Toronto Jam 2025

9th Toronto Jam

October 22 – 26, 2025

Reviewing applications on a rolling basis until the last few spots are filled.

We are excited to invite you to the 2025 Toronto Jam, a unique gathering that will bring together 30 dynamic and diverse dreamers & changemakers for four days out of the city. In the midst of a global pandemic, climate crisis, intensifying conflicts, genocide, political repression and attacks on migrant and trans communities, all of which are being met with a rising swell in our social change movements, we feel an ever-deeper need for community, connection, and healing to sustain ourselves through this moment. The 9th Toronto Jam is our offering to you – rising to this moment with the reminder that we cannot hold the weight of the world alone. We need each other.

Toronto Jam 2025: quick info

• Applications are here!
• Have you already been to a Toronto Jam? Apply here!
• Application deadline: August 17, 2025 (Extended until last few spots are filled)
• When: October 22 – 26, 2025
• Where: Mansfield Outdoor Centre, Ontario

If you need accommodations to participate in our application process, please let us know as soon as possible so we can support you. If the deadline has passed and you are still interested in applying, please reach out by email first to confirm if we can consider your application. We can be reached at: yestorontojam@gmail.com. 

Why jam with us? Why a Toronto jam?

The Toronto Jam is part of a global network of jams. The name is inspired by the art of jamming in the music world, where musicians come together and spontaneously create new sounds, new music. Similarly, our Jam will come into being with the attendees who create this year’s group and will form in their image. By offering each other presence and deep listening, we end up with a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Our facilitation team has been jamming together for a long time. Over the years, we’ve noticed the differences in the music that we each make, but there is a through line of resonance that connects us deeply and motivates us in this work: a belief that it is vital for us – and for our social change work here in Toronto – to embody, if only for a few days, the world we want to live in. We’ve witnessed too much burnout, in-fighting, and pain within and across our communities, organizations, and collectives, and we humbly imagine the Jam as an antidote. 

At the Jam we explore: how can we invite abundance into our whole selves even when the world around us may be triggering constriction and despair? What possibilities emerge if we rest, play, & nourish ourselves? Can our vulnerability generate transformation, connection & healing? Can we place love & empathy alongside our calls for justice and accountability? How does it feel to practice receiving care and offering it as well? How does it shift our work if separation is truly an illusion and we are all fundamentally interdependent, even those we feel most aversion to? 

“My sense is that the jam is inviting the community together to explore possibilities for other ways we can be with each other, and then, ultimately, to take these out into the spaces that we’re going back to. It’s time where we can invite folks to move in a different way, especially in those tough moments. I think it’s just: let’s play, let’s take off the mask, let me reveal the many layers of who I am that I hide because of fear, doubt, shame, ego. I think the invitation is to come and explore the possibility of being in a different way with ourselves, and in relation to each other, and then letting that ripple out.”

— Chris Leonard, Jam Participant, 2023

The Jam is an experiment and aspiration in building “beloved community” as inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: the vision that we will not have peace and justice on this planet until we see each other (and all life) as part of the same community – and this includes people we don’t agree with and may not even like. At the Jam, this means we strive to create a space where all of our parts, all of our stories, and all of our identities belong – our grief & rage; our hope & joy. And when our differences become challenging here (as happens everywhere), what does it look like to practice and try on new ways of being – slowing down rather than speeding up, playing a game, going for a walk? Ways of re-connecting that bring us closer instead of moving us further apart. 

In essence, we see the Jam as a space where we can practice and explore ideas that can sometimes feel out of reach and difficult to be with during the daily bustle and pressures of our lives, not to mention the heightening urgency of the causes we are dedicated to, and to see what becomes possible through practice. 

What actually happens at a Jam?

Thank you for bringing me closer to my truest self, through slowing down, through connection, deep chats, singing, dancing, hugs, deep breaths, walks in nature, campfires, ritual tears, belly laughter, silliness, risk-taking, brave conversations and play, among others. I feasted and let the juices run down my chin. I’m exhausted and elated. It’s all a bit much. The thing I need to say to you is: thank you. Thank you for loving me so well through some really hard times. I love you back.

– Brianna Greaves, Community Builder / Facilitator / ADHD Coach, Toronto Jam 2023

With a mix of sessions facilitated by the team and lots of unstructured time for participant-inspired offerings, we give participants both the tools and the spaciousness to build & practice open-hearted, meaningful connections where people can be real with each other. There are in-depth conversations, sessions in circle, time in nature, and a lot of fun, art, and creativity. 

Past Jams have seen invitations into dancing and embodiment, explorations around identity, relationships, and family, collective grief rituals, group explorations and creations, as well as meditation, solo time, internal reflection and so much more. We bring a framework to foster connection and guide our time together, but the content specifically emerges from the questions and points of curiosity and exploration that you name in your applications and that continue to come up throughout our time together. 

We honour your agency throughout, recognizing that not every activity will work for everyone and that people may need to pause and take breaks. We adapt and pivot our offerings and approaches so that we stay present to what is emerging.

Throughout it all, we aim to stay tuned into three levels of inquiry — the personal, the interpersonal, and the systemic. This, we find, supports connection and opening. A lot of social change spaces prioritize learning and strategizing about systems but tend to have limited focus on nurturing relationships and connection. Other retreats focused on personal transformation often pay limited attention to the impact of systemic power and our current socio-political climate. Some gatherings work on leadership and interpersonal power dynamics, but forget our souls. In our experience, connection and trust are supported when we’re able to learn, deepen, and explore across all three personal, interpersonal, and systemic fields.

Who is the Jam for?

The Jam is for people who are excited by this invitation and the possibilities that come with deepening relationship and connection: self-discovery, self-awareness, imperfection, authenticity, moving across difference, asking questions, and humbling ourselves to the unknown. The Jam is for people who are feeling the weight of disconnection, conflict, and the urgency for change; who are looking for new tools and opportunities to experience something different. 

And so, when we are asked “who attends a jam?” the answer really is “YOU!” — organizers, artists, frontline workers, entrepreneurs, healers, strategists, public officials, leaders, dreamers, thinkers, activists, builders, educators, poets, researchers, philanthropists, spiritual guides, environmentalists, and anyone with a desire to impact social change and liberation is invited to join us for the 9th Toronto Jam! 

We seek to bring together as diverse a group of people as possible. This includes: race and ethnicity; religion and spirituality; sexual orientation; gender identity; class; immigration status; ability; age and/or years of experience; area or focus of work; and place of origin.

Though one of the benefits of a place-based Jam is building local connections, we’re open to applicants from neighbouring Toronto areas or who otherwise have or feel some kind of connection to Toronto.

Where do Jams come from?

The Toronto Jam is part of a 30 year old collective legacy. Jams were initiated by YES!, an organization based in California, with constellations across the globe – including in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico – that have facilitated 200+ jams in over 85 places and spaces globally. YES! Jam alumni, potent and dedicated multigenerational social change leaders across the world, support one another and often collaborate together long after the Jam, sustaining themselves for a lifetime of service to the world.  We’re honored to be part of this global collective, and to offer the 9th Toronto Jam – an initiative that began more than a decade ago, one that we are humbled to continue in our communities in Toronto. 

Accommodation, Food, and Accessibility

Our venue is the Mansfield Outdoor Centre, located in the hills of Mulmur, Ontario, just 90 minutes from Toronto.

We will stay in their Field Centre, which has sleeping quarters combined with a spacious common/dining area with a fireplace, kitchen, and several multi-purpose rooms. The building is fully wheelchair accessible. Accommodations are dormitory style and will have 2-4 people per room. All beds are single sized (bunk beds). You will need to bring your own sleeping bag (or blankets and sheets), and pillow. Washrooms are shared, and open to all-genders. There is also the exception of three rooms that have ensuite bathrooms.

We will have our own caterer serving delicious, primarily vegetarian, meals that can accommodate any dietary needs. 

Cost

The total cost to attend the Toronto Jam is $1,050. This covers lodging and meals (4 nights, 11 meals), accessibility (including childcare), and honoraria for the team. 

We want to make the Jam as accessible as possible for people who are interested in attending. To support this, we have created a sliding scale from $600 – $1,250. Our suggested amounts:

• Full cost: $1,050
• Sustain: $750 (covers food and lodging)
• Redistribution: $1,250 (to support attendance of others)
• Solidarity: $600 (limited spots)
• Attending on behalf of an organization: $1,250*

We invite you to give what you can, and to give generously. We operate year-round on a volunteer basis, and pay ourselves a small stipend reflective of funds collected for organizing and facilitation. We have no external or overhead funding for this work at this time. 

We work to ensure money is not a barrier so please reach out if the rates above aren’t feasible for you. There are options available, including a monthly payment plan if that can work better for folks.

*We can provide an invoice and description of the program.

Arrival and Departure Times

All participants are asked to arrive on-site between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm on Wednesday, October 22. The jam will close at 11:30 am on Sunday, October 26.

To honour the flow and the collective building that happens over the course of the Jam, we ask that participants attend the entire Jam from start to finish. Each day will be a mix of facilitated sessions (“in breaths”) and open time for participant-led sessions, spontaneous offerings, rest, and reflection (“out breaths”). We ask that you not schedule anything else (even remote/zoom things!) for the time that we’re together, as we’ve really seen how being completely present lets all of us get the most out of our precious time together. We also recommend, if you can, to give yourself some time after the Jam is over to support integration.

Travel

Travel costs are the responsibility of participants, though we will help in coordinating carpools to the best of our ability.

Children

If your participation would require childcare at the jam, please name it as an access need in your application and we’ll do our best to meet this need at the jam.

COVID-19

In terms of Covid precautions, we ask participants to take a rapid test before they leave home. We also ask that if anyone has a fever or has a positive result, they do not come to the Jam. At the Jam itself, we will be monitoring our symptoms and naming any needs we might have. We encourage participants to reduce their exposure possibilities in the week leading up to the Jam. We will follow up in more detail with a welcome packet if you are selected. And if you have any questions or further needs about Covid, please note them in your application or write to us at yestorontojam[a]gmail.com.

Substance Use

While we know that relationships to substances can be complex, we have made a decision that the Jam will be a space without alcohol, cannabis, or drugs unless they are prescribed or over-the-counter. We made this decision to nurture presence, connection, and deep self-reflection, and also in acknowledgment of people in different journeys of recovery and sobriety. In deciding this, we hold no judgment about the use or non-use of these substances, and honour your personal needs and choices outside of this space. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We’re happy to talk more.

How do I apply? (alumni, see below)

Application Deadline: Sunday, August 8, 2025. Link to application.

If you need more time or other accommodations to submit an application, please let us know so we can support.

If I’ve been to a Jam, can I still apply?

Yes! If you are an alumni of a previous Toronto Jam and want to apply to come again, please do! Use this application form instead. Same application deadline: Sunday, August 8, 2025. Please keep in mind that as much as we’d love to have everyone back, we want to make this experience available to as many interested people as possible, which may mean we are unable to accommodate some alumni.

Questions? Comments? Feelings?

We look forward to welcoming you to the Jam. If you have any questions, or want to check in at any point, please reach out to us at: yestorontojam@gmail.com. 

Who organizes and facilitates the Jam?