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Culture Days 2020

Last updated: September 9, 2020

Culture Days 2020: September 25th - October 25th

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What’s new for Culture Days in 2020
Theme, planning support, and new resources
COVID-19 guidelines for organizers
Other helpful resources

What’s new for Culture Days in 2020

Join us for a national celebration where arts, culture, and creativity intersect. Indoors, outdoors, and online—discover the world of arts and culture across Canada.

Reimagined to engage and delight despite the times, Culture Days has extended beyond the traditional Weekend to a 4-week interactive, immersive arts and culture experience happening across Canada in-person where possible, and online. From September 25 to October 25, 2020, lose yourself in a labyrinth of hundreds of virtual concerts, live shows, exhibits, demonstrations, workshops and more - every option is free. Creators have been waiting to unleash their works and reconnect with the world, and it’s finally time for the curtain to rise. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure of artistry you won’t soon forget.

The Culture Days website is a promotional platform for creators of every kind to showcase hundreds of virtual and in-person activities. Visitors can find small-gathering or self-guided events near them, while going digital allows participants to virtually criss-cross the country and discover live-streamed performances and other online presentations.

Theme, planning support, and new resources

It’s not lost on our network that the 2020 theme of Unexpected Intersections has been infused with some quite unexpected new meaning. Connect with us as we share and promote the important, exciting, and perhaps unexpected reimaginings of arts, culture, and creativity. Stay up to date with the good stuff on our blog, and on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter).

Planning resources for Culture Days organizers:

  • Our revised registration system now supports in-person events, livestreamed events, digital recorded experiences, and self-guided activities.
  • For in-person events, we recommend limiting attendance and using pre-registration tools like EventBrite to manage capacity. See all our recommendations regarding COVID-19.
  • The extended timeframe gives you a greater flexibility for presenting in-person events, with a chance to access new audiences from across the country via digital activities.
  • We’ve got you covered for activity inspiration with our Programming Ideas resource, and a new Online Programming resource to help you get started in pivoting online. Learn more about other organizer’s experiences with our webinar “Pro-tips from our Peers on Going Digital.”
  • You’ll be able to join in on a large, cross-country promotional campaign highlighting the resiliency of our communities and championing the importance of arts and culture!

COVID-19 guidelines for organizers

It is every event organizer’s responsibility to be informed of and adhere to provincial, territorial, and regional restrictions and guidelines regarding operating events. You should consult public provincial and territorial information, and we strongly advise finding and reviewing local and regional guidelines as well.

As per the terms and conditions of our website, Culture Days assumes no liability with respect to any loss or claim as a result of an outbreak of COVID-19 at any events.

To help with your planning, here are some guidelines and best practices we recommend, in addition to specific regulations issued by regional public health authorities:

  • Consider setting up a pre-registration link, especially if you are expecting a higher number of people to show up. That way, you can have ticketed entry times and manage capacity and flow. Eventbrite offers this service at no charge for free events.
  • Capacity must allow for 2 metres space between each individual, and is limited to the maximum allowable gathering size according to local public health regulations.
  • Consider collecting contact tracing information. We have developed a template that you can use, available in your Dashboard > Resources —this information should be kept on file for at least 30 days post event.
  • We strongly suggest you require patrons to wear masks or face coverings when attending events.
  • Any member of the public who is exhibiting symptoms should be denied entry.
  • If it’s an indoor event, try to keep doors and windows open, weather permitting (both to encourage air flow, and reduce the amount of surface contact).
  • It’s recommended that you have accessible, on-site hand-washing stations, as well as hand sanitizer stations available throughout the venue or outdoor area.
  • If you are hosting more than one event in succession in the same space, we recommend leaving at least half an hour between scheduled events to clean the space and disinfect surfaces.
  • Use floor tape to indicate directional flow, and spacing indicators for line ups. For outdoor spaces, use signage, pylons, or other temporary structures to manage flow.
  • If you are hosting a sit-down performance, space the seating 6-feet apart and request that the audience avoid getting out of their seat while the performance is taking place.
  • In the weeks leading up to the event, ensure you are carefully monitoring the health and well-being of your staff, volunteers, and vendors. If any person of your team feels unwell, ensure they stay home.
  • Ensure your contingencies and communications are in place.

If regional restrictions change leading up to or during Culture Days, we are here to help you reconfigure your plans. If you would like to change your In Person event to a Livestream, Self Guided program, or Digital Recording at any point during the run, we can help you adjust your listing. Culture Days may need to remove or unpublish your In Person event if the health restrictions in a province or region change. We will notify you of any such change.

Thank you for helping your community, and the whole country to safely celebrate creativity and our rich and varied cultures!

If you don’t know who to connect with about Culture Days in your region, here’s a list of our provincial office contacts. Please also feel free to connect with the national office at [email protected] at any time.


Other helpful resources

Below are links to some timely resources and tools from our cross-country network:

National

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Ontario

Ontario Culture Days has created two resource pages for Ontario organizers and audiences: