Creative Capital Initiative: Cultural Attractions

Representatives from a wide range of Toronto cultural attractions and festivals met at City Hall February 9 to share their thoughts and suggestions regarding an update of the City’s Culture Plan. Reps from the Pan Am Games, Ontario Place, the Ontario Science Centre, the Toronto Zoo, the Royal Winter Fair, Pride, Scotiabank Caribana, the ROM, TIFF and many others, put their heads together to brainstorm about how best to bolster the city’s cultural prospects.

Creative Capital Initiative co-chair Robert Foster, left, welcomed the group with thanks “for making time in your busy schedules to come and share your ideas, enthusiasm and passion for this city we all love.”

As with each of the sector-specific focus groups, the discussion was corralled into five main topic areas (see below). Some common themes started to emerge . . . READ MORE

Sweetheart Turns Museum Into Theatre

Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story has been packing the parlour of Spadina Museum where Toronto-based actress Denise Norman, above, is bringing Dean Burry’s biography of “America’s Sweetheart” to life. I was lucky enough to get a seat at yesterday’s sold-out matinee of the show. Norman, with the assistance of pianist Sherry Squires, sings her heart out as she traces the path of Toronto’s precocious and ambitious Gladys Smith who hightails it first to Broadway, where she adopts the Pickford stage name, and then to Los Angeles, where her gold curls and winning smile land her on top of the Hollywood heap.

When Pickford started in silent films in 1909, actors were not even identified in the credits; within a few years her star power was strong enough to see her name appear above the film title on theatre marquees — Pickford was the first actor to command a $1 million salary. She eventually married Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and the pair became Hollywood’s first and perhaps ultimate power couple. Together they forged United Artist Studios (with Charlie Chaplin and W.D. Griffith) and co-founded the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences. As Pickford (Norman) sings in the show’s theme song, “All my dreams were met.”

WHERE/WEHN: Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story at Spadina Museum (285 Spadina Road, 416.392.6910), Thursday thru Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm until February 27; tickets $17 – $20, advance reservations recommended.

Creative Capital Initiative: Municipal Investment in Culture

Representatives from Toronto’s city-supported cultural organizations comprised the first Creative Capital Initiative consultation, February 3 at St. Lawrence Hall. Participants spent two hours discussing municipal investment in culture and providing insightful thoughts on five consultation themes (see headings below). There were dozens of questions, suggestions and speculations: what follows is a distillation of those remarks. Above, Councillor Michael Thompson, Chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee, addresses the audience. READ MORE

Teens Tackle A Chorus Line

There’s likely to be some nervous young people in the wings of the Lower Ossington Theatre tonight as they prepare to dance and sing their hearts out in the opening of Toronto Youth Theatre’s production of A Chorus Line. With a large cast and minimal set requirements, the musical is a perfect vehicle for a low-budget, big-ambition company like TYT.

Founded by Maurice Galpern in 2005, Toronto Youth Theatre is one of only a handful of Toronto organizations focused on theatre for and by young people. The company divides into two groups, a junior level for ages 7 – 13 and a senior level for ages 14 – 20 (A Chorus Line includes a few actors slightly older than that). TYT is based at the Lower Ossington Theatre, a 125-seat venue tucked into a large rehearsal facility on Ossington Avenue north of Queen Street. The for-profit business rents space to everyone from TYT and Classical Theatre Project to Mirvish and Dancap. READ MORE

Creative Capital Consultations Underway

Toronto’s Creative Capital Initiative (CCI) got off the ground at St. Lawrence Hall yesterday morning with the first of 11 arts community consultations. Councillor Michael Thompson, left, Chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee, told those assembled that the sessions represent the cultural community’s “chance to get ahead of the curve for this new term of Council.”

With input from business, the arts community and City staff, the Creative Capital Initiative is tasked with exploring ways to enhance the economic and social impact of culture on Toronto.

Yesterday’s session, overseen by CCI co-chair Robert Foster (pictured below, far left) and Rita Davies, Executive Director of  City of Toronto Cultural Services, was the first of five sector-specific meetings. Six creative community consultations will take place this month, the first two were held yesterday afternoon in North York, to be followed by meetings in Etobicoke and Scarborough; two more city-wide public consultations will be held downtown in April with venues and times to be confirmed soon (watch this space for a complete schedule).

Business and the Arts: Robert Foster (from left) joins a discussion with Roy Mitchell (Trinity Square Video), Che Kothari (Manifesto Community Projects) and Alexander Neef (Canadian Opera Company).

In each of the consultations, five themes will be explored:

Measuring and Valuing Culture: How do you measure value in your organization and what have your metrics taught you?

Access, inclusion and arts education: What tools do you need from the City to improve affordability and access?

Toronto’s position as a Creative Capital: What should Toronto focus on over the next five years to raise its profile as a Creative Capital and what are the greatest barriers to accomplishing these goals?

Big Opportunities Ahead: Where can municipal investments in culture make the biggest impact?

Quick wins and urgent messages: If you could make one recommendation to the Mayor and Council regarding culture in Toronto, what would it be?

Summaries of each consultation will be posted here on LiveWithCulture.ca and we invite your comments and feedback.

Photos by Christopher Jones