The Call for Submissions for the 2025 SummerWorks Performance Festival is now open!

Each year, SummerWorks invites artists and creative collaborators to submit proposals for consideration in future Festivals, and in year-round programming, through an Open Call for Submissions.

SummerWorks does not accept unsolicited project proposals. However, if you have an upcoming performance or showing, please send us an invitation. Our team will respond to your message, only if we are able to attend.

submissions@summerworks.ca

Michael Caldwell is the Artistic Director at SummerWorks and is ultimately responsible for curating the Festival each year, while also leading all programming conversations and strategies for the organization. For each Call, we engage with curatorial selection committees, guest curators, and/or programming partners.

For regular updates on the Festival, sign up for our newsletter.

Are you passionate about the arts and live performance? 

SummerWorks is actively seeking new board members eager to contribute to the future of one of Canada’s most vibrant Festivals! 

As part of our board renewal, and our ongoing commitment to creating a diverse and robust board, we are intrigued to engage with individuals with the following skills and experience to support and direct the organization:

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Programming and Curatorial Practice
• Finance and Accounting
• Fundraising and Philanthropic Giving
• Strategic Planning

We are seeking board members who are excited by what we do and have a desire to collaborate and contribute to SummerWorks’ future!

Board members contribute approximately 3-10 hours per month. This includes 5-6 meetings per year, project-based committee work, and occasional gatherings and events.

Expressions of interest will be accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Please detail your relevant professional experience and why you would like to join the SummerWorks community, and send to morgan@summerworks.ca.

SummerWorks is committed to equity and diversity, both through our program of activities, and as an employer. Our practices and procedures aim to reflect the varied needs, expectations, and cultures of all members of our community. We make every effort to ensure that no member of the community receives less favourable treatment in our recruitment process or when accessing our services on the grounds of gender identity, disability, race, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation. 

We warmly encourage expressions of interest from individuals from equity-seeking groups, including those who identify as Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Trans, Nonbinary, Queer, Disabled and intersections of those identities. We enthusiastically invite expressions of interest from individuals from a diversity of lived experiences and professional backgrounds inside and outside the performing arts sector.

We are very excited by the possibility of engaging with YOU at SummerWorks! Each year, 100+ dedicated individuals contribute their time and energy to the Festival. SummerWorks’ volunteers scan tickets, collect donations, distribute promotional material, and provide information and way-finding support to patrons. 

Our developing volunteer program offers an opportunity to connect with other folks in the arts and cultural community, attend free or discounted performances and events, earn ‘SummerBucks’ to win prizes, and other perks at restaurants, cafés, shops, and more!

Through a new initiative with the Toronto Fringe, you’ll join a growing community of Festival volunteers and loop into further volunteer opportunities beyond SummerWorks.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, please visit us here.

We are hiring individuals for various staff positions, to support the 2024 SummerWorks Performance Festival! However, there are currently no open job calls.

Check this space often, for updated details on Festival contract positions.

Industry professionals are a vital part of the SummerWorks ecology. Each year, we host SummerWorks Focus, a bespoke experience for accredited industry professionals, in tandem with the SummerWorks Performance Festival.

SummerWorks Focus is a vital part of the Festival experience. Happening over 4-5 days, it’s our ever-evolving exploration into more relational, less hierarchical, and increasingly impactful engagement within our industry, and within Toronto’s diverse communities of performance practice.

The 2024 Focus included networking events and receptions, intimate studio visits with local artists, moments with Festival artists and dialogues with industry colleagues, as well as reduced-price industry tickets/passes for many Festival performances.

If you are an industry professional, planning to attend the 2025 Festival (August 7 – 17), and would like further information, please contact us at community@summerworks.ca.

If you are planning to visit us from out-of-town, contact community@summerworks.ca to discuss the kinds of support and resources SummerWorks can offer.

Our learning and sharing platform offers a diverse mix of opportunities to engage with the SummerWorks community during the Festival.

The Exchange is a dynamic space for emergent creative thinking to come into focus and conversation, gathering artists and audiences together with intention around relevant and urgent creative proposals and artistic practices.

If you have an idea that you’d like to share with us, please contact us at community@summerworks.ca.