2026 Artistic Direction - LunarFest GTA

LUNARFEST GTA

Artistic Direction

Brave the Wind

Year of the Horse

2026 Year of the Horse

Brave the Wind

The Year of the Horse gallops in with fierce energy—untamed, enduring, and swift. Horses charge forward even in the face of a storm, guided by instinct and resilience. Inspired by this noble spirit, “Brave the Wind” becomes LunarFest’s call for courage: a challenge to each of us to move forward through life’s turbulence with grace, conviction, and openness.

In an era where the world is confronted by instability—from global conflicts to climate anxiety, from economic precarity to the growing tides of racial division—how do we hold onto hope, and how do we hold each other?

For many, Lunar New Year is a time of warmth, tradition, and reunion. But in a diverse, urban place like the Greater Toronto Area, where home may be fragmented by migration or memory, tradition can also feel distant or unfamiliar. “Brave the Wind” invites all communities to reimagine what this ancient celebration means in a contemporary world.

It is not enough to simply weather the wind—we must meet it head-on. This means confronting racial tensions with honesty, through storytelling that honours pain and uplifts resilience; recognizing the diverse journeys of those whose identities are complex, hybrid, or misunderstood; and creating space for people to come together—not in sameness, but in solidarity.

Through “Brave the Wind,” we aspire to create art that offers shelter and provokes thought, tradition that adapts without losing heart, and celebration that includes even those still finding their way home.

Artwork by: Jeffery Chen

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About LunarFest

An annual celebration of the Lunar New Year through arts and storytelling. We invite the diverse communities of Canada to join us in creating new traditions to welcome a new year, together!

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LunarFest GTA is grateful to be held on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, that is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We acknowledge our privilege to be gathered on this land, and commit to work with and be respectful to the Indigenous peoples whose arts and stories inspire us to bring communities together.

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