5 Ways to Show Your Work at the DesignTO Festival 2027

Show Your Work at the 17th Annual DesignTO Festival, January 22–31, 2027

The DesignTO Festival brings people together to celebrate design’s role in creating a sustainable, just and joyful world across Toronto, with over 100 exhibitions and events forming Toronto’s design week each January.

Since 2011, the DesignTO Festival has welcomed over 1 million visitors, showcased the work of over 7,500 artists and designers, and reached over 2.7 billion people through print and digital media.

Want to be part of the 2027 Festival? Whether you’re looking for a venue, developing new work, interested in sharing your ideas, or ready to produce your own project, there are several ways to get involved.

5 Ways to Participate

1. Apply to the Call for Guest Designers
Deadline: Monday, September 14, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

This is for you if:
You’re an artist or designer with an exhibition, event, or window installation in mind and are looking for a Toronto venue to host it.

Benefits:
Choose your top three spaces from a diverse selection of Host Venues across Toronto, receive a venue free of charge if successfully matched, and showcase your project to DesignTO Festival audiences through the Festival Schedule, mobile app, e-newsletter, and more.

Matchmaking is taking place on a rolling basis, so apply early to increase the likelihood of being matched with your preferred venue.

Visit here to explore the Host Venues and apply

2. Apply to the Artist Sojourn Program
Deadline: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

This is for you if:
You’re an artist living in Canada interested in developing site-specific work inspired by a new environment.

Presented by DesignTO and Le Germain Hotel Toronto Mercer, the Artist Sojourn Program invites two selected artists to spend a weekend immersed in the hotel and develop proposals for artworks to be displayed in its lobby and adjacent spaces.

Benefits:
Receive a complimentary weekend stay including breakfast and dinner, artist and installation fees, a materials allowance of up to $1,250, and an exhibition at Le Germain Hotel Toronto Mercer from January 22 to March 1, 2027.

Visit here to learn more and submit

3. Submit to DesignTO Talks: ‘Be Our Guest’
Deadline: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

This is for you if:
You’re a designer, architect, artist, researcher, planner, educator, or creative thinker with civic ideas about belonging, placemaking, and how we experience our homes, neighbourhoods, and cities.

‘Be Our Guest’ is a half day of talks exploring radical welcoming through two spheres of conversation: A Spatial Welcome and A Cultural Welcome. Talks can draw from research, projects, case studies, technologies, spaces, experiences, speculative design, processes, policies, and more.

Benefits:
Share your ideas and practice with a public audience, contribute to conversations about design and the city, connect with other creative practitioners, and gain visibility through DesignTO Festival channels.

‘Be Our Guest’ is organized by DesignTO and Allies and Morrison (AAM), building on DesignTO’s portfolio of talks and symposia and AAM’s annual Citymakers program.

Visit here to learn more and submit your talk proposal

4. Submit to the DesignTO Thematic Exhibition: ‘Between Flood and Forgetting’
Deadline: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

This is for you if:
You’re an artist or designer whose work explores the lived experience of climate change, whether through adaptation and response or ecological grief, transformation, disappearance, and loss.

‘Between Flood and Forgetting’ unfolds through two perspectives: ‘The Flood’, which looks outward at how people and communities are already responding to a changing world, and ‘Slow Burn’, which turns inward to make space for ecological grief.

All mediums are welcome, and submissions of existing work or realized projects are preferred, although new and speculative work will also be considered.

Benefits:
Have your work featured in a DesignTO-curated exhibition co-presented with the Textile Museum of Canada, connecting your practice with Festival audiences and a broader conversation around our changing environment.

The exhibition is scheduled to run January 22 – April 18, 2027 (dates TBC).

Visit here to learn more and submit your work

5. Produce Your Own Independent Project
Deadline: Friday, October 9, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

This is for you if:
You’re an artist, designer, design firm, local business, academic or cultural institution, student, or creative organization with an exhibition, event, or window installation you want to produce as part of the Festival.

Independent Projects give you the freedom to develop and execute your own project at a venue of your choice, either in person in Toronto or online.

Benefits:
Share your work with DesignTO’s audience, join a city-wide community of artists and designers, and receive a dedicated listing in the online Festival Schedule and mobile app, inclusion in a ‘What to do’ daily e-newsletter, Festival signage, and more.

You should know:
Independent Project participants are responsible for developing their project and arranging their own venue.

Visit here to learn more and register

The 17th annual DesignTO Festival takes place January 22–31, 2027.

However you want to participate, we want to see what you’re working on. Explore the current calls and find your place in the 2027 DesignTO Festival.

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DesignTO
PO Box 31027 College Square
Toronto, Ontario M6G 4A7
designto.org
join@designto.org
‪+1 (647) 577-7899

Image credits:
2026 DesignTO curated exhibition Traces at Gallery 235. Photo by Christine Lim-Courtesy of DesignTO
ALL LIGHT group exhibition curated by Kilowatt Kate and Common Good. Photo by Jocelyn Reynolds