Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is excited to present:
Winter Institute 2026: Too Two Spirited for You – Unsettling Two Spirited/Indigiqueer art in Canada
led by faculty Adrian Stimson
February 9 – 20, 2026
Established in 2009, The Summer/Winter Institute is a free, international artist research program for professional artists and cultural workers in all disciplines and media. Each year, we invite artists that are critically leading conversations in their field to lead a two week Summer/Winter Institute. Each iteration of the Summer/Winter Institute invites participants to expand upon their own interests and projects and includes opportunities to work in a collaborative peer-to-peer environment through group activities, guest lectures and workshops.
This year’s iteration of the Winter Institute will be led by Adrian Stimson. It will run from February 9 to February 20, 2026. In Winnipeg in 1990, Elder Myra Laramee proposed the term Two-Spirit at the Third Annual Intertribal Native American/First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference. Its purpose was to unify, giving a pan-Indigenous word to reclaim spiritual, gender, and sexual identities suppressed by colonization. Embodying both masculine and feminine spirits, it comes from the Anishinaabemowin niizh manidoowag, meaning “two spirits,” representing a unique blend of male and female energies revered in many Indigenous cultures for wisdom and healing. Further, coined by Theo Cuthand and popularized by Joshua Whitehead, Indigiqueer is a modern term for Indigenous people who are also LGBTQ+, created to offer an inclusive identity for those who may not identify as Two-Spirit but still connect with both their Indigenous heritage and queer identities, blending cultural pride with queer resilience, and acknowledging the diverse ways Indigenous LGBTQ+ people exist beyond traditional frameworks.
For the 2026 Winter Institute, Stimson proposes a gathering of TS/IQ artists to explore the past, present and future of TS/IQ art in Canada. Through individual artistic practice and together as a group we will deploy artistic and critical discourse to focus and map Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer resilience past, present and future with individual or group works addressing power, representation, sexuality, language, body, tradition, memory, colonial narratives, and knowledge-sharing. Participants can expect an open-minded space where ideas, conversation and developing art works are explored critically. Our hope is to create a safe space for exploring and sharing, removing the pressure to produce a final product, allowing for focused contemplation and research within an empathic yet holistic space that can translate to artistic endeavours and understandings for all of society.
There is no fee to participate in the Winter Institute but participants will be responsible for their own travel and accommodations while in Winnipeg.
Applications are due by 5pm CDT January 10.
Spots are limited and applicants will be notified of their results by mid January. Plug In thanks all those who applied, only successful applicants will be contacted.