Up Here festival in Sudbury, Ontario, has grown into the premier arts, music, and culture festival in Northeastern Ontario. But even as the popular event has evolved significantly since its launch in 2014, to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the event’s organizers going bigger than ever.
This year’s theme? It’s about a return to childhood, a sense of anticipation, and the excitement of the journey itself. Up Here 10 asks: “Are we there yet?”
This year’s festival, taking place August 15-18 2024, will feature six all-new public murals throughout town, dozens of concerts, interactive installations, family-friendly programming and pop-up events. The organizers expect the event to not only celebrate the work of local artists, but get visitors involved in the artistic process itself. Tickets for Up Here 10 are available here.
That means attendees will not only be able to see the creation of new murals and any of the 50 live shows taking place across 15 live music venues (including duelling late-night shows), but can immerse themselves in projected videos, sculptures of giant alien flowers and even discover artsy surprises in unexpected places (such as behind out-of-order porta-potties).
It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the event’s decade-long legacy, with guided tours of some of the 90+ public artworks that have been created since the festival’s launch. Among these: Canada’s largest mural by RISK and a portrait by Kevin Ledo of famous Sudbury native Alex Trebek on the wall of his childhood school.
The festival is spread throughout the city of Sudbury in indoor and outdoor venues. The main gathering place for the event is Up Here Square, the location of the live music main stage, the Up Here Bar (where visitors can grab refreshments throughout the fest) and a three-story geodesic dome.
In addition to the numerous scheduled events, pop-up shows will happen throughout the festival (announced via notifications on the Up Here mobile app) and adventurous guests can be on the lookout for hidden surprises and spaces throughout the event.
While concerts are scheduled into the early hours of the morning, the festival also offers plenty of family-friendly activities, including a dedicated Family Day as well as a brunch program, created in partnership with local favourite, Knowhere Public House.
As it celebrates Sudbury’s creativity, Up Here 10 will also celebrate the destination’s diversity, with Anglophone, Francophone, Indigenous, BIPOC, and LGBTQ2+ perspectives throughout the programming. It will also emphasize Sudbury’s history and geological legacy—not only as one of the world’s premier sources of nickel (including the world’s biggest nickel, of course) but quirky moments in its past, such as when Thomas Edison got stuck in quicksand here or NASA sent aspiring astronauts to Sudbury’s rocky landscape as training for walking on the moon’s barren surface.
Whatever concerts, installations or experiences guests explore as part of this year’s Up Here, they will find plenty “there” to answer the question “Are we there yet?”
