The Polaris Festival Is Back For 2026!

The Polaris Music Prize is proud to announce the return of the 2026 Polaris Festival this September, a month-long celebration of Canadian music as art, featuring more than 20 events across Ontario, including Polaris nominees, winners, and alumni.

Presented by SiriusXM Canada, the 2026 Polaris Festival continues to expand Polaris’ public-facing programming beyond the Prize itself, creating new ways for audiences to encounter music through live performance, deep listening, conversation, collaboration, and behind-the-scenes explorations of the artistic process.

Four Ways to Experience the Polaris Festival

The 2026 Polaris Festival is organized around four interconnected programming streams: Listen, Gather, Illuminate, and Amplify. Together, these four movements invite audiences to hear Canadian music with more care, gather around the ideas and communities that shape it, illuminate the creative worlds behind the work, and carry its impact forward beyond the Festival.

Listen creates intentional spaces to experience Canadian music with attention and care.

Gather brings artists, audiences, critics, jurors, partners, and communities together through conversations and discussions that explore how music is made and why it matters.

Illuminate reveals the stories behind the music by exploring the creative process and cultural significance of Canadian music.

Amplify creates opportunities that extend beyond the Festival through initiatives that help carry Canadian music forward long after September.

First Festival Events Announced

To mark the Festival’s return, Polaris is sharing a first look at four events that anchor this year’s programming framework. Additional events, venues, artists, and ticketing details will be revealed starting July 23rd and continuing through September 1.

Listen – Dreaming with Caribou

DATE & VENUE TO BE REVEALED | 7:00 PM

Dreaming with Caribou invites audiences into a focused listening experience centred on Caribou’s music, creating space to hear the album as a world of rhythm, texture, memory, and movement. This event reflects a commitment to slowing down the listening experience and inviting audiences to encounter Canadian music with intention and care.

Gather – Collective Study: K-Os’ Joyful Rebellion

September 16, 2026 | The Palmerston Theatre, Toronto, ON | Free w/ RSVP 

Collective Study is part lecture, part cultural listening session, and part invitation into a larger conversation about Black Canadian music. Focusing on K-os’ Joyful Rebellion, the question being asked is what this album makes possible: how it uses genre as a tool for freedom, how it moves between musical traditions, how it resists fixed expectations of Black Canadian identity, and how it opens up a more layered understanding of Black creativity in this country.

Illuminate – Aquakultre’s Community Listening Party in collaboration with Half A Concert

September 19, 2026 | It’s OK* Studios, Toronto, ON | Free w/ RSVP

A storytelling experience that explores Black Canadian music, memory, ancestry, and cultural continuity. Led by Aquakultre, also known as Lance Sampson, an award-winning singer-songwriter, rapper, storyteller, and visual artist from Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, the event brings together music and narrative to reveal the histories, communities, and creative lineages that shape Black Canadian sound.

Amplify – Polaris Festival Northern Sound Exchange

September 4, 2026 | Knox Hall, Sudbury, ON 

Bringing the Festival beyond Toronto through a regional gathering designed to support artist discovery and industry dialogue in Northern Ontario. The Northern Sound Exchange creates space for artists, presenters, cultural workers, and audiences to come together to explore the future of Canadian music beyond traditional industry centres, building pathways and carrying the Festival’s impact forward.

More Programming Announced Weekly

The first wave of events marks the beginning of the 2026 Polaris Festival rollout. New programming will be announced weekly through September 1, with the first reveal of programming beginning July 23, 2026. You can expect more artist announcements, venue details, ticket and RSVP information, partner events, and special programming updates throughout the summer.

About the Polaris Festival

The Polaris Festival is a month-long, multi-venue celebration of Canadian music as art. Built around the belief that music deserves to be heard with intention and curiosity, the Festival brings together artists, audiences, and communities through concerts, listening sessions, conversations, workshops, and artist-led experiences that celebrate Canadian music recognized for its artistic merit. Every event is designed to deepen listening, encourage discovery, and create lasting connections between audiences and the artists shaping Canada’s contemporary musical landscape.

The Polaris Festival is presented by SiriusXM Canada and made possible through the support of Experience Ontario, Ontario Creates, the City of Toronto’s Cultural Festivals Funding Program, FACTOR, and the Festival’s many community and venue partners.