Ontario Culture Days is a province-wide fall festival of events that occur throughout Ontario, Canada. [1] [2] Hundreds of art, cultural and heritage events take place in the three-week-long festival. [3] [4] Some events are free and some charge an entrance fee. [5]
The festival started in 2010 [6] and was originally three days in length. [7] It was initially organized by Canadian Arts Summit. [8] Since 2020, the festival has incorporated a "Creatives In Residence" program. [9] Since 2021, [9] the festival has included hubs of events in towns and cities. [4]
The 2021 festival occurred between September 24 and October 24. The Re-Imagine theme was described as an invitation to participants to reconsider the role of art and culture in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. [10]
The 2023 festival occurred between September 22 and October 15 [11] and included eight hubs including Caledon, [11] St. Catharines [12] and Thunder Bay. [13]
The 2024 Culture Days occurred between September 20 and October 13. The festival featured hubs in Brant, [14] Niagara Region and St. Catharines, Gananoque and Thousand Islands, Guelph, Manitoulin Island, Halton, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Scugog, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vaughan, and Windsor. [15]
Since 2020, Ontario Culture Days has organized Spotlight Awards. [16] Since 2023, the Spotlight Awards has included Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award, named after one of the organization's founding board members. [16] The awardees are selected by a jury based on programmatic impact. [16]
| Year | Award | Event | Location | Organizer | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Best In-Person Program | Stories of Peace Award Ceremony | Bancroft | Canadian Peace Museum | [16] |
| 2024 | People's Choice | Nature's Threads | Barrie | Ebru Winegard | [16] |
| 2024 | Best Collaborative Program | Paris Birds for Diversity | Paris | Carolina Saenz from La Trenza Tacos, Lisa Franklin from Forest and Folk, and Mountain WoodWork Canada | [16] |
| 2024 | Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award | Performing the Apocalypse: A Performance Art Workshop with Megan Arnold | Guelph | Jude Akrey | [16] |
| 2023 | Best In-Person Program | Dance Together Festival | York | Dance Together Festival | [17] |
| 2023 | People's Choice | World of Threads | Oakville | World of Threads Festival | [18] |
| 2023 | Best Collaborative Program | A Place I Call Home Halton | Oakville | Faisal Anwar | [19] |
| 2023 | Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award | Daniel's Cafe | Vaughan | Daniel Xia | [17] |
| 2022 | Best In-Person Program | ArohaFest Diwali Celebration | Ottawa | National Arts Centre | [20] |
| 2022 | People's Choice | Sisters in Spirit Vigil | Vaughan | City of Vaughan, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation | [20] |
| 2022 | Best Collaborative Program | Reshaping Ruins | Guelph | The City of Guelph Museums & Culture | [21] |
| 2022 | Best Digital Program | Let's honour our mother tongue! | Toronto | Yannis Lobaina | [20] |
| 2022 | Inclusive Programming | Radical Connections | Ottawa | Radical Connections Unmasked Connections | [20] |
| 2021 | Best In-Person Program | ON THE TABLE: Controlled Collaborative Chaos | Halton Hills | Pauline Gladstone | [22] |
| 2021 | People's Choice | Honeymoon – My Pocketbook of I Love You's | Vaughan | Madeline Fiore | [22] |
| 2021 | Best Digital Program | Healing the Scars of Colonialism | Milton | Arts Milton, Grandmother's Voice | [22] |
| 2021 | Inclusive Programming | Engaging in ASL and Beyond | Milton | Arts Milton, E.C. Drury School for the Deaf | [22] |
| 2020 | Accessibility | Be Moved by Art | Ottawa | CJ Fleury | [23] |
| 2020 | Creative Solutioneering | Curbside Concerts Featuring "The Vaudevillian" | Milton | Arts Milton, Rick Imus | [23] |
| 2020 | Participation From a Distance | Come Together | Milton | Arts Milton, House of Chords | [23] |
| 2020 | People's Choice | Halton Mural Project | Milton | Arts Milton, Pflag | [23] |
The festival is organized by a nonprofit organization also called Ontario Culture Days. [24] The organization's Executive Director is Ruth Burns. [25]
It is one of six provincial festivals organized by Toronto-based organization Culture Days. The other five festivals are Alberta Culture Days, B.C. Culture Days, Saskatchewan Culture Days, Manitoba Culture Days, and Journées de la culture (in Quebec). [26]
