#FIRSTLOOK: MAYWORKS RETURNS MAY 1, 2026

MAYWORKS returns from May 1 to 31, 2026 with the 41st edition of its Festival of Working People and the Arts, a month-long programme of free events across Toronto exploring the intersection of art, labour and social justice. This year’s festival features theatre, film, animation, installation, music and public conversation, bringing audiences into the lives of workers, organisers and communities both local and international.

The festival opens on May 1, International Workers’ Day, at United Steelworkers Hall with live music by Parallel Play Collective and a panel discussion on global supply chains, labour organising and the power of collective disruption. Speakers include Jody Chan of No Arms in the Arts, Mostafa Henaway of the Immigrant Workers Centre and Radhika Desai of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, moderated by Moe Alqasem of Labour for Palestine.

“Artists in this year’s festival engage with our world as it is and bring us into the lives of workers, both local and international,” said Carolyn Combs, Festival Director. “A truck driver in Brampton, a health care worker in Thunder Bay, an activist in Montreal, a miner in Morocco, a sugar cane worker in the Dominican Republic, a guide in Palestine and a contract worker in Mozambique.”

Among this year’s highlights are two original projects developed through Mayworks’ Labour Arts Catalyst program, which matches artists with labour justice organisations in collaborative research and art-making processes. Carabao, a play by Roann Enriquez developed in collaboration with Anakbayan Toronto, is inspired by the historic 74-hour strike at Nexperia Philippines Inc. in 2025 and depicts a Filipino family across borders. Workshopped over two days with a director and actors, the final public read-through will take place on May 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. at Tarragon Theatre.

Also developed through Labour Arts Catalyst, Landlines, a short film by Miru Yogarajah and Jay Aramboo, created in collaboration with the Peel Region Labour Council, follows migrant truck drivers living in the Greater Toronto Area as they navigate wage theft, inadequate training, unsafe conditions, exploitative pay, gruelling hours and constant surveillance in the trucking industry. The film premieres on May 21 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Gallery TPW.

Guest-curated by Nima Esmailpour, Every Worker Should Have Equal Labour Rights is a multi-part project that brings together four works tracing histories of labour injustice and worker-led resistance across the Global South. The project includes And For You, Flours and Flowers, Rendition, Know Problem and L’mina.

A collaboration between Dana Prieto and Safaa Alnabelseya, And For You, Flours and Flowers, takes shape through the sharing of edible confections during the festival’s opening night on May 1. The work brings into proximity distinct political and culinary histories, tracing how food can reorganize time, intimacy, and discourse, while enacting forms of relation grounded in mutuality rather than transactional individualism.

Euridice Zaituna Kala’s video installation, Rendition, tells the story of a group of contract workers from Mozambique whose experience of wage theft in Germany has led to a decades-long public demonstration and powerful political forum. Presented in collaboration with Charles Street Video, it takes place from May 2 to May 30.

Deja Hosein’s original work, Know Problem, invites viewers to reflect on the interconnected experiences shaping the work of Saint Lucia’s fisherman today and will be postered throughout the city over the month of May.

L’Mina, a short film by Randa Maroufi made in collaboration with workers who perform their own roles, exposes the conditions of miners in Jerada, Morocco, who, despite the official halting of coal extraction in 2001, continue to work in informal pits. The film screens at Alliance Française Toronto on May 30 at 3 p.m.

The festival’s film programme also includes True North (2025), a documentary set during the 1969 student uprising at Montreal’s Concordia University, shedding light on the history of anti-Black racism in Canada. The film, presented at the United Steelworkers Hall on May 8 at 7 p.m., is followed by a conversation with the filmmaker, Michèle Stephenson, on her artistic practice as a Black liberation project.

On May 14 at 7 p.m., With Hassan in Gaza (2025) by Kamal Aljafari screens at CineCycle. Assembled from two-decades-old camcorder footage, the documentary captures the filmmaker’s travels through Gaza with Hasan, a local guide. The screening will be preceded by Operations, a short video work by Ibrahim Abussita composed of footage of Palestinian resistance redrawn frame by frame as hand-drawn animation. An exhibition of these frames will be presented at Whippersnapper Gallery from May 1 to 31.

Also featured is Sugar Island (2024), a narrative feature by Johanne Gomez, which immerses us in the Dominican Republic’s sugarcane fields and introduces us to a family whose daily lives are shaped by the harsh labour that defines their world. Presented at the Unitarian Congregation of Toronto on May 22 at 7 p.m., the film is followed by a panel discussion focusing on issues raised in the film as well as the director’s artistic approach.

The festival closes on May 30 with a double bill at Alliance Française Toronto beginning at 3 p.m.: Sambizanga (1972) by Sarah Maldoror and True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr. Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956 (2024). The screenings will be accompanied by a panel discussion titled Fanon’s Legacy, presented with Caribbean Solidarity Network and U of T’s Community Engaged Learning and Caribbean Studies.

The festival also includes the book launch of Confronting the Resurgent Right edited by Miriam Edelson presented with the University of Manitoba Press (May 28, 7 p.m., Tranzac Club); a presentation with ACTRA featuring a screening of two episodes of The Porter (2022) followed by a conversation with the films’ creatives Arnold Pinnock and others, and a workers meet-up/theatre workshop presented with the Ethiopian and Eritrean Workers Network of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. Details to be announced.

About Mayworks

Founded in 1986, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a community-based festival that annually presents new works by a diverse range of artists who are also workers and activists. Its programming offers bold, insightful responses to pressing issues at the intersection of art, social justice and labour.

All events are free! Registration required at mayworks.ca.