Programming Ideas
Resources / Programming Ideas
Programming Ideas
Need a little creativity boost? Here are some ideas to help inspire you as you plan your arts, culture and heritage events. While we’ve organized these ideas by discipline, many can be adapted to different creative forms. We invite you to use these programming ideas as points of inspiration—put your spin on the concept to make it truly unique to you, community or organization!
This guide is part of our free resources available at culturedays.ca/resources which support event and community organizers in the successful planning and promotion of their arts, culture, and heritage events.
Explore our Funding Opportunities Resource for a list of funding opportunities for arts, culture, and heritage programs across the country.
Funding Opportunities
Whether you’re planning for Culture Days events or other arts, culture, and heritage programs, here is a list of funding opportunities with upcoming or rolling deadlines from across the country to be aware of.
Community Spotlight: Morden, MB
Intending to foster meaningful community partnerships, the City of Morden, Manitoba, and the Pembina Hills Arts Council shared with us how this stellar collaboration came to be. Coordinator for the City of Morden, Manitoba, and Liza Isakov, Executive Director at the Pembina Hills Arts Council (PHAC) to learn more about the [2023 Morden Culture Days Hub](https://culturedays.ca/en/hubs/cdeea835-48b0-465f-84ae-6319617c9a89)—a collaboration between the city and the Arts Council—and to find out wh...
Literature, Libraries, and Spoken Word
A story or poem contest
Genealogy and Family Tree activities: Make use of library resources, archives, and online tools
3-D Printing workshop
Multilingual storytelling session
Celebrate local talent: Meet-ups, talk backs and readings by local authors
Library After Dark events: Host an ‘Adults read things they wrote as kids’ night or poetry reading
Build a collaborative project. For example, collect postcards from community members and display them to share the memories and moments from a special place
Host a Braille reading lesson
Facilitate a youth fashion show
Host an open mic night!
Theatre
Back-of-House tour: Spotlight props and wardrobe departments, dressing rooms, rehearsal halls, set design, etc.
Pre-show talk back
Improv workshop for beginners
Play readings for aspiring playwrights
Stage combat and/or sound effects workshops
Open rehearsal
Stand-up comedy night featuring local comedians
Actor for a Day: Let members of the public try out a role in a scene from a signature or upcoming show
Dance
Rhythmic/Movement Therapy classes
Lessons for different ages, abilities, and levels of experience
Dance outside the box: Develop site-specific work in a unique or unexpected setting
Flash mob!
Sampler class: Lead 4-5 micro classes in different styles
History of Dance presentation: How, where, and why did your dance discipline develop?
Collaborative choreography: Create a new work for the public WITH the public
Sneak peek at your upcoming show or season
Museums and Heritage
Artifact preservation workshop: Ask the public to bring an artifact from home and show them how to preserve their treasured pieces
Walking tour of historic neighborhoods, historic plaques, and culturally significant places
Talk and/or presentation with elders and local knowledge-keepers
Sensory and hands-on learning opportunities
Collect and share oral histories
Historic food, crafts, and games
Collaborative pop-up museum: Invite the public to contribute a work of art, story, or artifact
Community Time Capsule
Visual Arts and Craft
Studio tour
Collaborative community mural
Art Therapy workshop
‘Make & Take’ art swap
Knit-in and yarn bombing
Walking or biking tour of local public art
Matting and framing lesson
‘En Plein Air’ workshop
Music
Invite the public to conduct your choir, orchestra, or symphony
Songwriting workshop with a local musician
Community jam sessions or coffee shop open mic night
Beatbox workshop
Build your own instruments for kids: Pellet drums, ankle bells, tambourines, etc.
Webcast concert and virtual chat with a conductor, composer, etc.
Recording studio tour and demonstration
Film and Video
Sensory-friendly and/or relaxed screenings
Hands-on Stop-motion and Claymation workshop
Silent film screening with live music
Special FX demonstrations
Storyboarding workshops
Exhibit vintage film and video equipment, processes etc.
Outdoor/public space screenings
‘Make a film in a day’ workshops
Culinary Arts
Home food preservation workshop: How to pickle, can, ferment, and dry
From Harvest to table: Food Foraging activities
Decorative fruit and vegetable carving
Tastings: Wine, cheese, coffee, olive oil, locally-grown apples, etc.
Explore traditional food cultures: Chinese tea culture, polish cuisine, Jamaican flavors, etc.
Farm, brewery, or orchard tours
Community and/or at-home gardening and composting
Harvest festivals
Environment & Outdoors
A nature photography-based hike
Community-based nature walk highlighting local plants and wildlife
Seminar on climate change effects in your community
Bird watching
Community garden harvest activities
A trip to the docks: Learn more about fish and wildlife in your area
Wildflower pressing workshop
En plein air painting session
Multidisciplinary
Many of the programming ideas listed above can be adjusted to be multidisciplinary, like the following examples:
Have a musician interpret the work of a visual artist and vice versa
Pair a writing workshop with a hiking group: Poets compose site-specific poetry to be recited on a hike during Culture Days
Provide theatre or dance costumes or props for volunteers to model for a life drawing class
Hold an ‘action photography’ workshop with a dance class as the subject
Choose a theme or creative prompt and invite artists of different artistic mediums to submit their interpretations
Host an afternoon of outdoor foraging to make natural dyes
Collage poetry workshops
Online Programming
Many of the programming examples on this page can be adapted for an online platform, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
Online film or documentary screening
Live-streamed concert or musical performance
Virtual Book Club
Online workshop presented by a local actor
Live-streamed poetry reading
Online storytelling round-table
Virtual danceathon or choreography lesson
Digital beading workshop
For a list of online platforms on which to host your program and other tips, check out our Online Programming Resource.
Online Programming
Thinking about pivoting to online programming? Here's where to start.
Self-guided Activities Self-guided activities are great because they allow participants—both individuals and groups—to go at their own pace. Self-guided programs can be uniquely tailored to your community, or developed for ‘do-it-at-home’ accessible participation.
Self-guided public art walking tour
Do-it-at-home arts and craft projects: Still life painting, Zine-making, sewing class
Outdoor/nature scavenger hunt
Story writing, poetry, or journaling prompts
DIY baking or cooking lesson
Artwork show-and-tell for children
Audio adventures: themed storytime, heritage podcasts, dramatic readings
Create an at-home herb garden
