The following is an overview of the Canadian Improv Games program running from September 2025 – April 2026.

Registration is based on a per/team payment system. The cost to register will be $399+tax per team. Your school may register as many teams as they like – Junior, Senior, or non-competitive. Teams can be ADDED anytime before the registration deadline of November 7th, 2025.

The program is designed for schools within a three hour distance of their nearest Regional Program. Events include All Teams, X-Rounds, and the Regional Tournament. This program is also built on the understanding that if a school qualifies for the National Festival they will be allowed to travel to Ottawa, Ontario April 15-18th, 2026.

There will be in-person regional tournaments in the following regions:

• Vancouver Island
• Lower Mainland 
• Alberta (this program is run through Rapid Fire Theatre, we will provide teachers with information on how to contact them directly for in-person program updates)
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba 
• Northern Ontario (NEW)
• Toronto
• Tri-City
• Ottawa
• Kingston
• Quebec
• Nova Scotia
• Newfoundland

UPDATE: We will be hosting an in-person event in the New Brunswick/PEI region this fall, with the intention to bring back the tournament CIG 50. 

Each team that registers is entitled to:

• A consultation call with Program Manager or Operations Manager to discuss options and opportunities for the year
• Participation in the All-Teams Event (dates vary depending on region) which includes 2 hours of workshop time with other schools in the region
• 1 performance opportunity sometime before the regional tournament for feedback from CIG Judges and Adjudicators. This might occur on the evening of an All-Teams Event or at another time during the year (varies based on region)
• Participation in the Regional Tournament round robin.
• Possible participation in Regional Finals, the National Tournament, and National Finals (dependant on ranking)
• Access to individual workshops (either in-person or online)

All-Teams and X-Rounds

As much as possible, the All-Teams event and X-Rounds nights of play will be scheduled for the same day/weekend to reduce travel costs. 

Regional Tournaments

Regional tournaments in each of these regions will take place from January-March of 2026. All regional rules are in place as per the CIG Rulebook.

Request for Regional Scores

Starting last year, teams in the competitive stream may request their final scores broken down by skill on the scorecard up to two weeks after the regional finals. Teams will be given an average score between all judges broken down by scene and by skill on the scorecard. These scores will not be up for dispute or debate and do not need to be requested by all teams. The goal of this addition is to provide teams with an understanding of where they are excelling or struggling on the scorecard. This will help teams focus their efforts the next year. Teams may book a workshop with the CIG to focus on specific skills.

NEW: This year, the CIG Online Wildcard will be joining forces with the Distance tournament to create one, huge, epic ONLINE TOURNAMENT. That means you can join if you fit into the following categories:

1. You are a Canadian secondary school that exists outside the geographical boundaries of a CIG tournament (i.e., you are 3+ hours away from your nearest regional tournament). 
2. You are a registered CIG school looking to get an extra evaluation and submission to the National Festival. 

Full rules and schedule of the Online Tournament can be found at improv.ca/online. The cost of joining the Online Wildcard is $129/team, and you can register as an online team using the registration link above. The top winning team from the entire Online Tournament will proceed to the National Tournament in Ottawa, ON, on the week of April 15-18th, 2026.

Each team that registers in this program is entitled to:

• A consultation call with Program Manager or Operations Manager to discuss options and opportunities for the year
• 1 mid-season evaluation. Teams may submit 8 minutes of footage for feedback from CIG adjudicators.
• Participation in the Online Tournament which will take place in March 2026
• Possible participation in the 2026 National Tournament, and National Finals (dependant on ranking)

Schools may also register any number of NON-competitive teams registered in the Non-Competitive stream. You may register a mix of competitive and non-competitive teams. The cost for a non-competitive team will also be $399. Non-competitive teams will take part in all of the yearly programming and will have their own night of play during the week of the tournament. They will be given in-depth adjudications.

April 15-18, 2026 in Ottawa

The Canadian Improv Games National Festival consists of workshops, forums, demos, and tickets to the shows each evening. 

National Tournament

As always, the National Festival runs alongside the National Tournament, hosted at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

This year the breakdown of the competing teams is as follows. 

Vancouver Island – Top Team

Lower Mainland – Top Team

Alberta – Top Team

Saskatchewan – Top Team

Manitoba – Top Team

Toronto – Top Team

Tri-City – Top Team

Kingston – Top Team

Ottawa – Top Two Teams

Northern Ontario – Top Team

Quebec – Top Team

Nova Scotia – Top Team

Newfoundland – Top Team

Online Wildcard Tournament – Top Team

This means there will be 15 competing teams (3 nights of play, 5 teams each night) and the top 5 will advance to finals on the fourth night. This is subject to change. 

Each in-person region this year will send ONE team to nationals (except Ottawa who will send two) and numbers from any given year will determine how many teams your region will send the following year, any regions that have up to 24 competitive senior teams registered this year will continue to send one team, any region that has 25-44 teams registered will send two, and any region that has 45 and over will send three. Ottawa will always send two teams.

National Festival

ALL teams (regardless of regional ranking) are encouraged to sign up for the National Festival! This is a massive improv festival that runs alongside the National Tournament. Students who register for this paid program will receive daily workshops, access to forums, showcases, and meet and greets. Any team that registers for the National Festival will also receive tickets to all of the shows in the evening. National Festival registration will launch in December of 2025.

National Festival Teacher’s Conference

The national festival will also include the National Improv Teacher’s Conference. There will be workshops, tickets to events, and meet and greets. This content will qualify for professional development.

Virtual Teacher Consultation Calls (September -December 2025)

Regional All-Teams/X-Rounds (October  2025-January 2026)

Regional Tournaments (January/March 2026)

National Festival and Tournament: All the confirmed event dates can be found here: improv.ca/eventdates

Registration

Registration for the 2025/6 season will run from September 2nd, 2025 until November 7th, 2025. Payment for schools is due ONE month after receiving an invoice. An electronic invoice will be sent to the email you provide and can be paid online. If your school does not allow for online payments, contact the CIG National Office ASAP at operations@improv.ca. Failure to pay this invoice within the given timeframe will result in a removal from the program.

The registration form will be checked daily and your registration package will be sent out within 48 hours of registering. Invoices will be sent out within 5 days of registration.

Registration is based on a per/team payment system. The cost to register will be $399 per team in the Regional Program. Your school may register as many teams as they like – Junior, Senior, or non-competitive. Teams can be ADDED anytime before the registration deadline of November 7th, 2025.

Refund Policy

Once an invoice has been paid, refunds will not be given except on a very specific case-by-case basis to be decided by the board of directors. Please consider your ability to run a team(s) before registering. Lack of commitment from students is not grounds for a refund.

Any school or team is welcome to purchase extra workshop time at any point during the year- regardless of if they are registered in our full program or not!

Workshops cost $99/hr (+$25 travel rate for in-person workshops) and financial support is available if the cost is a barrier to you.

We had a lot of success and positive feedback from our online workshops in the 2020/2021 and 21/22 year, and are happy to be continuing to offer these workshops moving forward!

To register for a workshop please check out improv.ca/workshops or email operations@improv.ca.

We are happy to announce that HRA is continuing their partnership with the Canadian Improv Games, in accordance with the following: 

• The HRA will pay the registration fees for one team from each school. Schools will need to register by Oct 20, 2025 in order to have HRA pay their fees. After Oct 20th, schools will be responsible for paying their registration fee directly to CIG.
• If schools would like to register subsequent teams, they are responsible for their own registration fees other than the first team that is registered by Oct 20th.
• Schools will be responsible for coach remuneration.
• Schools will also be responsible to pay for online Wildcard fees or costs associated with attending Nationals. The CIG will help promote any fundraising efforts associated with attending the National Festival!