In 2017, UNESCO named Toronto a Creative City of Media Arts (the first Canadian city to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network) for its thriving film, music, and digital media industries.
In Toronto, creativity isn’t stationary or limited to art hanging on gallery walls. It lives and breathes on theater stages, dances across alleyways in colorful murals, and lights up classrooms with big ideas. It reimagines overlooked public spaces and fuels the startups designing our future.
This creative culture is an invitation to business events looking for fresh perspectives, unexpected venues, and opportunities to engage with a thriving, diverse city beyond the conference room. Read on to discover the many ways Toronto will inspire attendees.
A Creative Canvas
From art installations to architecture, creative expression comes in many forms in Toronto, shaping the urban experience and the communities and industries that flourish within. Take MaRS Discovery District, for example: at this innovation hub for startups in health care, cleantech, fintech, and beyond, leading minds and innovative thinking provide an inspiring backdrop for meetings. Another hub for innovation, DMZ is a downtown incubator where some of the brightest innovators in tech are building the next big idea, a reflection of how Toronto’s creative playground is powered by emerging entrepreneurial talent.
The Bentway, an urban park below the Gardiner Expressway, broadcasted live matches on screens as well as offered cultural performances, interactive art installations, and local food experiences during the FIFA Fan Festival
Toronto.
Meanwhile, The Bentway offers a prime example of how adaptive reuse in urban design can provide an inspiring event setting. Formerly a neglected piece of land under an expressway, the 2.5-acre linear urban park now functions as a multipurpose public space, hosting performances, community gatherings, and even major events. This summer, it served as a host site for the FIFA Fan Festival Toronto, demonstrating the possibilities of creative placemaking on a global scale.
Diverse and Proud
Multiculturalism is the root of Toronto’s inclusive and collaborative spirit. More than half of the city’s population is foreign-born, representing 250 ethnicities and 180 dialects spoken. This mosaic of cultures helps foster an environment that promotes and cultivates new perspectives, a favorable setting for attendees to collaborate, experiment, and create.
While hosting FIFA World Cup 2026, Toronto offered visitors a creative way to explore the cultures of the teams competing while celebrating Toronto’s diversity. Toronto’s Global Passport, a free digital experience, challenged participants to a scavenger hunt around Toronto, highlighting cultural points of interest connected to countries competing in the tournament.
Venues That Inspire
Toronto’s abundance of unique spaces and venues can help set the stage for collaborating and brainstorming. At the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC), creativity moves from an idea to a shared experience, thanks to contemporary, flexible spaces varying from boardrooms to ballrooms to theaters. That versatility allows planners to expand their vision beyond the standard sequence of lectures and panels to new and nontraditional programming formats.
In Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s North Building, the John W. H. Bassett Theatre offers a multipurpose space for concerts, corporate meetings, product launches, and beyond.
For example, the John W. H. Bassett Theatre demonstrates how closely performance and professional exchange can intersect, as a space used for performing arts that can also host a keynote that challenges an industry to view its future differently. Whether it’s performances, installations, prototypes, or community partnerships, the MTCC provides new avenues for helping attendees see familiar challenges from a new perspective.
A Plethora of Ideas
There are a million ways Toronto can help inspire creativity in groups; below, three specific ideas sure to enlighten any meeting program.
- Offer guided public art and architecture tours — Tour Guys’ expert-led tours of Graffiti Alley in downtown highlights murals and street art created by renowned artists.
- Utilize local businesses as venues — Art galleries and studios come to mind, but boutique coffee shops can be surprisingly versatile. For a setting that feels more like a living room than a formal conference space, check out Dark Horse Espresso Bar, Now and Later, and Propeller Coffee Co.
- Inspire attendees to create together — Smoking Gun Entertainment, a local improv theater known for its interactive murder-mystery shows, can customize team-building events based on a group’s goals.
Connecting with Destination Toronto as a partner is the first step in finding resources and connecting with the community. Visit DestinationToronto.com to get in touch with the team.
