• 

  THE DAILY POLL

  Are you taking a snow day today?

  🔘 Yes, I'm taking advantage of outdoor activities / nesting inside the house

  🔘 Nope. Went to work/school as usual

  🔘 Pffft. This isn’t a snow storm. When I was a kid, etc, etc, etc

  🔘 I’m crawling on the 401 and won’t be back for hours

  •  

  

  THE ROLLING THREE TWO DAY CALENDAR

  Is there an event we should know about?
  Please use our easy event submission form

  ✳️ Means change from previous edition

  THURSDAY

  • Pay one final visit to Play Food and Wine (1 York St) for the closing garage sale, where you’ll find deals on equipment, small wares, and ‘other goodies’. 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Byward Market).   

  • Learn everything from meat selection to stuffing and linking in the Piggy Market Sausage 101 workshop. You'll also take home 5lbs of sausages. (Westboro) 

  • Guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas and the National Arts Centre Orchestra perform Mozart and, for the first time, pieces by Serbian composer Isidora Żebeljan. (Downtown)  

  • Ottawa’s newest comedy venue, Exit Lounge, presents an evening of laughs hosted Alex Wood.(1101 Baxter Road) 

  • 🆓 National Gallery of Canada’s usual free Thursday night admission gets a glow up courtesy of the annual Glow Party. Wear neon or white to dazzle under the black light (Sussex Drive).

  Cinema

  • ByTowne Cinema: No Other Choice, Ciné-Club d'Ottawa: La petite et le vieux  

  • Mayfair Theatre: The Secret Agent, La Grazia, She Killed in Ecstasy  

  Gigs

  • Supersonic Hearts Band. Manor Lounge

  • Lloyd Spiegel with Lisa Baird. Les Lye Studio Theatre

  • Open Mic. Moose McGuire's (Hunt Club), Stray Dog Brewing Co (Orléans)

  • Live & Local: James Leclaire. Motel Chelsea

  • Alex Tomkins, Nick Dyson Duo. Night Oat 

FRIDAY

• Ottawa folk singers Nick Bellerose, Catherine D Kong, Gabriel Comba, and Austin Campbell perform in the Snowdrift Sessions at Art House. 

• Natasha Mumba’s Copperbelt takes audiences from a high-powered mining firm in downtown Toronto to Zambia's Copperbelt region for a story about secrets, power structures, and familial expectations. Until January 24 at the National Arts Centre (downtown) 

• Road Trip: Drive to quaint Pakenham for the Frost Festival, which opens with a family dance tonight. 

• Nine female and gender-nonconforming artists present works in a new photo-based show, Slumber Party, at SPAO. (Little Italy) 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: The Choral, No Other Choice 

• Mayfair Theatre: Nuremberg, Father Mother Sister Brother, Vampyros Lesbos

Gigs

• Ska Night with Sound One, The Oscillators, DJ Bjorn Late. House of TARG

• SNAFU, Throne, Sunset Hate, Blood Moon Occulation. Dominion Tavern

• Cara Q. Carleton Tavern

• Bent Up Good. Night Oat

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• The spotlight will be on local artists and arts leaders at the Arts Ottawa Award Ceremony on February 5. Tickets are on sale now. (Downtown) 

• Packed with free and affordable programming, the Big Bang Festival is coming back to the National Arts Centre on February 14 and 15. 

• The Ottawa Jazz Festival released its first lineup of the summer 2026 event, at the very top of which are Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning (February 15) at 10: 00 am. 

RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL

THE END

the ottawan is written and edited every working weekday by Martha and Darren. Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment.