Help create artwork descriptions with Rachel Gray and Kim Kilpatrick in a free drop-in workshop at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre on November 13, 6–8 pm.

Freecultural

Nov

#workshop#diy

Lotions and Potions DIY Workshop

Sat 14 Nov· 2:00 PM

Planet Botanix · Downtown

A hands-on workshop on making lotions, creams and balms, with three take-home products and an information package.

Price not listedcultural

Nov

#library#adult#dance

Simple Renaissance Dances / Danses simples de la Renaissance

Sat 14 Nov· 2:00 PM

Ottawa Public Library — Rideau · Downtown

Learn simple dances from Renaissance Europe at a bilingual adult programme at Rideau.

Price not listedcultural

#family

Joyce Carol Oates: Novelist, Poet, Playwright & Essayist

Sat 14 Nov· 8:00 PM

National Arts Centre — Southam Hall · Downtown

There is no more versatile and accomplished American writer than Joyce Carol Oates. The author of many books, Oates has penned bestselling novels, critically acclaimed collections of short fiction,...

$45cultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

EEPMON

7 Sep ~ 7 Sep

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

Come to the Jackson Café to discover two large murals, featuring the digital artwork of Eric Chan (aka eepmon)! In Future Garden, eepmon provokes an emotional response synonymous with that evoked b...

Freecultural

#exhibition#museum#nature

Qikiqtait ᕿᑭᖅᑕᐃᑦ

26 Sep ~ 6 Sep

Canadian Museum of Nature · Downtown

The Qikiqtait exhibition in the Polar Knowledge Canada Northern Voices Gallery celebrates Inuit knowledge and innovation from the Arctic Eider Society in Sanikiluaq. The Power of Knowledge, Innovat...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#free#family#kids

Toddler Tuesdays at National Arts Centre

Tue 28 Oct· 10:00 AM

National Arts Centre · Downtown

Interactive performing arts program for children aged 18 months - 5 years. Singing, dancing, games, story time and creative play with instructor Jesse Kahat.

Freecultural

#exhibition#museum#nature

Life onto Land: The Devonian

19 Dec ~ 4 Sep

Canadian Museum of Nature · Downtown

Find out how life took its first steps onto land. Discover Tiktaalik, an iconic fossil that helps us understand how fins became limbs. Inuktitut | Inuinnaqtun | English Find out how life took its f...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

Threshold

27 Jan ~ 31 Jan

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

Created by Ottawa-based artist Jennifer Macklem with studio assistance from Faezeh Maleki, these three large dragonfly wings reflect the artists’ interest in the natural world. Suspended and sensit...

Freecultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

Diatom Rose Window

3 Feb ~ 31 Jan

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

In this work, Ottawa-based artist Jennifer Macklem draws inspiration from an enlarged image of a diatom – microscopic jewel like microalgae that produce up to 50% of the oxygen on our planet. Found...

Freecultural

#museum#history#downtown

What’s in a Frame? 200+ Years of Community Portraits

1 Apr ~ 1 Apr

Bytown Museum · Downtown

Our upcoming temporary exhibition, What’s in a Frame? 200+ Years of Community Portraits, officially launches on May 15th! Reflecting on 200+ years, we look to portraits of past and present Ottawa r...

Price not listedcultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

Flightpaths: Initiations

8 Apr ~ 31 Mar

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

This interactive artwork encourages visitors to handle, move, and stack magnetic shapes – moths, butterflies and children’s silhouettes – across a map of the Great Lakes. The map is presented upsid...

Freecultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

Sàgàbigonì

16 Apr ~ 16 Apr

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

This banner combines detailed images from artist Stephanie Tenasco’s beaded deer hide work Kìwàbandamogoban “he/she had seen it long ago, well before my time” (2026) with the word Sàgàbigonì, the A...

Freecultural

#art#exhibition

Diego Rivera Meets Henry Moore

24 Apr ~ 28 Feb

National Gallery of Canada · Downtown

Diego Rivera Meets Henry Moore pairs an international loan with a work from the Gallery’s collection to tell new stories about art. Gallery: C217, European and American Galleries

Included with admissioncultural

#free

confinement (2024-2025)

1 May ~ 28 Nov

National Arts Centre — Southam Hall Mezzanine Foyer · Downtown

This exhibition explores the artist’s experience under the shadows of the pandemic. During her almost daily walks, Roxanne Lafleur took notice of her environment along the Rideau Canal and began to...

Freecultural

#exhibition#museum#history

Canada at War Against Japan, 1941–1945

9 May ~ 31 Dec

Canadian War Museum — Lobby · Downtown

Marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, this exhibition explores different aspects of Canada’s involvement in the war against Japan — including the Battle of Hong Kong, the...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#exhibition#museum#history

Canada’s Unknown Soldier

9 May ~ 26 Sep

Canadian War Museum — Wall display near the Gift Shop · Downtown

Discover the history behind one of Canada’s most powerful symbols of remembrance. Marking 25 years since the repatriation of Canada’s Unknown Soldier, this 18-panel wall display explores the histor...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#exhibition#museum#nature

Wild Colour

15 May ~ 10 Jan

Canadian Museum of Nature · Downtown

Through nearly 200 specimens, audio stories, and immersive colour zones, Wild Colour reveals how living things use colour to communicate, attract, and survive. Experience a world bursting with colo...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#art#free#cuag

CUAG Centretown / Mélanie Myers: Humidité Relative Humidity

25 May ~ 30 Apr

CUAG Centretown, Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre · Downtown

Mélanie Myers’ forest mural explores atmosphere, historic architecture and humidity at CUAG Centretown inside Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, May 25, 2026–April 30, 2027. Viewing follows Sanctuary events and announced visiting hours.

Freecultural

#exhibition#museum#history

Close to Conflict – Canada and the American Civil War

29 May ~ 28 Feb

Canadian War Museum — Lieutenant John McCrae Gallery · Downtown

Explore the ways that the American Civil War (1861-1865) shaped Canadian society, politics and military - and why its legacies still matter today. Today, Canada stands as a proud and independent po...

Included with museum admissioncultural

#exhibition#art#cultural

Timescapes

13 Jun ~ 11 Jun

Ottawa Art Gallery · Downtown

In the context of Ottawa’s bicentennial anniversary, and the large-scale environmental transformation that has occured on Anishinābe Aki over the last 200 years, this exhibition foregrounds the con...

Freecultural

Show more events (25–48 of 70)

Cultural Events in Downtown This Week

Monday Movie Nights: Agora (2009)

Main English Book Club

Women in the Victorian Imagination: Vernissage

What Does This Look Like to You? Art Description Workshop

Lotions and Potions DIY Workshop

Simple Renaissance Dances / Danses simples de la Renaissance

Joyce Carol Oates: Novelist, Poet, Playwright & Essayist

EEPMON

Qikiqtait ᕿᑭᖅᑕᐃᑦ

Toddler Tuesdays at National Arts Centre

Life onto Land: The Devonian

Threshold

Diatom Rose Window

What’s in a Frame? 200+ Years of Community Portraits

Flightpaths: Initiations

Sàgàbigonì

Diego Rivera Meets Henry Moore

confinement (2024-2025)

Canada at War Against Japan, 1941–1945

Canada’s Unknown Soldier

Wild Colour

CUAG Centretown / Mélanie Myers: Humidité Relative Humidity

Close to Conflict – Canada and the American Civil War

Timescapes

Rural Business Touchpoint

ሀሌታ | Haleta: The Threshold of Being

2026 Sobey Art Award Exhibition

Marion Wagschal: Cyclops and Other Tales

Frame by Frame: Animation in Ottawa

The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada 2025

Royal Oak Trivia

Centre 507 Outreach Team | Équipe d’intervention du Centre 507

Heure du conte en pyjama

Games & Puzzles | Jeux de société & casse-têtes

Life Drawing

Life Drawing with Shawn Hunsdale

Victoria Laube | Exfoliation

Les lundis des tout-petits French story time with Luana

Memory Palace

Family Storytime

In the Company of Writers

English Reading and Writing Help (Adult Second Language Learners)

Write With Us!

Groupe de conversation en français - Lundi

Groupe de conversation en français / French conversation group

Tech Help Session / Séance d'aide techno

Knit & Knatter

Crafternoon / Brin d’brico

Rideau Wednesday English Conversation Group

English conversation group

French Conversation Group-Intermediate Level, Groupe de conversation en français- niveau intermédiaire

Winners of the National Youth Remembrance Contests 2026

English conversation group

Capital Region Writers Group: Write-In

Monday Storytime and Stay and Play

Babytime & Stay and Play | Bébés à la biblio & Jouons à la biblio

Babytime / Bébés à la biblio - Sunnyside

Wednesday Storytime

Bilingual Storytime / Heure du conte bilingue

Babytime / Bébés à la biblio

Stay and Play/ Jouons à la biblio

Teen Advisory Group - Sunnyside

Club de Collage & Journaling Club

Memory Café

Mysterious Book Society: A Middle Grade Book Club

European Union Film Festival 2026 in Ottawa

Friday Crafternoon / Brico-matin

The Sunnyside 2nd Friday Book Club

Teen Manga Club

Art + Parcel: A Holiday Sale at the Ottawa Art Gallery