The organisers of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity have announced changes to next year's festival which will be held between 21-25 June.

The changes include taking creativity into the city of Cannes and widen access with a festival-wide 'passport'.

The organisers describe this change as one which goes beyond the Palais inside and across the city of Cannes. 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. 

In 2027, Cannes Lions will increase its commitment to fully funded Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Festival passes from Euro 2 million to Euro 3 million, a 50% increase as the programme enters its fourth year. ERA supports participation from communities historically underrepresented at the Festival. This sits alongside talent and access programmes, including See It Be It, and the Lions Scholarship, which provide fully funded opportunities for emerging creative talent. 

Further, the organisers are launching the inaugural 'Global Creative Assembly', an 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 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.

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."

Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, added, "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."

Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said, “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.”