Art in the Open 2025

Art in the Open presents: Care—a 2025 celebration of art and community in August. This year, Art in the Open (AITO) returns a little softer. Organizers say they are “reflecting on where we’ve come from, where we’re going, and how we take care of each other on the way.”

This year’s festival theme is “care,” reflecting a renewed focus on connection and community after a strategic reset. Artists were invited to submit projects that focus on the meaning of care and how it shapes lives and spaces. The theme offers a prompt to consider the role of care in society—care for people, place, memory, and the natural world. Festival-goers can expect a range of thought-provoking installations, performances, and participatory experiences that explore the politics, poetics, and possibilities of care in everyday life.

“We had the opportunity to do some strategic consultation in 2024 and really look back on the history of this festival and how far we’ve come,” shares Festival Coordinator Monica Lacey. “This is a seed year, rather than a harvest year. A chance to start fresh and restructure our format while still honouring all that we’ve built over the previous 13 editions of AITO. New initiatives include a caregiver fund for participating artists, spreading our programming over multiple days, rather than a single big explosion, and making events a little smaller and more accessible. We’ve also moved many projects indoors due to increasingly unpredictable weather and climate change.” 

Art in the Open Presents: Care will continue the festival’s tradition of showcasing contemporary artworks by local, regional, and national artists, with special attention given to works that invite community engagement and encourage new ways of experiencing public space.

Events include: a Wearable Art Party in collaboration with This Town is Small on August 15 at The Guild; Experiments in Motion, in collaboration with and hosted by Tivoli Cinema and curated by Mille Clarkes, on August 21; artist projects and community workshops at Beaconsfield Carriage House from August 28–30; and the March of the Crows, roaming from downtown Charlottetown to Victoria Park, on August 30.

The full artist list and details are coming soon at artintheopenpei.org. Follow @art_in_the_open on social media for updates.