PETERBOROUGH’S FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS RETURNS
SEPTEMBER 29 TO OCTOBER 5, 2025
May 1, 2025
Hello everyone,
We are excited to announce the return of Artsweek, Peterborough’s biennial “festival of the arts,” September 29 to October 5, 2025.
Applications for Artsweek 2025 Open Call grants are open now! Find the full Program Guidelines and Application Form on the Artsweek website and submit your applications before the deadline, June 10, 2025 at 11:59pm, or read on for more information.
What is Artsweek ?
Produced and presented by the Electric City Culture Council (EC3), Artsweek is an exhilarating extravaganza of music, literary and spoken word arts, puppetry and kid’s programming, media arts (film, video, new media), visual arts, circus arts, dance, theatre and performance of all kinds, created by local artists and arts organizations, unfolding in public spaces all across the city. All Artsweek events are FREE.
Since its beginning as part of the City of Peterborough’s Centennial Celebrations in 2005, this legacy project has brought new work to new audiences in unexpected ways, supported original creation by local artists, and celebrated Peterborough as an innovative, creative community with a vibrant arts scene. Artsweek events build public engagement with, and awareness of, the arts. Projects can take place anywhere in the city, and proposals for “unexpected arts venues” are especially welcome. The Festival also accepts reprises of previous work. All artists receive fees.
Artsweek 2025 employs a three-part programming model including projects selected and funded by a peer jury from this Open Call for applications, commissioned work initiated by EC3 that may include new work or reprised projects, and projects initiated by invited curators. Applications to the Open Call are welcome from individual artists, arts organizations, arts collectives or ad hoc groups.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
This is an Open Call for innovative new projects in any artistic discipline, for any location within the City of Peterborough. Artsweek 2025 can feature work in the downtown, but also in other city wards, in parks, the zoo, playgrounds, markets and malls, community centre parking lots, etc. Mobile projects, nighttime projects, projects on streets and in neighbourhoods are very welcome.
This Call for Proposals includes, but is not limited to, performance (dance, theatre, multi-disciplinary performance), circus arts, visual art (installations, sculptures interventions, projections, exhibitions), media arts, writing/spoken word, and any form of music, concerts or sound/audio art. Individual artists, collectives, ad hoc groups, or arts organizations may propose projects.
Conventional presentations, pop-ups, one time, continuous or short-run project proposals are all eligible. Curated, educational and community-based projects are eligible. Partnerships and collaborations between arts groups or with other community-based organizations are welcome. Artists are encouraged to explore ideas taking place anywhere in the City of Peterborough. Think outside the box.
- Artsweek encourages artists working in a variety of disciplines to submit their original ideas for funding to create new work. The overarching programming theme for Artsweek 2025 is “art in unexpected places,” day and nighttime projects too.
- Artsweek welcomes submissions from individual artists, curators, and collectives.
- The festival strives to present projects that reflect and promote the cultural, racial and social diversity of Peterborough and Canada today. We celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion.
- While we expect the 2025 Festival will include events in the downtown core, Artsweek looks to include some projects located outside of the downtown in a variety of wards and neighbourhoods as well. Previous locations have included Jackson Park, Millenium Park, other neighbourhood parks, the London Street Footbridge, Riverview Park and Zoo and the Peterborough Lift Locks, among others. Artists are encouraged to submit site-specific ideas for these locations or suggest other potential sites/venues for their projects. Artsweek 2025 will feature fewer projects, of a larger scale than in previous years.
- Artists are invited to submit ideas for art interventions that transform and activate city spaces including flash mobs, pop-ups, etc. Project proposals may include the work(s) of one artist or several and may happen one or multiple times. Durational projects are also welcome. Think outside the box.
This is an Open Call for innovative new projects in any artistic discipline, for any location within the City of Peterborough. Artsweek 2025 can feature work in the downtown, but also in other city wards, in parks, the zoo, playgrounds, markets and malls, community centre parking lots, etc. Mobile projects, nighttime projects, projects on streets and in neighbourhoods are very welcome.
This Call for Proposals includes, but is not limited to, performance (dance, theatre, multi-disciplinary performance), circus arts, visual art (installations, sculptures interventions, projections, exhibitions), media arts, writing/spoken word, and any form of music, concerts or sound/audio art. Individual artists, collectives, ad hoc groups, or arts organizations may propose projects.
Conventional presentations, pop-ups, one time, continuous or short-run project proposals are all eligible. Curated, educational and community-based projects are eligible. Partnerships and collaborations between arts groups or with other community-based organizations are welcome. Artists are encouraged to explore ideas taking place anywhere in the City of Peterborough. Think outside the box.
- Artsweek encourages artists working in a variety of disciplines to submit their original ideas for funding to create new work. The overarching programming theme for Artsweek 2025 is “art in unexpected places,” day and nighttime projects too.
- Artsweek welcomes submissions from individual artists, curators, and collectives.
- The festival strives to present projects that reflect and promote the cultural, racial and social diversity of Peterborough and Canada today. We celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion.
- While we expect the 2025 Festival will include events in the downtown core, Artsweek looks to include some projects located outside of the downtown in a variety of wards and neighbourhoods as well. Previous locations have included Jackson Park, Millenium Park, other neighbourhood parks, the London Street Footbridge, Riverview Park and Zoo and the Peterborough Lift Locks, among others. Artists are encouraged to submit site-specific ideas for these locations or suggest other potential sites/venues for their projects. Artsweek 2025 will feature fewer projects, of a larger scale than in previous years.
- Artists are invited to submit ideas for art interventions that transform and activate city spaces including flash mobs, pop-ups, etc. Project proposals may include the work(s) of one artist or several and may happen one or multiple times. Durational projects are also welcome. Think outside the box.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Artsweek grants will contribute between $1,500 and $5,000 towards projects; however, artists are encouraged to seek out other funding sources to help contribute to the full cost of their projects if possible. Artsweek will support artists in their applications/requests to other funding sources. Artsweek will collect donations at all events. That revenue goes to the overall costs of the Festival.
HOW TO APPLY
Read through the full Artsweek 2025 Program Guidelines, which also includes information about eligibility, assessment of applications, and the overall process, then follow the link on that page to download the Artsweek 2025 application form. Get in touch if you need support.
Applications are accepted via email only to infoartsweek@gmail.com before the deadline, June 10, 2025 at 11:59pm.
For Further Information Contact:
Su Ditta
Executive Director, EC3
705 749 9101
electriccitycc@gmail.com
www.ecthree.org
As always, keep checking the EC3 Facebook page, BlueSky, @ec3ptbo on Instagram, and EC3’s website, where we are providing regular updates on programs and services available for Arts and Culture workers and organizations.
Be safe, stay healthy, and please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Contact
Su Ditta
Executive Director
Electric City Culture Council (EC3)
electriccitycc@gmail.com
www.ecthree.org
(705) 749-9101
TERRITORIAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We respectfully acknowledge that the land on which we work and gather is in the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabe, home to the Williams Treaties First Nations, who have been the stewards and caretakers of these lands and waters for countless generations.
We are grateful to be here, and pledge to listen and learn from their traditional knowledge and ways, and support them in this work, which they continue to this day. EC3 is committed to doing all we can to further efforts at real Truth and Reconciliation, which includes providing support to the artistic work of Indigenous artists, examining the ways we do this, and providing a space and a platform for their voices to be heard and respected.