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The Arts and Culture

If you’re an arts and culture lover, you’ll feel right at home in Ladysmith. While you’re here you can enjoy visual arts, outdoor concerts in the park, theatre, our museum and B.C.’s only floating museum. And you don’t want to miss our summer Arts on the Avenue celebration.

Arts on the Avenue Festival

Ladysmith’s main downtown street become a giant outdoor art gallery for a weekend every August. Light Up the Night kicks it off on First Avenue, with an evening market featuring fine crafts among music, kids’ activities, lights and street food. The next day, Arts on the Avenue showcases 50+ artists and their paintings, jewellery, carvings, fabrics, First Nations traditional works and more. The festival is an art collectors dream. It’s also an outdoor studio for young artists, who can create their own one-of-a-kind work to take home.
Arts on the Avenue & Light Up The Night

Galleries and art tours

Ladysmith Gallery is the centre of our vibrant arts community. Many artists exhibit their one-of-a-kind treasures in the non-profit gallery, which helps fund our arts council. The gallery also sponsors a spring tour of art studios here and in nearby Cedar and Chemainus. You can also do a self-guided studio tour at any time. Just pick up our art tour brochure at our Visitor Centre and off you go!
Ladysmith Gallery

Concerts in the Park

What could be better than relaxing on the waterfront while enjoying free (by donation) music? Our Concerts in the Park run during the summer at our stunning amphitheatre by the sea. The two-hour performances can feature every style from rock to soul to Cuban-inspired.
Concerts in the Park

Ladysmith Little Theatre

Our award-winning amateur theatre company provides High Definition entertainment in 3D without the glasses! Ladysmith Little Theatre mounts up to six productions a year in a century-old former schoolhouse. There’s a lot of emphasis on comedy in the scripts, making shows a perfect night of vacation entertainment.
Ladysmith Little Theatre

Ladysmith Maritime Museum

B.C.’s only floating museum uses authentic local artifacts and nautical displays to tell you about our maritime history. Ever seen a 16-foot skiff dinghy that dates back to 1898? How about a restored 1938 tug boat?. Those are just some of the sights at the waterfront museum, which opens daily during the warm months.
Ladysmith Maritime Museum

Ladysmith Museum

Ladysmith Museum takes a unique angle in the telling of our history. It focuses on the contribution of women to the town’s development. You can learn about a number of “Ladies of Ladysmith” as part of a comprehensive view of our history. You’ll find the museum, fittingly, in historical downtown Ladysmith on First Avenue.
Ladysmith Museum