Mainstreet Halifax

Nova Scotia songwriter Sahara Jane has produced a new album with her partner in music and in life, Ken Shorley. It's called Something Good. They join guest host Preston Mulligan to talk all about the new album and how they work together musically. 

Sydney Smith, who grew up near Caledonia in Queens County, has won the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration, making him the first ever Canadian winner. He illustrated Town Is By The Sea by Joanne Schwartz and Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, among other works.

The Houston government announced earlier this week that it's making it easier for homeowners to build small backyard suites in the face of the housing crisis by increasing forgivable loans to $40,000. But how much does it cost to build a backyard suite in Nova Scotia these days? Guest host Preston Mulligan asks Mike Jones, who owns Jones Co Builders in Porters Lake.

Comedian Clare Belford dropped by Studio A to talk with guest host Preston Mulligan ahead of her April 20 headline show in Halifax. Then, she speaks with Mainstreet producer Alex Mason about her friend, the late Nick Nemeroff, who is one of the comedians featured in a new episode of the Halifax Comedy Fest TV show.

The eclipse is the talk of the town and Mainstreet got in on the action too. First, our colleague Rose Murphy went down to the Discovery Centre in Halifax to see how people were preparing for the event, and then Jeff spoke with the CBC's Khalil Ahktar, live from Miramichi, where the eclipse could be seen in its totality. 

In 2B Theatre's latest production, a man narrates the life of a woman and her struggles with sexism, her work as a journalist covering crimes against women and her fraying mental health. Red Like Fruit by award-winning playwright Hannah Moscovitch interrogates the role and impact of men’s voices in women’s stories.

Back in 1987, the first official Tartan Day took place in Nova Scotia. The original driving force behind it was Jean MacKaracher Watson and April 6 is now nationally recognized as Tartan Day. She spoke with Mainstreet's Alex Guye to hear about how she's celebrating the day this year.

Music and Medicine for Cuba is a joint undertaking by Los Primos, NSCuba and Not Just Tourists, which aims to send a seacan full of medicine and musical instruments from Nova Scotia to Cuba. Host Jeff Douglas spoke with Timothy Bood, the chair of NSCuba, and Jeff Goodspeed, an educator and musician with Los Primos, to talk about what they need for donations.

Two Mi'kmaw fishermen in Shelburne County were arrested by Fisheries and Oceans Canada last week for fishing elvers while the season is cancelled. The men say they were forced to walk in sock feet for hours in the middle of the night after their boots and phones were taken by officials. Jim Michael, a Mi'kmaw lawyer, joins host Jeff Douglas to weigh in on the situation.

Host Jeff Douglas is joined by Mitchell Archibald, the executive director of Student Housing Nova Scotia, to talk about the current state of student housing in the province. He calls the struggle to find student housing a defining issue for this generation.