Ontario Culture Days

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]

History

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]

Spotlight Awards

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 programatic 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]

Organization

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]

References

1. Della-Mattia, Elaine (September 23, 2024). "FedNor expands Ontario Culture Days in the North Pole". The Sault Star. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
2. Grieve, Isobel (September 18, 2024). "Ontario Culture Days Perfect for Fall Activities". Toronto Guardian. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
3. "Five free events in Guelph and more: Ontario Culture Days shine a spotlight on Guelph's creative community". Guelph Mercury. September 23, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
4. "Ontario Culture Days names Niagara as festival hub for September". PelhamToday.ca. September 4, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
5. Punkari, Lucas (September 21, 2024). "Ontario Culture Days underway in Thunder Bay". TBNewsWatch.com. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
6. "Culture Days Events Aim To Surprise, Delight". Metro Toronto. September 27, 2011.
7. "Exercise your arts and culture muscles". Metro Toronto. September 24, 2013. p. 29.
8. "About Culture Days". Culture Days. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
9. Kimia Afshar Mehrabi (August 2024). "Huge culture festival coming to Ontario will feature over 1,000 experiences and events". BlogTO. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
10. "Ontario Culture Days brings month-long celebration of arts and culture to Toronto". Toronto.com. September 24, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
11. Puri, Rohan (September 21, 2023). "Ontario Culture Days Festival coming to Caledon". Caledon Enterprise. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
12. "Culture Days 2023 launches in St. Catharines". St. Catharines Standard. September 24, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
13. Hardy, Justin (September 23, 2023). "Thunder Bay kicks off Ontario Culture Days". TBNewsWatch.com. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
14. Stamou, Michael (November 21, 2024). "County of Brant highlights success of Culture Days". Brant Beacon. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
15. "Ontario Culture Days names Niagara as festival hub for September". PelhamToday. September 4, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
16. Stamou, Michael (November 21, 2024). "Paris artists win one of Culture Days Spotlight Awards". Brant Beacon. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
17. "Call for Artists: Vaughan Culture Days 2024 – York Region Arts Council". Retrieved November 25, 2024.
18. "'Oakville's vibrant arts and culture': Culture Days festival returning". Inside Halton. September 13, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
19. LeBlanc, Steve (July 3, 2024). "Arts Milton looking to build on Culture Days success". Milton Today. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
20. "Spotlight Recognition Program 2022". Ontario Culture Days. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
21. "Interactive Guelph event wins Culture Days award". GuelphToday.com. November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
22. "Spotlight Recognition Program 2021". Ontario Culture Days. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
23. "Spotlight Recognition Program 2020". Ontario Culture Days. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
24. Morrison, Alastair M.; Buhalis, Dimitrios, eds. (September 24, 2023). "Challenges and opportunities in cultural tourism". Routledge Handbook of Trends and Issues in Global Tourism Supply and Demand (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-326079-0.
25. "Ontario Culture Days names Niagara as festival hub for September". PelhamToday. September 4, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
26. "Contact Us". Culture Days. Retrieved November 25, 2024.

External links

• Official website