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Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario

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The Pantry Project

Kelsie cares about appearances, but a new classmate's secret food pantry forces her to confront what truly matters. Will she help, or look away?
Arts Incubator Winnipeg 11 Oct 2025
the-pantry-project

Short Stories from The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners Storytelling Clubs

From the Arts Incubator Winnipeg comes The Pantry Project, a heartwarming story that asks: What if everything you thought you knew about community was wrong? Kelsie loves her orderly life, her neat house, and her carefully planned projects. But when she’s paired with Sam, the quiet new kid, for a school assignment, her perfect world starts to feel a little shaken. Rumors about Sam’s family living on the “wrong side of the tracks” and having a “messy” home spark worry and discomfort in Kelsie. She dreads visiting his house, where she expects to find everything she dislikes.

Yet, when Kelsie reluctantly steps through Sam’s front door, she’s about to discover a secret far more profound than dusty shelves or cramped rooms. What she uncovers challenges her assumptions about appearances, wealth, and what it truly means to help others. The Pantry Project is an essential read for young people navigating prejudice and learning the invaluable lesson of seeing beyond the surface to understand the true dignity of every person. Join Kelsie as she learns that the most important contributions often come in the most unexpected places.

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, E.Leclerc, Fable, LaFeltrinelli Internet Bookshop, Rakuten Kobo, Smashwords, 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.

About the Author

Arts Incubator Winnipeg

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.
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Unfinished with Care

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.
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Unfinished Notes on Silence and Sound

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
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A Collection of Broken Resolutions

Arts Incubator Winnipeg 12 Jan 2026

Recent Posts

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C.C Trubiak's latest single “Being Rich” arrives May 17.
Manitoba's own C.C. Trubiak's new single "Being Rich" drops on May 17!

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.

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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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