problem? Or is it the solution? Is it a problem I’m meant to solve? 

There it is again: “ I ” this pillar of individualism and authority. I don’t want to be “I” – I want to be “we.”

Want to come with me?

“We” gather in unexpected places. We make the familiar strange and unexpected. We carve out safe space to express new ideas. Wedraw together, connecting through-lines of possible futures, art projects, collaborations, in a glorious mind-map of red threads and common dreams. Some of us revel in the visioning stage, and some of us know how to take steps into realizing these dreams.

In an effort to infuse creativity and play into the everyday lives of Edmontonians, we are hosting a series of community events at Bleeding Heart Art Space ~ “Care Core” is running from May 23 – June 12, featuring a collaborative art installation, drone music jam, artisan market, and a concert of local musicians, (including myself!)

We are starting an audio-visual transmission (podcast) with the working title, C.A.E.R. (Constellation of Artists Expanding Resources). Caer, from Old Welsh, meaning Stronghold or Fortress. A place to be safe and defend. A place of refuge, to catch the creatives falling through the cracks of institutional support; art schools, grant funding, even the mysterious “representation” by a gallery. We will find a way to define ourselves in our differing abilities, our queerness, our outsider nature, and find a way inside. We will build our own art scene – our own stronghold, our own fortress – from the underground.

I’m a dreamer. That doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention. It means I let all the light into the cracks and crevices of my subconscious, and let the creepy crawlies come out to play. I let them breathe and bask. Let’s do that together. 

Breathe in: flood your dusty forgottens with light. Breath out. Did you leave something behind years and years ago? Breathe in. Did play and creativity slip away in favour of productivity and discipline? What’s resting deep in your soft muscles? Breath out.

Staying in Edmonton? Me too.

Do you have a dream for Edmonton? Let’s talk about it. 

Submit your dream in the form here: https://tinyurl.com/m3ubd7um 

I’m a dreamer. That doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention. It means I let all the light into the cracks and crevices of my subconscious, and let the creepy crawlies come out to play. 

BIO

Mika Haykowsky (She/they/fae) is a multimedia artist, event producer, and singer/songwriter based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (so-called Edmonton, AB). Mika creates through playful, multidisciplinary projects involving community engagement, intuitive sculpture, and textures of the body. Her current collaboration with Bleeding Heart Space is an opportunity to weave the community into her practice through co-creation and participatory art-making. Mika received an MFA in from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and a BFA from the University of Alberta. You can also catch Mika’s work at The Works Festival coming up in June/July 2026.