Cultural Strategy: Toronto’s Culture Connects 2025-2035 plan

In 2024, the City of Toronto launched Culture Connects: An Action Plan for Culture (2025–2035) to redefine how culture is supported, experienced, and valued across the city. Developed in response to significant shifts in Toronto’s social and cultural landscape, the plan sets out a 10-year vision to ensure that everyone in Toronto has the opportunity to create, engage with, and feel a sense of belonging in the city’s cultural life.

A new cultural plan for new cultural challenges

Toronto’s last cultural plan was released more than a decade prior, and it has become clear that the city needed a renewed and more inclusive approach. Population growth, increased diversity, and rising costs of living had changed the realities for both cultural creators and audiences. Cultural workers were facing ongoing precarity, while systemic inequities continued to limit access to resources and opportunities for many communities. The City recognised that in order to keep Toronto vibrant, liveable, and resilient, culture needed to be more deeply embedded into city-building and made more accessible to everyone.

One of the most pressing challenges the plan aimed to address was a widespread sense of cultural exclusion. During citywide consultations, many residents reported that they didn’t feel that culture in Toronto was “for someone like them”. Whether due to financial barriers, lack of representation, or geographic isolation, too many people – particularly those in equity-deserving communities – felt disconnected from Toronto’s cultural life. At the same time, artists and cultural organisations faced rising costs, limited access to space, and underfunding. The result was a growing divide between cultural production and public participation.

Making cultural access a right, rather than a privilege

The plan’s focus on access is critical. By centring residents, Culture Connects acknowledged that culture is not only about institutions or events – it’s about people feeling seen, heard, and included. This approach resonated deeply with residents, particularly those who had historically been left out of cultural decision-making. What made the plan successful was not only its vision but its practical commitments. Clear targets, timelines, and community-informed actions helped build trust. Residents saw themselves in the plan’s priorities, and artists felt supported by tangible policy and investment shifts.

Culture Connects is structured around four key priorities, each with specific targets to be achieved over the next decade. ‘Culture everywhere’ will integrate culture and creativity into communities across Toronto – with the aim of developing one million square feet of new cultural space throughout the city. ‘Culture for all’ will provide every resident with access to at least one free cultural experience in their neighbourhood each month. This ensures that all residents and visitors can access meaningful cultural experiences. 

Thinking beyond 2035, Toronto is also focusing on ‘Culture for the Future’. The city will increase its investment in culture by CAD 35 million or 50% over ten years to support a thriving and innovative cultural sector. And beyond the city, ‘Culture Beyond Our Borders’ will enable 1,000 new creative export and artist exchange projects over the next decade – positioning Toronto as a global cultural capital. 

Ultimately, Culture Connects positioned culture as a right, not a privilege – laying the foundation for a more inclusive, expressive, and connected Toronto.