Ontario Culture Days returns this fall with five immersive experiences that put community at the centre of creativity.
Every September, Ontario Culture Days transforms familiar places into spaces where creativity, conversation and community come together. From September 18, 2026, to October 4, 2026, the festival will present more than 1,500 free arts, culture and heritage experiences in communities across Ontario, encouraging visitors to engage with art in unexpected ways.
At the heart of this year’s celebration is Shifting Ground: Creatives in Residence 2026, a flagship residency program featuring five newly commissioned projects that invite audiences to become participants instead of spectators. Together, the artists explore memory, connection, play and belonging while proving that some of the most meaningful cultural experiences happen when communities are creative alongside one another.
There is something undeniably joyful about the way dogs bring people together, and artist Micah Lexier builds an entire public art experience around that idea. Dog Days of Ontario Culture Days will travel to Toronto, Oakville, Niagara-on-the- Lake, Temiskaming and Windsor during National Dog Week, inviting visitors and their four-legged companions to take part in live dog portraits, carnival-inspired games and commemorative keepsakes while supporting the Farley Foundation. More than a celebration of pets, the residency highlights the simple moments that encourage strangers to connect, conversations to begin and communities to grow through a shared love of animals.
Participation becomes the artwork itself in Jon Sasaki’s Everything In Balance. Visitors are encouraged to bring an object that represents something meaningful before adding it to a suspended sculpture that evolves throughout the day. Located in St. Catharines, Ont., every new contribution carefully rebalances the installation, creating a visual reminder that every individual story influences the larger whole. Rather than presenting a finished piece for audiences to admire from a distance, Sasaki invites people to shape the work together. The result is a thoughtful reflection on community, shared values and the many experiences that connect people across different backgrounds and generations.
Music has a unique ability to transport people across time, place and memory, and artist Zinnia Naqvi explores that connection through Come As You Are Karaoke Night. Inspired by her moving-image work Heart-Shaped Box, the event invites visitors to sing the songs that remind them of childhood, family or home. Located in London, Ont., what begins as an evening of karaoke gradually becomes something much more personal as stories of migration, identity and belonging emerge between performances. By turning familiar music into a shared experience, Naqvi creates an atmosphere where strangers discover unexpected connections through the memories carried in every song.
The residency series concludes with Timothy Yanick Hunter’s Playing Pictures, an immersive experience that places audiences inside the creative process. Before the performance begins, participants create their own image-based reference books, becoming collaborators from the very beginning. Combining moving images, sound and improvisation, Hunter explores themes of archives, movement and diaspora while challenging traditional ideas about spectatorship. Rather than simply observing a finished work, visitors actively contribute to its evolution. It is a fitting conclusion to a festival that celebrates curiosity, participation and the belief that creativity becomes even more meaningful when it is shared.
Inside Ottawa’s historic St. Albans Church, Studio Rat transforms reclaimed plastics into Plastiscapes, a monumental inflatable environment designed for exploration, play and discovery. Visitors are encouraged to move through the immersive installation while participating in workshops and community programming that celebrate creativity through collaboration. The residency reaches its finale during Nuit Blanche Ottawa, when the space is transformed through music, movement and live performance. By giving discarded materials an entirely new purpose, Plastiscapes encourages audiences to rethink sustainability while demonstrating how imagination can completely change the way familiar objects and spaces are experienced.
