# Ontario Culture Days

Ontario Culture Days is a province-wide fall festival of events that occur throughout Ontario, Canada. Hundreds of art, cultural and heritage events take place in the three-week-long festival. Some events are free and some charge an entrance fee.

## History

The festival started in 2010 and was originally three days in length. It was initially organized by Canadian Arts Summit. Since 2020, the festival has incorporated a "Creatives In Residence" program. Since 2021, the festival has included hubs of events in towns and cities.
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.
The 2023 festival occurred between September 22 and October 15 and included eight hubs including Caledon, St. Catharines and Thunder Bay.
The 2024 Culture Days occurred between September 20 and October 13. The festival featured hubs in Brant,Niagara Region and St. Catharines, Gananoque and Thousand Islands, Guelph, Manitoulin Island, Halton, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Scugog, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vaughan, and Windsor.

### Spotlight Awards

Since 2020, Ontario Culture Days has organized Spotlight Awards. Since 2023, the Spotlight Awards has included Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award, named after one of the organization's founding board members. The awardees are selected by a jury based on programmatic impact.
| Year | Award | Event | Location | Organizer |
| 2024 | Best In-Person Program | Stories of Peace Award Ceremony | Bancroft | Canadian Peace Museum |
| 2024 | People's Choice | Nature's Threads | Barrie | Ebru Winegard |
| 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 |
| 2024 | Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award | Performing the Apocalypse: A Performance Art Workshop with Megan Arnold | Guelph | Jude Akrey |
| 2023 | Best In-Person Program | Dance Together Festival | York | Dance Together Festival |
| 2023 | People's Choice | World of Threads | Oakville | World of Threads Festival |
| 2023 | Best Collaborative Program | A Place I Call Home Halton | Oakville | Faisal Anwar |
| 2023 | Warren Garrett Inclusive Programming Award | Daniel's Cafe | Vaughan | Daniel Xia |
| 2022 | Best In-Person Program | ArohaFest Diwali Celebration | Ottawa | National Arts Centre |
| 2022 | People's Choice | Sisters in Spirit Vigil | Vaughan | City of Vaughan, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation |
| 2022 | Best Collaborative Program | Reshaping Ruins | Guelph | The City of Guelph Museums & Culture |
| 2022 | Best Digital Program | Let's honour our mother tongue! | Toronto | Yannis Lobaina |
| 2022 | Inclusive Programming | Radical Connections | Ottawa | Radical Connections Unmasked Connections |
| 2021 | Best In-Person Program | ON THE TABLE: Controlled Collaborative Chaos | Halton Hills | Pauline Gladstone |
| 2021 | People's Choice | Honeymoon – My Pocketbook of I Love You's | Vaughan | Madeline Fiore |
| 2021 | Best Digital Program | Healing the Scars of Colonialism | Milton | Arts Milton, Grandmother's Voice |
| 2021 | Inclusive Programming | Engaging in ASL and Beyond | Milton | Arts Milton, E.C. Drury School for the Deaf |
| 2020 | Accessibility | Be Moved by Art | Ottawa | CJ Fleury |
| 2020 | Creative Solutioneering | Curbside Concerts Featuring "The Vaudevillian" | Milton | Arts Milton, Rick Imus |
| 2020 | Participation From a Distance | Come Together | Milton | Arts Milton, House of Chords |
| 2020 | People's Choice | Halton Mural Project | Milton | Arts Milton, Pflag |

## Organization

The festival is organized by a nonprofit organization also called Ontario Culture Days. The organization's Executive Director is Ruth Burns.
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).