Usher in the fall season with another bold and forward-thinking edition of Pique, coming up on September 27, 2025 at Arts Court. Showcasing experimental and underground music, art, and performance, the quarterly festival features global innovators, local creators, and underground legends converging in downtown Ottawa’s Arts Court complex for a single-day blowout.
Taking place indoors and outdoors across 10 stages and spaces, Pique’s programming has something for everyone: from thought-provoking dialogues to ethereal electronic performances to multi-arts convergences, and even puppet dance parties. Joining forces with the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) to co-produce multidisciplinary and interactive programming, Pique brings together diverse artistic communities to explore, experiment and connect. Animating a club, a cinema, theatre and dance studios with bold, boundary-pushing presentations, Pique offers an immersive multidisciplinary experience that transforms the Arts Court into a playground for the avant-garde.
Plus, Topique, the forum for the exchange of forward-thinking ideas at Pique, returns this fall with a series of artist talks and group sessions focused on building an equitable future music industry.
With 20+ artists and 10 stages and exhibition spaces, indoors and outdoors, there is so much to experience at Pique!
Lineup
Project INK presented by Katherine Ng and Rachel Gray
Topique
Topique returns this fall with panels, workshops, and artist talks on September 27, 2025. Building on the Pique ethos of experimentation and inclusivity, Topique invites curious festival-goers to step into the conversation.
This fall’s program features five sessions led by international and Canadian speakers, covering topics that push the cultural sector forward, including:
The future of radio
Organizing for artist and worker rights
Sonic ecologies and hyperreality
Career-building in the club
DJ skill-building for Black youth
Admission to all Topique sessions is free with a Pique pass, or pay-what-you-can at the door. Each session is subject to the capacity of the venue it is held in, and a pass does not guarantee admission or a seat in all sessions. Please plan to arrive early to ensure admission. No pre-registration required, except for the Pass the Vibes workshop.
Admission Equity and Sustainability
When you pay $75 or more for a ticket to Pique, you help subsidize a ticket for someone else in need, and promote admission equity and accessibility in the arts ✊❤️
Subsidized (choose-your-own-price) tickets are available for registration here while supplies last.
Please note that subsidized tickets will only be available for purchase online, and are no longer available to purchase at the doors.
Debaser also recently launched the Pique Sustainability Fund to help keep Pique going while we navigate funding cuts and rising costs. Contributions support admission equity—helping us to offer hundreds of ticket subsidies to community members in need for each edition of Pique—while also ensuring fair pay and healthy working conditions for the artists and cultural workers who make it all happen.
Accessibility
As always, Pique is all ages and pay-what-you-can. The event site is accessible, and our detailed accessibility policy and event information are available on our accessibility page.
The EQUIPE harm reduction team will be on-site to support audience members and hand out free supplies thanks to our partners at MAX Ottawa. Pique staff and volunteers are trained in bystander intervention and harm reduction strategies to support audience members throughout the event.
Partners, Sponsors and Funders
Thank you to our partners and sponsors! Pique is presented in partnership with the Arts Court, SAW, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canadian Film Institute, Ottawa Dance Directive, International Film Festival of Ottawa, Ottawa Fringe, Digital Arts Resource Centre, Artengine, Produced by Youth, and Venus Fest and with support from Goldblatt Partners, Dominion City Brewing Company, Kilam Media, Postering Ottawa, Also Cool, CKCU FM, and n.10.as, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Government of Canada, Ontario Creates, Ontario Arts Council, City of Ottawa, and the SOCAN Foundation.
