Canadian Art Summit 2025

Art+Public UnLtd. served as lead programmer for the 2025 Canadian Art Summit, held at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre in April. This annual gathering brought together senior leaders from Canada’s largest arts institutions—including Artistic Directors, Executive Directors, and Volunteer Board Chairs—for two days of strategic dialogue and sector-shaping collaboration.

Building on the momentum of the 2024 summit, this year’s event focused on themes of cross-sector collaboration, future-focused funding models, and the transformative role of art in shaping a thriving society. With a federal election on the horizon, the summit seized the opportunities presented by time and place to position the arts as central to Canada’s future.

Our programming centred peer-to-peer engagement, sparking dynamic sessions where delegates generated actionable insights and co-developed sector-wide calls to action: to re-centre artists, forefront institutional support for communities nationwide, and prioritize arts’ role in reimagining a nuanced national identity. What emerged from the summit was not just dialogue, it culminated in the development of a Communiqué to be shared with government, business and the media, reinforcing the sector’s unified vision and voice.