Referred to as the "Cultural Capital of Canada," Thunder bay city has a lot of cultural centres that help represent many of the diverse populations within the city. These cultural centres include the Finnish Labour Temple, Scandinavia House, the Italian Cultural Centre and the Polish Region. Performance arts and music locations proliferate within the city of Thunder Bay. Magnus Theatre is made during 1971, and it offers six stage plays for every season within the renovated Port Arthur Public School on Red River Road. The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium seats approximately 2,000 people, and is considered to be the main place utilized for several types of entertainment. Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra offers great classical music. New Music North offers contemporary classical music through unique and novel chamber music concerts. Museums and galleries accessible in the area include the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, which specializes in First Nations artists and their works. The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society presents local and traveling exhibitions and has a huge collection of documents, photographs, paintings and artifacts in its archives.
In Thunder Bay city, there are a lot of yearly festivals that take place here. Among the most popular festivals comprise the Bay Street Film Festival, Doors Open Thunder Bay, The Make It Short Movie Project, Summer in the Park, Thunder Bay Dragon Boat Race Festival, Thunder Bay Kite Festival and Thunder bay Blues Festival. The Bay Street Film Festival features "Films For the People." It shows the audience the elements of social justice, human rights, the natural environment and community activism. The Festival is a yearly event which has screened a lot of films to thousands of Thunder Bay residents and visitors over the years. Doors Open Thunder Bay is when Thunder Bay city opens its doors to the public, at no cost. Summer in Parks is a summer of free weekly musical concerts coordinated by the Recreation and Culture Division. The concerts showcase local talent performing various musical styles at Marina Park on Lake Superior. The Make It Short Movie Project is created by Thunder Bay producers Lee Chambers and Suzanne Plesh as an educational film production which provides the community a chance to work on and star in a short film which has a theatrical release. Thunder Bay Blues Festival is an event where several Blues fans gather on lake Superior's shores so as to enjoy a good line-up of popular local and international musicians. The Dragon Boat Race Festival is a fundraising event each and every summer which encourages community unity, spirit and vitality. Thunder Bay Kite Festival is considered as "One of Ontario's Top 50 Festivals" by Festivals & Events Ontario for four years in a row. Activities include crafts, face painting and games.
Thunder Bay is the largest city in Northwestern Ontario, which makes it the region's commercial, administrative, and medical centre. Many of the city's biggest single employers come from the public sector. At present, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the Lakehead District School Board, the Government of Ontario and the City of Thunder Bay each hire more than 1,500 individuals. The largest private company in Thunder Bay city is Bowater Forest Products. Various major employers in the sector of forestry consist of Buchanan Forest Products and AbitibiBowater. Bombardier Transportation likewise has a a plant in Thunder Bay that produces mass transit vehicles and equipment.