Up Here features more than 50 live shows across an array of outdoor and indoor venues.

Vanessa Tignanelli @vantigphoto

Up Here 12 Is Coming to Sudbury This August—and It's Got Something to Say

50+ shows, art, pop-ups, a geodesic dome + much more await visitors to this popular 12th annual festival in Northeastern Ontario.

A dance party with purple lights in a geodome in Sudbury Ontario.

Up Here features more than 50 live shows across an array of outdoor and indoor venues.

Vanessa Tignanelli @vantigphoto

By Alex Palmer Alex Palmer is a New York Times bestselling author who writes about travel, culture, and history.

March 24, 2026

Up Here festival in Sudbury, Ontario, has grown into the premier arts, music, and culture festival in Northeastern Ontario. Now in its 12th year, Up Here 12 returns to transform downtown Sudbury into an urban art gallery August 14–16, 2026 with new murals painted in real time, 50+ live shows, interactive installations, family programming, and pop-up events spread across the entire city over three days in August.

A party at Sudbury's Big Nickel. — The entire city of Sudbury is a venue for Up Here 12. Catch a show at the Big Nickel! // Photo credit: Vanessa Tignanelli @vantigphoto

When is Up Here 12 and What’s Happening?

Up Here 12 takes place August 14–16, 2026 in Sudbury, Ontario. The full artist lineup, programming, and ticket information will be announced closer to the event. But definitely pencil in dozens of live shows across multiple indoor and outdoor venues, new public murals created in real time, interactive art installations, family-friendly programming, and pop-up events announced via the Up Here mobile app.

This year's theme is Rest, Renew, Resist.

Wake up and smell the revolution. Up Here 12 starts from a simple premise: rest is a defrag, a reset, a necessary clearing of the cache before you can build something new. The theme is an invitation to reboot, reimagine, and get to work on the world you actually want to live in.

For the festival's muralists and installation artists, it's a loose brief—take it literally, run with it sideways, or throw it out entirely. Up Here has always been about what happens when you hand creative people a city and get out of the way.

Tickets will be available at uphere.ca. Follow Up Here for lineup announcements.

A mural of a man lying down in Sudbury Ontario. — Check out the city's many murals and watch artists creating them in real time. // Photo credits from L to R: Chris Thériault
@candids_worldwide; Brandon Michael Gray@brandonmichaelgray

A pink and blue mural of a woman on a building in Sudbury Ontario. — Check out the city's many murals and watch artists creating them in real time. // Photo credits from L to R: Chris Thériault
@candids_worldwide; Brandon Michael Gray@brandonmichaelgray

Attendees will not only be able to see the creation of new murals and any of the dozens of live shows taking place across multiple 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).

Green laser lights at a DJ show in Sudbury Ontario. — With more than 50 live shows to choose from there's a concert for every taste. // Photo credit: Vanessa Tignanelli @vantigphoto

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.

Art Art Everywhere: Up Here Square Is Just the Beginning

An art installation of plants and an orange ball in Sudbury Ontario. — Art is everywhere at Up Here. // Photo credit: Liz Lott @_lizlott_

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.

Family Friendly, Diverse Experiences, + Historic Legacies

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 12 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.

Plan Your Trip to Up Here 12 in Sudbury Now

Canada's largest mural painted in multicolours on a hospital building in Sudbury Ontario. — The city of Sudbury is packed with opportunities to check out arts, culture, and more this year at Up Here 12. // Photo credit: We Live Up Here @weliveuphere @uphere

More Adventures in The Seven—Northeastern Ontario!

Find Your True North

First name

Email address

We will never spam you and will never share your e-mail. Please see our privacy policy.

Thank you for subscribing!

About Alex Palmer

Alex Palmer is a New York Times bestselling author who writes about travel, culture, and history for outlets including Smithsonian, Slate, and National Geographic. Learn more at alexpalmerwrites.com