The International Garden Festival has officially launched its call for proposals for the 27th edition, set to open on June 20, 2026, at Les Jardins de Métis | Reford Gardens in Grand-Métis, Canada. With a long tradition as a hub for creative exchange, the Festival invites designers worldwide to take part in this ambitious landscape experiment.
Theme: Mapping Sensitivity
The 2026 edition embraces the theme Mapping Sensitivity, an exploration of how people experience, perceive, and emotionally connect with space. Rather than focusing on geopolitical boundaries, the concept builds on sensitive mapping—an approach that values lived experiences, cultural context, and emotional resonance as equally important as physical geography.
Invitation to Designers
This call is open to landscape architects, architects, visual artists, and multidisciplinary teams from across the globe. Proposals should be conceived as gardens that exist at once in reality and imagination, fully animated by the visitors who interact with them. Designers are encouraged to develop strategies for recycling or repurposing materials, ensuring ecological responsibility once the exhibition ends.
Eligibility and Guidelines
Each applicant may submit only one proposal, individually or as part of a team. Multidisciplinary collaboration is strongly encouraged. Gardens must be designed for display over at least two summers. The Festival’s artistic and technical committees will work with selected designers to identify the most suitable sites within the Festival grounds.
Timeline and Festival Legacy
The deadline for electronic submissions is October 27, 2025, at 17:00 EST. Since its founding in 2000, the International Garden Festival has showcased more than 180 contemporary gardens in Canada and abroad. Presented alongside the historic gardens of Elsie Reford, the Festival creates a dialogue between tradition and innovation, bridging history with forward-looking experimentation.
Further details and registration guidelines can be found on the official website:
International Garden Festival.
Competition Timeline
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Call for Proposals Launch | September 3, 2025 |
| Submission Deadline | October 27, 2025 (17:00 EST) |
| Festival Opening | June 20, 2026 |
