Cannes Lions 2027: The World’s City of Creativity

Landmark changes will bring the world’s best creativity into the city, recognise global creative pioneers, widen access and participation and introduce a Festival-wide ‘passport’.

For the first time in its 74-year history, Cannes Lions will take the world’s best creativity beyond the Palais and into the city of Cannes, as part of a major evolution of the International Festival of Creativity.

The changes reflect the extraordinary growth of the creative economy that now gathers in Cannes each June. What began as a celebration of the world’s best creativity has also become the global meeting place for the businesses, brands, platforms and people shaping creativity, culture and commerce.

As the Festival’s influence has expanded across the city, Cannes Lions is taking steps to connect this wider ecosystem, making creative excellence more visible, and the opportunities to discover, connect and do business more accessible.

Four major initiatives will launch in 2027: a city-wide celebration of Award-winning creativity; the first phase of a Festival ‘passport’ extending beyond the Palais; an expanded commitment to inclusion and access; and a Global Creative Assembly honouring pioneers from across the creative economy.

The world’s best creativity, across Cannes In 2027, Cannes Lions will put creative excellence at the centre of the Festival experience, inside the Palais and across the city. The Palais will offer even more opportunities to experience the world’s best creativity, with winning and shortlisted submissions brought to life through immersive exhibitions, screenings, and insights into the ideas, craft and people behind them.

Beyond the Palais, Award-winning and shortlisted work will be presented through installations, screenings and creative experiences across the city, from the Croisette and beaches to participating venues. The ambition is simple: at the International Festival of Creativity, the world’s best work should be impossible to miss.

One Festival. A city-wide ‘passport’. As Cannes Lions has grown beyond the Palais, so too has the range of opportunities available to those attending. The ambition now is to make that wider ecosystem easier to discover, navigate and access.

In 2027, the delegate pass will begin its evolution into a city-wide Festival ‘passport’, extending access to designated official programming and participating venues beyond the Palais, including select stages and events.

While the Palais will remain the heart of the Festival and the home of the Lions, Cannes Lions will begin formally recognising the wider network of events and experiences taking place across the city. A new designation of Flagship and Recommended Experiences will help delegates identify opportunities beyond the Palais and navigate the broader Festival ecosystem.

The longer-term ambition is to create a seamless Festival experience through a single credential, making it easier for delegates to discover the best work, find relevant opportunities and make valuable connections.

Thea Skelton, SVP, LIONS Festivals, said: “The intention isn’t to draw a line between the Festival and everything that happens around it, but to bring them closer together. The diversity of Cannes Lions’ creative ecosystem is one of its greatest strengths. Our ambition is to move from access to advantage: helping people spend less time working out where to go, what to experience and who to meet, and more time making the connections, discoveries and opportunities that make Cannes Lions so special. Different experiences. One connected ecosystem.”

Opening the Festival to more of the world In 2027, Cannes Lions will increase its commitment to fully funded Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Festival passes from €2m to €3m, a 50% increase as the programme enters its fourth year. ERA supports participation from communities historically underrepresented at the Festival.

This sits alongside established talent and access programmes, including See It Be It, and the LIONS Scholarship, which provide fully funded opportunities for emerging creative talent. Together, these initiatives form part of a longer-term commitment to making Cannes Lions more accessible to the global creative community.

Frank Starling, Chief DEI Officer, LIONS, said: “Creativity doesn’t belong to any one industry, market, or community. And neither should Cannes Lions. As the Festival brings together more of the creative economy, we want to ensure that opportunities to be a part of it are equally accessible. Increasing our commitment to ERA is a practical step towards ensuring the Cannes Lions community better reflects the greater creative landscape globally.”

Applications to all programmes open today and can be found here.

Introducing the Global Creative Assembly Cannes Lions will establish the inaugural Global Creative Assembly, a new annual honour recognising pioneering individuals whose creativity has transformed their fields and influenced the world beyond them.

Spanning advertising, marketing, film, music, sport, fashion, design, technology, entertainment and the creator economy, the founding Laureates will be honoured at Cannes Lions 2027 with a Laureate Lion presented at each Awards Ceremony.

Through landmark keynotes, performances and behind-the-scenes explorations of how the Laureates think, experiment and create, the Assembly will bring audiences closer to the people and processes behind extraordinary achievements, offering new perspectives on where creativity is going next.

The full Assembly will be announced over the coming months.

The next chapter for Cannes Lions Collectively, these changes mark the beginning of a longer-term evolution of Cannes Lions: extending the influence of creativity beyond the Palais and making the wider creative economy that gathers around it more connected and accessible.

Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, added: “For more than 70 years, people have come to Cannes Lions because they believe creativity matters. At the heart of that has always been the creative community: the people who make the work, push the standard and move the industry forward. What has changed is the scale of what now gathers around that belief.

“Our responsibility now is to make that extraordinary concentration of creativity work harder for everyone. To give the world’s best ideas the visibility they deserve, open the Festival to more of the world, and to connect the people and businesses who can turn creative excellence into commercial and cultural value.

“Creativity is one of the world’s most powerful sources of competitive advantage. Cannes Lions is where the world’s best creativity meets the people and businesses who create it, invest in it, and believe in its value. Our ambition is to make more possible by bringing them together.”

To view the breadth of Festival passes and initiatives available, visit www.canneslions.com.