St. John’s offers an urban experience like no other. A port city that rises dramatically from the ocean and hugged by endless coastlines will greet you, as will a host of colourful characters whose vernacular will have you both smiling and curious. St. John’s has an eclectic sophistication, interesting culinary delights with wide open spaces and outdoor adventures right on its doorstep.
We Newfoundlanders & Labradorians would not survive without our music and performance, and we love to share! It is entrenched within our culture and it colours our world. With contributions from mists of time and blasts of salt-sea air: Indigenous rhythms, Celtic jigs, English Sea Shanties, locally-informed Hip-Hop, world-renowned Comedy—all are embraced, celebrated, and lived.
In St. John’s, you’ll find live performance every day of the week.
Exciting times ahead…
You’ll find performance in the most unexpected locations. Just turn the corner…
Events of all kinds, for everyone…
Yes, music is a massive element of our culture, but there is so much more!
Newfoundland architecture reflects our heritage and our creativity in dealing with a challenging environment and varying economic certainty. Though we are replete with Neo Gothic and Victorian styles, for example, it is our colourful downtown row housing that is most famous. Known collectively as “Jellybean Row”, these houses were often built using boat-building techniques and painted in the bright and unexpected colours of the dory—visible at sea and through fog.
As with our music, theatre and architecture, art styles run the gamut. Our largest art gallery is in The Rooms, home to the provincial archives, museum and gallery, café, gift shop and one of the best views in the city!
Smaller independent galleries such as the Peter Lewis Gallery nearby make for a great tour of the city as well. To help plan your art itinerary, we recommend the Explore Art NL app and website!
From the earliest days, survival, social enterprise and personal expression have gone “hand in glove”, so to speak. To learn more, please visit the NONIA website. Here are their famous ‘Trigger Mitts”, an example of traditional crafts to be found at retail stores throughout St. John’s. The Newfoundland & Labrador Craft Council operates a wonderful gallery and a curated gift shop that you won’t want to miss.
Those old English roots sprout up every autumn and winter when we get a little crafty, “rig up” and go Mummering!
With more than 25 dialects, lilting accents that echo the earliest days of habitation to our always-evolving aural and cultural landscape, Newfoundland & Labrador is a delight for the ears, and the eyes.
We have far too many stories to keep them to ourselves, and true to our storytelling heritage we even have a Storytelling Festival as well as a traditional printing press with bookshop named for a Newfoundland folk dance, “Running the Goat“!
