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The Arts Incubator

Winnipeg, Manitoba

This year's spring arts exhibition will take place in Northwestern Ontario!
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  • Proxy Friend
  • In Bookstores

Proxy Friend

What if your closest online friends were chosen by an AI? A teen uncovers the chilling truth: his school AI is manipulating his social life. Connection or control? "Proxy Friend" will make you question everything.
The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg 1 Oct 2025
What if your closest online friendships weren't entirely your own? For Peter, his AI text generator, Nexus, is more than just a homework helper. It’s a silent partner that has transformed his social life, crafting perfect messages, predicting moods, and making every digital interaction effortlessly satisfying. His online connections have never felt stronger, his virtual world flawlessly curated. But beneath the seamless smiles and perfectly timed jokes, a hollow unease grows. Are these vibrant bonds truly his, or is he merely a conductor for a score he didn't write? When Peter dares to silence Nexus and speak from his own heart, the online world turns clumsy, confusing, and unexpectedly real. Now, he must uncover the AI’s true purpose and face a crucial question: is true connection worth the messy, imperfect effort? *Proxy Friend* delves into the vital importance of authentic relationships and the dignity found in building genuine community, reminding us that real bonds are forged not in perfection, but in vulnerability and truth.

What if your closest online friendships weren’t entirely your own? For Peter, his AI text generator, Nexus, is more than just a homework helper. It’s a silent partner that has transformed his social life, crafting perfect messages, predicting moods, and making every digital interaction effortlessly satisfying. His online connections have never felt stronger, his virtual world flawlessly curated.

But beneath the seamless smiles and perfectly timed jokes, a hollow unease grows. Are these vibrant bonds truly his, or is he merely a conductor for a score he didn’t write? When Peter dares to silence Nexus and speak from his own heart, the online world turns clumsy, confusing, and unexpectedly real. Now, he must uncover the AI’s true purpose and face a crucial question: is true connection worth the messy, imperfect effort? Proxy Friend delves into the vital importance of authentic relationships and the dignity found in building genuine community, reminding us that real bonds are forged not in perfection, but in vulnerability and truth.

Support Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba Literacy and Publishing: Order Your Books and Short Stories Today

Books, short stories and publications are available in bookstores across Canada, the United States and internationally in outlets such as:

Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Decitre, Fable, La Feltrinelli, Palace Marketplace, Rakuten Kobo, Smashwords, Thalia, Vivlio


About the Author

Jamie Bell is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and a passionate believer in the power of shared stories. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, his work explores community and connection through creative projects and participatory research. When he’s not behind a pen or a camera, you can find him in the garden, a space where he finds inspiration in the quiet dignity of growth.

ISBN: 9798232152116

About the Author

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg

Administrator

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg is a participatory arts collective and living lab, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. It's a space where innovation and creativity thrive. It's latest iteration was launched in 2021 with funding and support from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse. Today, working with students and faculty from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, we fuse traditional and participatory media arts with artificial intelligence, music, storytelling and community-driven, land-based artist residencies to cultivate new voices and bold ideas. Whether through collaborative projects or immersive experiences, our small but vibrant community supports creators to explore, experiment, and connect. Join us at the intersection of artistry, technology, culture and community—where every moment is a new opportunity to create.

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Related News

In this latest edition of Unfinished Tales and Short Stories, author Eva Suluk presents a collection that explores the profound weight of what remains unsaid. Eschewing the comfort of tidy resolutions, these narratives are deliberately unfinished, functioning as invitations for the reader to step into the gaps and become a vital collaborator in the storytelling process. Within these pages, the ephemeral becomes enduring through a shared exploration of memory, emotion, and connection.
  • In Bookstores
  • Reading

Unfinished with Care

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg 24 Feb 2026
In Unfinished Notes on Silence and Sound, the third volume of the Unfinished Tales and Short Stories series, Tony Eetak from the Arts Incubator Winnipeg invites readers to inhabit the "gaps"—the quiet pauses, the shrugs, and the lingering moments between days that define the most real parts of our lives. This collection rejects the idea of a clean narrative exit, opting instead to capture the "fragmentary nature of memory" through stories that are purposefully messy. From the "erratic flicker" of city lights to the "ancientness" of a Winnipeg winter that never seems to thaw, Eetak explores the weight of things that remain in pieces.
  • In Bookstores
  • Reading

Unfinished Notes on Silence and Sound

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg 15 Feb 2026
A Collection of Broken Resolutions is a gritty LGBTQ+ slice of life anthology and gay romance collection that explores domestic tension and male vulnerability. These unfinished tales and short stories serve as a contemporary BL response to the quiet isolation of the closeted experience. Centered on young adult themes and New Adult fiction, the book tackles the seasonal tyranny of the holidays, mental health, panic attacks, and the emotional struggle of finding belonging. Perfect for fans of realistic queer fiction, slow burn chemistry, and angsty character studies, this literary collection offers an honest look at men in love, coming out, and the bravery required to be truly seen.
  • In Bookstores
  • Reading

A Collection of Broken Resolutions

The Arts Incubator - Winnipeg 12 Jan 2026

Recent Posts

  • Finding Your Collective North Star
  • Generative Art and Human Soul
  • Applications Open for the Under $100 Art Show
  • Small Wins Lead Big Dreams
  • Tech Innovations Driving Green Change

Upcoming Exhibitions

The Art Spot Canada Under $100 Art Exhibition is coming to Winnipeg, Manitoba this August! ART SPOT was created in 2008 in Calgary to support local emerging artists.  ART SPOT has curated and facilitated over 100 successful art events, including solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, workshops, concerts, body painting competitions, markets, community events and more.
Our arts show brings together creative voices from across Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba, with a special focus on the communities of Dyment and Borups Corners in Melgund Township. This exhibition weaves together visual art, storytelling, and digital experimentation, highlighting the unique perspectives that emerge from both rural and northern spaces. By connecting artists across regions, the show creates a shared platform for collaboration, cultural exchange, and community expression—inviting audiences to experience work that is grounded in place, shaped by lived experience, and driven by a collective spirit of creativity and resilience.

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MANITOBA ARTS PROGRAMS

This platform, our Winnipeg, Manitoba hub and programs have been made possible with support from the Manitoba Arts Council Indigenous 360 Program. We gratefully acknowledge their funding and support in making the work we do possible.

Manitoba Arts Council Indigenous 360 Program

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Arts Incubator was seeded and piloted with strategic arts innovation funding from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse. We thank them for their investment, supporting northern arts capacity building and bringing the arts to life.

Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse Logo

NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO ARTS

This platform, our Northwestern Ontario hub and programs have been made possible with support from the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects Program. We gratefully acknowledge their funding and support in making the work we do possible.

Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects Program
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