MARCH 5-16, 2025 #TOsketchfest25

How is TOsketchfest Programmed?

How Is TOsketchfest Programmed graphic - outlining the 2025 TOsketchfest programming principles

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is Toronto’s longest running comedy festival and submissions for the 2025 Festival are now open. You might be asking yourself “how is TOsketchfest programmed?” or “what are they looking for this year?”  We are happy to help. We’ve outlined everything you need to know about the 2025 TOsketchfest programming principles to help answer some of your questions!

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is programmed through a combination of curation (i.e. we ask a troupe/performer to be part of the festival) and jurying (i.e. a stand-out troupe or artist selected from the juried submissions process). This year’s live festival submissions will be collected via Zone Festival, and film festival submissions will be collected via FilmFreeway.

OVERVIEW

The programming committee for the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival includes five people who are either alumni of the Festival, or have deep knowledge of the comedy community and its various forms. The jury is selected by TOsketchfest producers, who also oversee the submission and programming process. For 2025, the live festival submissions will be overseen by Virginia Woodall, while the film festival submissions will be overseen by Ivan Hutomo. Programming committee members watch Festival submissions and help select the Festival lineup through recommendations and discussions. The list of jurors will be released after the programming announcement (see 2024 programming committee).

After submissions close, each Festival submission is watched by at least three committee members and given a rating of Recommend, Maybe, or Pass. TOsketchfest producers then meet with the programming committee to discuss submissions and ratings to make final decisions about what is included in the final Festival lineup. The committee could also be asked for recommendations should there be any missing voices from the selection.

Throughout the year, TOsketchfest producers also seek out potential programming options by watching sketch comedy videos online and attending live performances and other comedy festivals.

VALUES

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is committed to supporting and strengthening a culturally diverse and inclusive sketch comedy community. TOsketchfest is committed to identifying and elevating emerging artists, spotlighting established artists and providing stages for artists from Indigenous, Black, Person Of Colour, 2XLGBTQIA+, and Deaf/Disabled/Mad communities. In keeping with this priority, The programming committee is instructed to consider artists from equity-deserving groups as a programming priority when making recommendations.

Demographic information is collected from applicants on a voluntary basis to help the Festival track representation of equity-deserving groups in our programs. Then, the overall Festival program will be reviewed by the programming committee and staff to ensure a balanced and representative program before it is finalized.

We will not program submissions that contain racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or hateful language, imagery, or actions. We will make an effort to eliminate outmoded disability labels and language.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival presents the best scripted comedy each year. Regardless of the troupe size or style – including solo – if the content is scripted/rehearsed and composed of sketches/bits/segments, TOsketchfest is a home for this work. While TOsketchfest does not typically program classic forms of improv or stand-up, we are open to unusual or alternative comedy formats.

2025 FESTIVAL FORMAT

TOsketchfest25 will take place in-person March 5 – 16, 2025 with live presentations of sketch comedy work and the TOsketchfest Film Festival. Like many arts organizations, TOsketchfest remains in a rebuilding phase post-COVID. The 2025 festival remains scaled back compared to operations pre-2020, making the programming process potentially more competitive than previous years. Acceptance into past festivals does not guarantee a slot in future festivals.

LIVE

TOsketchfest25 could program up to 60 troupes from anywhere in the world, with a strong priority for local and Canadian acts.

The Festival will host live, in-person performance showcases in front of live audiences. These shows could include: full length revues; showcases featuring 2-3 troupes or solo acts with 15+ minute sets; or variety shows with short spotlights featuring many troupes or solo acts.

FILM FEST

The TOsketchsest Film Festival could program up to 30 Digital Shorts by artists from anywhere in the world, with a priority for local and Canadian acts.

There will be an in person screening of these works at The Theatre Centre on the opening night, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, followed by on-demand viewing throughout the remainder of March available online.

STREAMS OF PROGRAMMING

The Festival traditionally has a few streams of programming: Emerging, Established, Featured and Headliner. The 2025 Festival will focus on these three streams:

  • Emerging: Troupes or artists that are identified in the emerging stream might be first-time Festival performers, newly formed troupes or recent graduates from training programs. While some may appear “green”, these troupes or artists have made a professional commitment to the comedic arts, and have demonstrated artistic achievements. The troupe or artists must have some history of performance on stage or online.
  • Established: This stream includes troupes or artists that may have performed at the Festival in the past, troupes with a history of artistic achievement, and newly formed projects by established artists. These troupes or artists have a strong following of fans in person or online, a repertoire of high-quality material and a track record of local and touring success in recent years.
  • Featured: This stream features troupes or artists who are currently at the top of their game and/or representing a vitally important point of view and should be introduced to a wider audience through the Festival. They will guarantee our audiences a great show and deserve to be highlighted at this time in their development.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival will revisit its programming principles and programming processes each year to reflect the needs of the community. TOsketchfest will actively seek to find qualified programming committee members with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. The Festival is committed to improving the programming process to reduce barriers for artists, and to continue spotlighting the best scripted comedy.

If you have any questions about the 2025 submissions process, or programming priorities, please reach out to Virginia Woodall for Live Submissions, or Ivan Hutomo for Film Fest submissions.