Arts Community United on Arts Priorities

October 25 Toronto elects a new Mayor and City Council. In preparation for the election TAC’s Advocacy Committee, working with others in the  arts community, articulated the municipal arts priorities outlined below. The committee believes fulfillment of these priorities will contribute to a better Toronto, able to reach its potential as a leading creative city on the world stage.

Priority One: Toronto leads Canada in arts and cultural activity. It should lead the country in per-capita cultural investment. Toronto currently invests $18 per Torontonian in arts and culture, outperformed by Montreal ($33) and most major North American cities. Priority Two: Toronto needs to position itself as a truly creative city and global cultural capital. Priority Three: The arts are a catalyst in economic development, tourism and civic participation, and should be at the centre of all of the city's strategies and planning.

Strong arts policies and greater public investment in the arts are essential to the vitality of our neighbourhoods and the prosperity of our city. Local arts advocates aim to communicate the value of the arts to Toronto city councillors, and mobilize citizens to vote for candidates who are committed to building a vibrant and cultured community. More.

Photo: Clay and Paper Theatre outside City Hall

Arts Awards Total $39,500

Nominees for Toronto Arts Foundation Awards are now being adjudicated. Finalists will be announced mid-August. Awards will be celebrated at the 5th Annual Mayor's Arts Awards Lunch, Mayor David Miller's last as host. 2010's five awards include the Arts for Youth Award $15,000, RBC Emerging Artist Award $7,500, Roy Thomson Hall Award of Recognition $10,000, the William Kilbourn Award $5,000 for the Celebration of Toronto's Cultural Life and the Toronto Arts and Business Award. Artist Jon Sasaki  designs this year's plate awarded to each winner. Presented at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Lunch each October to local arts leaders and champions, awards provide the Foundation with an opportunity to build awareness and celebrate the incredible contribution artists make to our city.

Photo: Mayor Miller with Claire Hopkinson

Culture Days Invites All to Participate in National Event

Culture Days, a national arts festival will take place in Toronto on September 24-26. 221 events are already listed in Toronto alone. All invited to register. TAC sees Culture Days as a significant opportunity for audience development and will increase visibility for the arts.  It will be particularly advantageous for numerous arts organizations funded by TAC who already program free arts events. Conveniently occurring just weeks before Toronto’s municipal election, it will demonstrate the value of arts across the country. Registered events will be advertised on the Culture Days site, added to an interactive map and qualify for more promotional opportunities. CBC is committed to supporting promotions through radio, TV and internet, ads on 1,100 cinema screens andpresenting feature stories before and througout the event.

TAC Associate Director Huffman Curates G8 and G20

Toronto Arts Council always seeks unique opportunities to spotlight living Canadian artists and it doesn’t get more unique than curating the recent G8 and G20 Summits. Associate Director and Grant Officer of Visual, Media and Literary Arts, William Huffman was invited by Summit organizers to curate an exhibition for both events. He accepted the challenge to assemble several installations in various meeting spaces at Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) and Deerhurst Resort on condition that he be given scope to present only contemporary and modern Canadian art, in place of traditional Group of Seven scenes adorning walls of summits past. Huffman waived the offered fee, requesting that it be donated to the Art Dealers Association of Canada as seed money for a national professional development fund. Installations were reviewed in Globe and Mail by James Bradshaw and by Andrea Carson in View on Canadian Art. Huffman’s own account appears on TO Live With Culture. Responding in that article to some scathing comments on his curatorial cold shoulder approach to Group of Seven, Huffman says “at least people are talking about Canadian art!”

Photos: Huffman at MTCC; Japan PM Naoto Kan under John Hartman painting, Haliberton

Luminato Partners with TAF to Offer Incubate Grants

This past winter, thanks to a partnership between Luminato and Toronto Arts Foundation established in 2008, TAC awarded $75,000 to 12 theatrical works. These one-time Incubate grants are offered to support development of work with international aspirations.

"The grant offers financial support at the seed level of innovative and exceptional ideas. It is hoped that these investments will foster partnerships leading to international presentation opportunities. So far, two rounds of grants have already helped to develop productions appearing at World Stage Festival, Luminato, with more partnerships in the works,”  said Executive Director Claire Hopkinson.

TAC and Luminato celebrated their partnership at a reception  following Volcano Theatre's "African Trilogy" commissioned by Luminato.

Photo: J. Lauener -"African Trilogy" by Volcano Theatre

First Impressions of Toronto, a partnership project between Toronto Arts Foundation and Heritage Toronto supported by RBC, is a series of posters featuring Toronto artists mounted on TTC subway cars and buses. This second edition released on May 3^rd and on display for three months, features Video and film artist Richard Fung, composer Juliet Palmer, writer and activist Emma Goldman and painter Lucius O’Brien. Visit FIRST IMPRESSIONS program on the Foundation web site for a profile on each artist.

Photo: G. Muratori

Neighbourhood Arts Network Takes Off

Launched in January, Neighbourhood Arts Network was created with Art Starts as part of Toronto Arts Foundation's Creative City: Block by Block program. It is Toronto’s first network dedicated solely to strengthening art-making in neighbourhoods throughout the city. Membership soared to 250 in just a few months. Activities offered to date include publication of a Summer Activity Guide distributed to libraries and community centres, two networking events where members shared ideas and resources on Social Enterprise and training for community artists, and a corporate grant-writing seminar. The ongoing Networking Series offers members opportunity to connect in person, while our website features news, blogs, research, studies, member profiles, events and more, all updated daily by members. Membership is free - Join today!

This initiative is supported by the Government of Ontario, Ontario Trillium Foundation, City of Toronto through TAC, and Friends of the Foundation.