Capital Cultures
Ottawa · Canada Get the lettersThe letters FR

Join · 06 doors · the intake is open

Six doors into the first edition.

A pavilion, a pitch, a shift, a slot on a stage. Four of these put you on the field in August 2027, and two of them sit underneath all four. Every door opens on a form that a person reads and answers.

Bring a pavilion Work a shift

Our plan for 7–8 August 2027 at LeBreton Flats, subject to permits

What each door costs, in the words of the page that owns it
DoorWhat it costs
PavilionZero · the whole counter stays with the community
Vendor pitchA flat fee paid up front · our rate is being set
Volunteer shiftFour hours · a signed letter for your hours
Stage slotThe fee policy publishes before applications open
AcademyFree to anyone with a role at the festival
AccreditationFiled paperwork, then a badge
People setting up on the grass with the Parliament skyline behind them: two raising the frame of a canvas tent, others laying cloths over a trestle table stacked with painted bowls, wooden crates and coils of rope on the ground.
Setting up on the grass, with the skyline behind

Six doors, and one of them is yours.

Four ways of taking part, then the two that sit under all of them. Pick the one that describes you and the page tells you what it wants, what it gives back, and when it opens.

Join · 06 pages · current as of 29 August 2026

01 to 04 put you on the field · 05 and 06 sit underneath all four

01

Bring a pavilion

A community organisation runs a whole pavilion. The fee is zero and every dollar over your counter stays with you.
02

Take a pitch

A food pitch with a licensed kitchen behind it, or a juried place on the craft row.
03

Work a shift

Nine roles across two days, four-hour blocks, and a signed letter for your hours.
04

Get on the programme

Stages, set lengths and technical requirements for ensembles, soloists, cooks and makers.
05

Participant academy

Five courses for everyone with a role: accessibility, food on a field, site safety, running a pavilion, selling on the marketplace.
06

Badges and passes

Seven badges, what each one opens, and what has to be filed before one is printed.

What sits under a door.

Communities, vendors and volunteers each carry their own set: what you get, what you take on, what has to be true before you apply, and the form itself. A page moves from the right column to the left the week it is written.

Three doors · eleven pages under them

The three biggest doors and the pages underneath each of them.
DoorUp nowBeing written
CommunitiesWhat you get · What you take on · Participant agreement · ApplyNothing outstanding
VendorsTerms & rates · Requirements · ApplyNothing outstanding
VolunteersRoles & shifts · What we ask · Sign upNothing outstanding
A community pavilion costs nothing to hold, and every dollar over its counter stays with the community holding it.
The decision the rest of this section is built on · Capital Cultures, first edition
A brass balance scale and two weights on indigo cloth spread over a market table, bowls of turmeric, sumac and chilli and a wooden stamp beside them, two shoppers passing out of focus on either side.
A brass balance scale and its weights on a market table

Before you fill anything in.

Four pages answer the questions that arrive with an application, and they are worth ten minutes before you start typing.

Four pages · outside this section

Pick your door.

A community needs about a year to gather people, agree a kitchen and plan a stand, which is why this door opened before the rest of the site was finished. Everything else here stays open behind it.

Bring a pavilion Take a pitch