Luminato Festival

At TO Live, we believe the performing arts connect communities, spark dialogue, and transform how we experience our city. Through commissioning and co-producing new work, supporting artists, and collaborating with local and international partners, we help create meaningful cultural experiences reflecting Toronto’s diversity.

We are proud to partner with Luminato Festival on presentations of 10 Days in a Madhouse, Play Dead by People Watching, Penn & Teller, and Theatre of Dreams by Hofesh Shechter Company, bringing artists to Toronto audiences and reinforcing the city’s status as a global centre for contemporary performance.

Congratulations to Luminato on this significant milestone anniversary.

For two decades, Luminato has brought artists and audiences together to share bold, diverse, and thought-provoking art experiences. What began as an ambitious vision has grown into one of Canada’s leading international arts festivals that transforms the people, places and possibilities of Toronto.

This festival is particularly special. Across art experiences in theatre, circus, dance, music, opera, public art and film, we transform the city through the theme of PLAY. Running from June 3 – 28, 2026, we proudly present the longest festival in our history, featuring more than 50 free and ticketed events, over 140 performances and more than 25 locations across the city.Luminato 2026 showcases more than 1,000 artists, eight exclusive Canadian commissions and seven world premieres in a celebration that is distinctly Toronto, proudly Canadian, and totally Global.

We thank everyone who makes this celebration possible. We are grateful for everyone who participates in our festivities, whether local, from near or far. Thank you to our community of partners, donors, artists and volunteers.

This festival is a bright reflection of all that is great about Toronto. We invite you to join us in joyful celebration of this vibrant global city.

Can a festival truly PLAY its city? Enter our theme for 2026.

Be it experiences that evoke child’s play using imagination and whimsy; stories that spotlight justice and reconciliation by boldly addressing themes of equal play through to the uncertainty of shifting dynamics, the need to win and the imbalance of power play.

From playable public art that makes you smile and stare in wonder, hearing breakup stories that mirror the playback tapes of our youth, through to discovering the courage of feminists who feigned their own insanity to play for truth.

Play one, play all, play on.

Toronto becomes a stage this summer, and we invite you to join us.

Congratulations to Luminato on this significant milestone anniversary.

PREMIER DOUG FORD

Hello and welcome to this year’s Luminato Festival.

Every year, Luminato transforms Toronto with bold, playful and extraordinary art experiences. This year promises to be its biggest one, as we celebrate the festival’s 20th anniversary.

Kudos to the unfailingly creative team behind Luminato for, once again, bringing us this celebration of creativity. Thank you for helping make our province a great place to live and a destination for lovers of art and culture everywhere.

Best wishes for a memorable festival.

THE PRIME MINISTER

I would like to convey my warmest greetings to everyone taking part in the 2026 Luminato Festival.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of this much-anticipated annual event. I am certain that everyone in attendance will enjoy the many exceptional performances planned for this edition of the festival.

I would like to thank the artists taking part for sharing their talents with the community.

I would also like to commend the organizers for ensuring the success of this event, year after year, as well as the volunteers for their role in making this an unforgettable experience for everyone.

I wish you all a wonderful festival.

THE MAYOR

It is my pleasure to welcome everyone attending the 20th anniversary edition of the Luminato Festival.

This festival will span nearly a month and showcase exceptional performances in collaboration with some of Toronto’s leading arts organizations. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Luminato Festival is focusing on a city-wide celebration of art, light and music, highlighting community-focused experiences.

I am pleased that this event is taking place in Toronto and strives to create inclusive experiences and support access to arts and culture.

On behalf of Toronto City Council, please accept my best wishes for an successful and enjoyable event.

Yours truly,

CREATOR'S NOTE

Since 2023, we have had the chance to take this piece around the world and witness the way it continues to reflect the complex web of relationships and events that shape our paths. When we first created it, the show was shaped by a number of things: the global pandemic, the strange beauty and absurdity of how we relate to one another, and a kind of nostalgia for the moment we were living through. There was a tenderness to that period. In many ways, it feels that the show speaks even more urgently now, within a culture that feels increasingly fractured and distant.

The beautiful thing about live performance is its ephemeral nature. It stretches and bends with time. It’s beautiful witnessing how the work has evolved just as we, as individuals, have evolved. Art imitates life, just as life imitates art. The piece is a kind of playground, a safe space where connection continues to feel honest and real. Beauty is suddenly found in new and somewhat bizarre corners of the performance. While it has matured alongside us through the years, Play Dead remains a time capsule containing a deep yearning for connection and transformation.

People Watching is a Montréal based collective, creating at the intersection of contemporary circus, dance and physical theater. Each personally established in their field, the six artists have worked for companies such as The 7 Fingers, Circa, Cirque du Soleil and Broadway. Founded in the tumultuous Spring of 2020, the collective was initially moved to investigate ways in which intimacy could be shared with an audience during a time of profound seclusion.

The inquisitive nature of this creative process has laid the groundwork for a practice that seeks connection over grandiosity. Weaving in the visceral language of contemporary circus with their organic approach to acrobatics, the company has established a body of work that has reached national and international recognition in the performing arts community, and has fostered collaborations with a multitude of established venues, festivals, creatives and companies. In 2025, the collective was named associate artists at Usine C, launching a two-year residency that will serve as a creative engine for new works that challenge form, expand connection, and reflect the evolving human landscape.

People Watching