Toronto - June 2023 The Bloor St. Culture Corridor
Happy June! We continue to share the most up-to-date information about arts and culture events from our Bloor St. Culture Corridor partners. Celebrate Pride with our partners, as well as Italian Heritage month!
To make sure you get even more up-to-date notices, be sure to follow our social media channels - Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You never know what you'll discover next!
ROM
Explore the impact of textiles and fashion on the planet's water quality — and what we can do about it — in a powerful, new, ROM-organized art installation by Canadian visual artist, Noelle Hamlyn. Noelle Hamlyn: Lifers opens a complex and important conversation about climate change, and how fast fashion and rampant overconsumption are accelerating the crisis with each new season. Included with General Admission, this exhibition opens June 3, 2023. Also happening this June, ROMWalks let you enjoyably learn about Toronto’s history, people of note, and buildings throughout the city. Join free tours throughout the summer or arrange a private tour to fit your schedule by contacting romwalks@rom.on.ca. On June 20, the Rock, Gem, Fossil and Meteorite Identification Clinic returns. Attendance is free with RSVP. To ensure clinic time for all visitors, participants should bring no more than 5 specimens. Buy tickets and learn more at their website.
IMAGE CREDIT - Lifer by Noelle Hamlyn: worn by Colleen Snell. Photography by Geoff Coombs
Bata Shoe Museum
Get your shoe-stopping best out because the Bata Shoe Museum is hosting its first-ever after-dark Pride Party on Wednesday, June 7 from 7-11pm! Enjoy a performance by Miss Moço, a fashion presentation by Fashion Art Toronto, and music by DJ Sophie Jones. Wander through four exhibition spaces to explore the fascinating history and future of shoes while you party after dark in their incredible architectural award-winning venue. Get your tickets now before it’s too late! Missed their terrarium making workshop with Alexscapes? They’ll be hosting another workshop on Saturday, June 17. Every Sunday they offer FREE admission to the Museum where you can discover 4,500 years of footwear history. Be sure to visit their website to never miss an update!
The Music Gallery
Duo Cichorium synthesize their artistic and musical values to present their self-curated concert, Elemental at The Music Gallery on June 16. The performance centres on themes of connection to oneself, to each other, to technology, and to nature. The first half features a wide variety of compositions, spanning from theatrical improvisation to intimate chamber works. Following intermission is the world premier of Elemental Suite, a four-movement extravaganza co-composed by Jasmine Tsui and Louis Pino for percussion, custom electronics, and visual art. For more information, visit their website.
Gardiner Museum
On now at the Gardiner Museum, the exhibition Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories illuminates the power, courage, and strength of Indo-Caribbean women, past and present. Through a feminist lens, Toronto-based artist Heidi McKenzie reveals the little-known histories of Indo-indentureship in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries to the present. Then from June 8–18, the International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) returns to the Gardiner. ICAF is a 10-day celebration of some of the most compelling recent ceramic art, featuring works by emerging and established artists, as well as online and in-person programming. ICAF 2023 will also include a symposium on June 9 and 10. Titled Toward Future Bodies, the symposium brings together artists, scholars, and other voices from Canada and internationally to explore the boundaries of our species and our connection to other life forms as expressed through ceramics and clay. Visit their website to learn more.
VEMU Estonian Museum Canada
On June 3, join VEMU on a guided Jane's walk tour through Toronto's York Cemetery. The cemetery opened in 1948 and has become the resting place of many Estonians and Latvians whose graves will be visited on the tour. On June 7 at 7pm, just in time for Father's Day, VEMU in collaboration with the Estonian National Museum, will be opening a new photography exhibit, "Our Fathers". The exhibit will be a collection of photos of Estonian fathers locally and abroad. Following this, a networking event with a delegation from Creative Destruction Lab Estonia will take place on the evening of June 12 at Tartu College. They will be meeting with the community, businesses and entrepreneurs. Come and meet these Estonian innovators and other companies. More information can be found on their website.
Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
June celebrations and learning opportunities abound at the Miles Nadal JCC. Their Pride month offerings include Woodland Pride by artist Patrick Hunter in The Gallery at the J beginning June 7. On June 5 Chef Shauna Godfrey will lead a Rainbow Babka Bake-Along presented by LGBTQ+ at the J. On June 4 meet at the JCC for a tour of the Jewish history and layered cultures of Kensington Market led by Sharoni Sibony, who is also the guest speaker on June 8 at one of their 70th anniversary events - From Brunswick to Bloor: The History of the Miles Nadal JCC. Celebrate a welcoming Shabbat with musicians Brian Katz and Jonno Lightstone on June 16 at Celebrating Shabbat in Song. PushPULL Dance presents Those Were The Days, June 1-2 in the Al Green Theatre. Their National Contest, The Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition is now excepting submissions. Explore their programs in wellness, ECE, and more inclusive community events at their website.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
June is Italian Heritage Month. To celebrate, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura will present several events, including the art exhibition In Line – Paintings by Robert Marra, opening on June 7 and running until July 21. Roberto Marra is a Toronto-born Italian Canadian artist who has studied art in Italy and Canada. Since the mid-1990s, he has focused on contemporary art paintings. Over the years, Roberto’s work has been exhibited in Italy and Canada. It is included in public and private collections and has been further included in, or on the cover of, numerous books of poetry. Roberto is also a published poet. Click here for information on this and other events celebrating Italian Heritage Month.
University of Toronto Faculty of Music
Throughout a fifty year recording career, Beverly Glenn-Copeland's music has defied categorization and genre, its only consistency being the fusion of vision, technology, spirituality and place. A Black, trans artist, he is a strong advocate on behalf of Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ2S+ communities in Canada and abroad, and has influenced new generations of artists. On Tuesday, June 13 from 3-5 pm, the Faculty of Music is delighted to celebrate the extraordinary work of this visionary Black, trans artist, and University of Toronto Honorary Degree Recipient with a screening of Keyboard Fantasies, followed by a panel discussion. This event is presented by the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, Sexual & Gender Diversity Office, Anti-Racism & Cultural Diversity Office, Women & Gender Studies Institute, and Mark H. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Registration for this free event is required - please click here.
Women's Art Association of Canada
Dignam Gallery presents Artist's Choice, featuring 48 WAAC member artists and over 90 artworks June 7-17, 2023. Opening Reception will take place on June 10, from 1-4pm; Uptown Pride, WAAC Signature exhibition as part of the Pride Toronto 2023 takes place June 21-27, 2023. Opening Reception on June 22, from 5-7:30pm. Ruth Upjohn Gallery presents solo exhibitions of WAAC member artists - Pia Israelsson until June 10; Ted Scott from June 14-24. Artist's Voice ZOOM Speakers Series presents The Unquiet Landscape with Sylvia Galbraith on June 16, 1-2pm. And finally, the Artist's Hand Workshop with Ed Pien will take place on June 16, 1-4pm at the Dignam Gallery. For registration and more information, please visit their website.
Soundstreams
Dragon’s Tale takes place June 15-18, 2023, at 8pm, at the Harbourfront Centre Concert Stage, 235 Queens Quay W. Dragon's Tale dives into the rich and sometimes tense dynamics of first and second-generation immigrants, exploring the fable of Chinese poet Qu Yuan as a foil to the journey of a young Chinese-Canadian woman Xiao Liang and her ailing father. Dragon’s Tale bursts with soaring music, song and storytelling, spanning continents and generations. They are thrilled to collaborate once again with composer Chan Ka Nin and librettist Mark Brownell, who created the oratorio The Weaving Maiden, commissioned and premiered by Soundstreams in Glenn Gould Studio in 2006. That work also explored how classic Chinese legends have resonance for our time and place. Directed by Tapestry Opera’s Artistic Director, Michael Hidetoshi Mori, with Musical Direction by David Fallis with the orchestral sounds of Ensemble Soundstreams. This is a free outdoor performance on Toronto’s waterfront. Visit their website for more information.
Toronto Reference Library
The library presents online and in person programs at Toronto Reference Library and branches across the city. On June 1, bestselling author Mellissa Fung talks about her gripping new book, "Between Good and Evil: The Stolen Girls of Boko Haram" online. Award-winning novelist Michelle Good discusses her bold and provocative new essay collection, examining the historical and contemporary Indigenous experience in Canada, on June 5 in the new Concourse Event Space at North York Central Library. On June 14 in the Appel Salon, Pulitzer Prize finalist Luis Alberto Urrea discusses his new novel, "Good Night, Irene," based on the magnificent and true story of heroic Red Cross women. And, the library celebrates Pride throughout June with activities and events including a talk with Daniel Allen Cox about his new memoir and experiences as a queer ex-Jehovah's Witness on June 6 at the Yorkville branch. Explore all upcoming TPL programs at tpl.ca.
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir
With the promise of summer just around the corner, Tafelmusik is pleased to announce seven performances—five of which are free—in various venues across the General Toronto Area from May 29 to June 30, 2023. These community-focused concerts will take place in June at three different locations: Columbus Centre (co-presented by Villa Charities), Toronto Music Garden as part of Harbourfront Centre’s Summer Music in the Garden series, and McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The annual Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Festival is also back! Enjoy four free concerts at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, Grace Church-on-the-Hill, and Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. Dates and details for all concerts are available here.
Alliance Française de Toronto
June at the AFT kicks off with Virtuosi, a trumpet and tuba concert, by the Leleu brothers, Thomas and Romain, on June 1. Pride Month is welcomed with an exhibition by acclaimed New York-based artist Jayson Edward Carter who works primarily with digital photography that focuses on the distortion of the human form. The exhibition will open on the June 2 and will be on until June 24. Catch an online lecture in French on Art Nouveau in Germany on June 10 by historian Gilles Genty. Don’t miss the films “Little Girl” and “Gallant Indies” to be screened June 15 and 29 respectively. And the cultural season ends with a bang as Akeem Oh takes on the stage for the Fête de la Musique on June 21! Visit their website for more information.
The Japan Foundation, Toronto
The Japan Foundation, Toronto is heading to Scarborough! On June 3, JFT will screen On-Gaku: Our Sound at the Cineplex Cinemas Scarborough as a part of the Together We Rise Arts Festival. The film will be screened for free to all registrants. Back in Toronto, guests interested in graphic design and photography will want to check out JFT’s ongoing exhibition, A Sense of Movement: Japanese Sports Posters, available until September on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. June will also feature JFT’s first hybrid Book Club, where participants will join in silent reading time with an optional discussion period. The theme is LGBTQIA+ books. Until June 27, JFT will be sponsoring TIFF’s POP Japan event, spotlighting SUZUKI Seijun films, World of Anime films, and Miyazaki Spotlight films. For more information about both in-person and virtual events, film screenings, classes, and gatherings at JFT, please visit their website.
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema kicks-off Summer with the hottest new music and arts docs, new screening series, and special programming for Pride Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day. Art lovers will delight in Close to Vermeer, a behind-the-scenes look at the largest Vermeer exhibition ever mounted, now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; and Exhibition on Screen: Tokyo Stories, based on a major exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, spanning 400 years of incredibly dynamic Japanese art. Fashion Reimagined follows trailblazing fashion designer Amy Powney's journey in creating her first fully sustainable collection. Curious Minds Author Talks welcomes the hilarious essayist, comedian and TV writer Samantha Irby. The Quiet Time series returns with a screening of Ram Dass: Fierce Grace, a mind-expanding portrait of Richard Alpert AKA Ram Dass, one of the true spiritual icons of the 1960s and 70s. Visit the Hot Docs website to view their programming schedule.
The Bloor St. Culture Corridor, Toronto's most diverse arts and culture district, is a true creative cluster, an arts and culture destination, and a collaboration between some of Toronto's most dynamic arts and culture organizations.
The Bloor St. Culture Corridor offers the public a wide variety of arts genres, from museum experiences to films, art exhibitions to music concerts, and opportunities to experience some of Toronto's cultural diversity, including Aboriginal, French, Jewish, Italian, Japanese, Estonian, African and Caribbean arts and culture.
All Bloor St. Culture Corridor organizations present arts and cultural events for the public year-round in destination venues located in a cluster along a vibrant stretch of Bloor Street West. Each year more than three million members of the public go to Bloor St. Culture Corridor arts and culture destinations, and attend exhibitions, performances, and events. Together, the Bloor St. Culture Corridor organizations employ more than 5,500 culture workers and generate more than $629,500,000 in economic impact each year. In 2016, The Bloor St. Culture Corridor was successful in working with the City of Toronto to have the Bloor St. Culture corridor section of Bloor St. West designated an official City of Toronto cultural corridor.
The Bloor St. Culture Corridor includes:
918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media and Education: 918 Bathurst St. 918bathurst.com
Alliance Française de Toronto: 24 Spadina Road alliance-francaise.ca
Bata Shoe Museum: 327 Bloor Street West batashoemuseum.ca
Blackhurst Cultural Centre: 777-779 Bathurst St. blackhurstcc.org
Gardiner Museum: 111 Queen's Park gardinermuseum.com
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema: 506 Bloor Street West hotdocscinema.ca
Istituto Italiano di Cultura: 496 Huron Street iictoronto.esteri.it
The Japan Foundation, Toronto: 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 300 jftor.org
Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre: 750 Spadina Ave. mnjcc.org
The Music Gallery: 918 Bathurst St. musicgallery.org
Native Canadian Centre of Toronto: 16 Spadina Road ncct.on.ca
The Randolph Centre for the Arts: 736 Bathurst St. randolphcentreforthearts.com
The Royal Conservatory of Music / Koerner Hall: 273 Bloor Street West rcmusic.com/performance
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM): 100 Queen's Park (Entrance on Bloor St. W.) rom.on.ca
Soundstreams: various venues on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor soundstreams.ca
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir: 427 Bloor Street West tafelmusik.org
The Toronto Consort: 427 Bloor Street West torontoconsort.org
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library: 120 St. George St. fisher.library.utoronto.ca
Toronto Reference Library: 789 Yonge Street torontopubliclibrary.ca
University of Toronto Faculty of Music: 80 Queen's Park music.utoronto.ca
VEMU Estonian Museum Canada: 310 Bloor Street West vemu.ca
Women's Art Association of Canada: 23 Prince Arthur Ave. womensartofcanada.ca
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Sandra P 6/1/2023 |
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