Join · 04 of 06 · performers
Dance ensembles and musicians, cooks who work in front of people, makers who demonstrate a craft, storytellers who can hold a crowd of strangers. The programme of the first edition is built out of groups that already rehearse in Ottawa. Tell us about yours now and you are in the room when the grid gets drawn.
Our plan for 7–8 August 2027 at LeBreton Flats, subject to permits
A festival with no editions behind it owes every applicant a straight line on every question. Here is the whole intake, item by item, with the open ones marked open.
Status · 28 August 2026 · rewritten the day a line changes
| Item | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Who can apply | Groups and solo artists working in this region, in any discipline on this page |
| Application window | Open today as an early register · the formal window is winter 2027 |
| Who decides | The Programming and Licensing Committee, five to seven people, at least two of them unconnected to any community in the running |
| Decisions | After 15 February 2027, once the first pavilions are confirmed |
| Set lengths | Open · agreed act by act while the grid is drawn in spring 2027 |
| Stage rig | Open · quoted from three suppliers over the winter, then published here as a technical sheet |
| Performance fund | Small for the first edition · the written policy publishes before the formal window opens |
| Music licence for the site | Ours · the festival holds the SOCAN and Re:Sound licence for both days |
| Courses a performer takes | Event accessibility and Safety on the ground, free, at the participant academy from winter 2027 |
Five kinds of act hold this programme up. A group that fits two of them is more useful than a group that fits one, and the form has room to say so.
Disciplines · first edition 2027
Planned disciplines · the grid is drawn in spring 2027
Two days, at least five hours of programme on each of them, inside a nine-hour operating day. Set lengths are agreed one act at a time while the grid is drawn. Tell us the shortest version you can do well and the longest you would want — a day carrying this many communities lives on short, strong sets.
Planned structure · first edition 2027
| Format | What it is | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Community set | Music, dance or song from one community, back to back with the next | Main stage, both days |
| Anchor act | A longer number that carries the middle of a day | Main stage |
| Cooking demonstration | A dish cooked in front of people, explained while it cooks | Pavilion village |
| Craft demonstration | A practitioner working at a table, with handouts and a named host | Learning track |
| Walk or talk | A fixed start time, a named host, a subject | Learning track |
| Opening | Territory acknowledgement and Indigenous programme, delivered with a partner from the Algonquin community | Main stage, each morning |
The festival carries the stage, the sound and the paperwork that makes music legal on a public field. Everything here is the office's job, and every open line on it closes in writing before you commit.
Provided by the festival · first edition
Six things, and the form asks for all of them. An estimate is fine everywhere except the head count.
Required with an application
| What we ask for | What to write |
|---|---|
| The line-up | How many people are on stage, how many travel with you, and the ages if children are performing |
| A set length | The shortest version you can do well and the longest you would want, in minutes |
| A technical rider | Microphones, instruments, playback, floor surface, power. One paragraph now; the detailed rider follows selection |
| Something we can watch | One link to video or audio. A phone recording of a real performance beats a polished promo |
| Availability | Which of the two days works, and whether you can do both |
| Access needs | What you need to get on and off the stage, and what your audience needs from us |
The money for performance in the first edition is small. We say so before you apply, and we publish the policy before the window opens.
The honest state of the performance budget, written down before anyone spends an evening on an application.
Written policy publishes before winter 2027
Diplomatic missions accredited in Canada
A mission can act as a programme partner: send an artist, lend an exhibition, ship equipment, pay for a flight. The mission is named in the description of that act. If your ensemble has a route to one, tell us in the form and we will make the call together.
Missions resident in Ottawa · the one hard festival number on this site
The ones already arriving by email. Send another and it joins the list.
hello@capitalcultures.com
Apply now. The form on this page is an early register, it takes a few minutes, and everyone on it hears from the office when the formal window opens in winter 2027. Groups already on the list are the first the programme is built around.
There is a performance fund for the first edition and it is small. The written policy — who is paid, on what basis, who decides — publishes on this page before applications open formally. Amounts stay off the page until that policy is signed.
Open until the grid is drawn in spring 2027. Give us the shortest version you can do well and the longest you would want, and the office works within that when the hours are allocated.
A PA sized to the field with an engineer running it. The rig is quoted from three suppliers over the winter and the technical sheet publishes here the day it is signed, ahead of any detailed rider conversation.
Community ensembles are the backbone of this programme. Send the link to a real performance and let the committee see the group as it actually is.
Yes. Tell us the ages and how many adults travel with the group, and the office works through the supervision and the timing with you.
As a programme partner. A mission can send an artist, lend an exhibition, ship equipment or pay for a flight, and it is named in the description of that act. Operating a pavilion stays with organisations incorporated here.
This page changes the same day, everyone on the list hears it first, and any group already in conversation with the office hears it by email before it goes public.
Ten minutes, and the office has what it needs to come back to you. Every application gets an answer from a person.
Intake 01 · programme · first edition 2027
Six pages hold this section. Four of them are ways of taking part, and the last two sit underneath all four.
Join · 04 of 06