On a September Saturday, the Toronto suburb of Markham will become the epicentre of Asian Canadian culture once again. ARC World, the one-day festival built around a celebrity basketball game co-organized by Marvel star Simu Liu and NBA legend Jeremy Lin, returns to the city where it all began on September 12, 2026. Dubbed the "Homecoming" edition, the festival marks a full-circle moment for the Asian Roots Collective, the volunteer-run nonprofit that started in Markham three decades ago as a humble basketball league and has evolved into a powerhouse for cultural representation.
The festival's return to its birthplace is deeply personal for Liu, who was in the middle of his bachelor party in Ontario's Muskoka region when he spoke about the event ahead of his wedding to fiancée Allison Hsu. Stepping away from jet skiing and lake swims, the Marvel star made clear why Markham mattered. "It's such a big part of the Asian Canadian community," he said. "First of all, it's got the best Chinese food in the country, in my opinion." Coming to Markham, he added, was meaningful because it's where the nonprofit behind ARC World was born. "We wanted to bring the event back to the community and back to its people, maybe avoid the traffic of downtown a little bit."
The story of how a charity basketball game became a cultural institution begins in 1995. That year, Clement Chu and his friends founded the Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association, or CCYAA, to create a safe space to play basketball. Today the organization, rebranded as the Asian Roots Collective, operates its own athletics centre in Markham. The acronym ARC still honors those basketball roots — as Chu likes to explain, it evokes the three-point arc, the arc of a shot. But the organization's ambitions have expanded far beyond the court. "We're trying to tell a story now so this is a narrative arc," Chu said. "That was the inspiration behind the name of the organization."
The organization partnered with Liu in 2019 on a celebrity basketball game that raised money for the Jeremy Lin Foundation, the nonprofit Lin had founded in 2011 to support overlooked AAPI and cross-racial youth programs. The event has since evolved into a one-day festival celebrating Asian excellence across industries, bringing together athletes, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and chefs alongside local businesses and community organizations.
ARC World launched in its current form in 2025, drawing downtown crowds to Toronto Metropolitan University's Kerr Hall. This year's edition builds on that success with five zones of programming. ARC Hoops, presented by Google Pixel, is the signature celebrity basketball game, with Liu, Lin, and a star-studded lineup going head-to-head to raise funds for ARC and the Jeremy Lin Foundation. ARC Next, presented by TD, is a talent showcase and variety show featuring homegrown performers. ARC Eats brings together some of the city's most beloved Asian restaurants, food pop-ups, and chefs, including Trevor Lui, MasterChef Canada winner Christopher Siu, and Nuit Regular of PAI Toronto. ARC Market, presented by TurboTax Canada, spotlights local Asian-owned brands and small businesses. And ARC Talks features prominent Asian leaders sharing their stories on representation and culture.
The main festival will take place at the Hilton Markham, while the ARC Hoops celebrity game will be held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre in Scarborough. Tickets are on sale at asianrootscollective.org/arcworld.
For both Liu and Lin, the event is about more than basketball or entertainment. It's about giving young Asian Canadians role models they might not otherwise encounter. "Representation matters, and when young people can see themselves reflected in athletes, creators and leaders, it expands what they believe they can achieve," said Lin, ARC Ambassador. "Whether it's on the court, through the festival or in the conversations that happen throughout the day, I'm so proud to be part of an event that continues to invest in the next generation."
Liu echoed that sentiment. "ARC WORLD has always been bigger than any one event," he said. "It's about celebrating who we are, creating opportunities to connect and showing what's possible when our community comes together — returning to where it all began makes this year's event especially meaningful."
As Chu put it, the stories told at ARC World are not just about being Asian — they're stories of resilience that apply far beyond any one community. "We hope people come enjoy the things that come from our culture, whether it's food or art or entertainment," he said. "More than anything else, we want to get young people out and volunteering and making contributions back to the community." On September 12, Markham will welcome them home.