Culture as Infrastructure: Toronto’s Next Decade of Live Experiences

Canada’s visitor and experience economy is breaking records. Toronto alone welcomed more than 28 million visitors last year, generating over $9 billion in spending across hotels, restaurants, venues, attractions, and neighbourhood main streets. At the heart of this growth is the experience economy: live music, major league sport, festivals, immersive events, and the cultural life of the city. Yet even as demand soars, Toronto’s infrastructure and long‑term commercial and cultural strategies—which aim to align infrastructure, policy, and investment with the realities of a modern experience‑driven city—struggle to keep pace.Live Nation’s new Rogers Stadium build and longstanding cultural events like the Juno Awards offer a high‑profile glimpse into evolving approaches and models that work to overcome the challenges and barriers to progress for Toronto’s next decade of live experiences. On Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, the Empire Club of Canada brought together Wayne Zronik, Live Nation, President of Business Operations and Kristy Fletcher, Chief Operating Officer, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (producer of the Juno Awards) and the Honourable Stan Cho, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming to ask: If live experiences are the new infrastructure of a modern city, what will it take for Toronto to build the stages, streets, stories, and social ecosystems that keep us globally competitive and ensure culture continues to drive both community and commerce?Following special remarks from Wayne Zronik and Minister Cho, Laura deCarufel, Director of Culture and Lifestyle at the Toronto Star and Editor-in-Chief of The Kit, moderated a discussion exploring how Toronto can design the connective tissue—partnerships, talent pipelines, neighbourhood anchors, and social ecosystem—that turns individual events into lasting momentum for communities, small businesses, and the broader visitor economy.Join us for this first event in the Empire Club of Canada’s emerging Experience Economy series as we explore how live experiences function as critical economic, social, and civic infrastructure.