April Hubbard, the heart and soul of Halifax theatre

In the blur of the Halifax Fringe Festival — the largest Fringe in Atlantic Canada and a stalwart of independent theatre in the region — former festival director Lee-Anne Poole could mark one day from the onslaught of the next in a simple, unconventional way: She'd see what April Hubbard was wearing. 

Describing the festival's scrappy nature, Poole says that, no matter the challenges any given year, "the thing I knew for sure is that each year, there would be a Fringe Festival. It's a resilient beast, just like April. April loves the Fringe Festival and was there to see it grow and change, fall and rise back up." She continues: "Out of the many important roles April would play to the festival, this is by far not the most important, but it's the most special one to me — and reflects well on her joy and personality. April would wear a different, fancy dress each day of the festival. A dress none of us had ever seen before — and would never see again, save the photos for posterity."

The dresses are also a metaphor for Hubbard's presence in the Halifax theatre community — a small flash of brightness that people gathered around. Hubbard, a performance artist and disabilities advocate, began volunteering with the fest shortly after moving to Halifax in 2003. Eventually, she joined the board of directors, before becoming the festival's first female chair and first disabled chair in 2017. 

Now, the artist, arts administrator and advocate is being recognized with the 2025 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts — an annual honour presented by the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. "I've always prided myself on being a face of the festival," Hubbard shares in a release announcing the award. "My record is watching 48 shows in 11 days, on top of volunteering, performing in a show, and giving every waking minute and all of my energy to the festival."

In 2019, she returned to the stage for the first time in the decades following a teenage diagnosis of tethered cord syndrome. Every breath in the packed house at Neptune Theatre's Scotiabank Stage caught when Hubbard took part in LEGacy Circus's Fringe show that year, as the crowd watched her leave her wheelchair onstage and climb onto a trapeze. 

The cheer that followed her flawless performance was a high point of the show. It also demonstrated just how much the local theatre scene loves its "Fringe Momma," as she's known around town.

Even more evidence of Hubbard's impact can be felt when considering theatre in the city more generally. Hubbard was Halifax's 2024 Pride ambassador, and in 2021, she penned a report for Dartmouth's Eastern Front Theatre outlining barriers preventing the performing arts in Nova Scotia from being accessible, leading to ongoing accessibility projects from both EFT and other local theatre-makers.

Hubbard's disability advocacy reaches beyond the stage, too. Her decision to access MAID (medical assistance in dying) after decades of living with an increasingly debilitating condition sparked a national discourse when she hosted a living funeral in late 2024, an event she described to the CBC as "one last big glitzy, sparkly show" to celebrate her life and legacy in Halifax's artistic community. 

Throughout it all, Poole says, Hubbard's warmth and love of life remains as important as her dedication. Every Fringe, in every outfit, Hubbard has reminded her that "every day was one to celebrate — and dress to the nines."