Oakville to host interactive dog-themed art experience during Ontario Culture Days festival
Governor General’s Award-winning artist Micah Lexier’s touring public art project will stop in Oakville as part of the provincewide celebration featuring more than 1,500 free arts and culture events.
Oakville will be one of five Ontario communities to host an interactive public art experience celebrating the bond between dogs and their owners as part of this year’s Ontario Culture Days festival.
According to Ontario Culture Days, Dog Days of Ontario Culture Days by Governor General’s Award-winning artist Micah Lexier will tour Toronto, Oakville, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Temiskaming and Windsor between Sept. 20 and Oct. 4 as part of the province-wide festival.
The project invites residents to bring their dogs for live portraits, try a carnival-style dog guesser, collect a commemorative keepsake coin and connect with fellow dog lovers. Ontario Culture Days said the initiative will also support the Farley Foundation.
Dog Days of Ontario Culture Days is one of five newly commissioned projects featured in Shifting Ground: Creatives in Residence 2026, a residency program that encourages audiences to actively participate in artistic experiences rather than simply observe them.
The Ontario Culture Days festival returns Sept. 18 to Oct. 4, offering more than 1,500 free arts, culture and heritage events in communities across the province, according to the organization.
“Ontario Culture Days is about making arts and culture accessible, surprising and deeply rooted in community,” executive director Ruth Burns said in a news release. “This year’s Creatives in Residence invite people to participate, contribute and connect, whether that’s bringing your dog to an art event, adding an object to a sculpture, singing karaoke with strangers or stepping inside an immersive installation.”
While Oakville’s featured event centres on dogs, the residency program also includes a range of participatory art experiences across Ontario.
In London, artist Zinnia Naqvi will host Come As You Are Karaoke Night, inviting participants to perform songs that hold personal meaning while exploring themes of migration, memory and belonging.
At the Niagara Artists Centre in St. Catharines, artist Jon Sasaki will create an evolving hanging sculpture built from objects contributed by members of the public throughout the day.
In Ottawa, Studio Rat will transform St. Albans Church into an immersive inflatable installation made from reclaimed plastics, accompanied by workshops and performances during the residency.
The series concludes in Toronto with Timothy Yanick Hunter’s Playing Pictures, a multimedia performance and workshop exploring archives, movement and diaspora through moving image, sound and improvisation.
Ontario Culture Days said full festival programming, including additional event details, will be announced in the coming weeks.
By Oakville News Staff
