Artscape Announces Programming for the New Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, Toronto
Artscape has announced the programming highlights for the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, a new cultural hub at 585 Dundas Street East, which kicks off its inaugural season on Saturday, September 22, 2012 with a public Open House. Artscape, Toronto Community Housing, The Daniels Corporation and members of the local community have partnered to develop the innovative 60,000-square-foot, purpose-built facility. Designed by the award-winning Diamond & Schmitt Architects, the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre will be the newest addition to downtown Toronto's thriving cultural landscape. Complete event details and information are available on the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre's newly-launched website, www.regentparkarts.ca.
An Open House from 12:00 to 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 22 will offer an opportunity for the public to enjoy performances, explore the facility and meet the new tenant organizations. From 1:00 to 9:00 PM on Sunday, September 23, the Centre's Courtyard will be the venue for the revival of a long-standing annual community tradition, Block-O-Rama. A free, family-friendly event, Block-O-Rama is led by the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre's Youth Sub-Committee and celebrates the neighbourhood's spirit with food, games and live performances by local talent.
The Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre's fall calendar encompasses a wide range of culturally-diverse performances, celebrations, public and community events presented by several of its dynamic tenant organizations — ArtHeart Community Art Centre, Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), COBA Collective of Black Artists, Native Earth Performing Arts, Regent Park Film Festival, Regent Park School of Music, and Pathways to Education Regent Park CHC, as well events hosted by clients from the community and beyond: Regent Park Focus, Culture Days, Manifesto, Why Not Theatre, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, DiverseCity, the Canadian Opera Company, SpeakOUT, and UforChange, among others. The Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre works with grassroots community groups and not-for-profit organizations on a subsidized rental model to ensure that there is affordable access to programming and event spaces. To find out more about renting event space, click here>
Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre highlights for the month of September include Manifesto Festival Art Show and Launch Party on September 21; the Centre's public Open House on September 22; Block-O-Rama on September 23; a double-bill from Toronto-based Why Not Theatre with the legendary Bollywood stars, husband and wife team Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah in Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar, adaptated from the letters of George Bernard Shaw from September 28 to 30, and Ismat Apa Ke Naam performed in Urdu/Hindi with English surtitles from October 5 to 7; Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre tenant activities during Culture Days, September 28 to 30; and again at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche on September 29, when Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre tenant organizations come together to illuminate their new space with parades of neon and fire, shadow puppetry, interactive music, dance and theatre.
October highlights include a number of inaugural events by tenant organizations celebrating their new home at the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre: The Regent Park Film Festival holds a fundraising event on October 11 featuring a screening of the award-winning documentary We Are Wisconsin; the Centre for Social Innovation will host a Citizenship Ceremony on October 16; on October 18, Artscape, Tides Canada and The Nonprofit Centres Network will host Sharing Space, Sharing Success, an interactive seminar designed to lead organizations through the nuts and bolts of creating a mission-enhancing, financially sustainable shared workspace; and on October 20 the Regent Park School of Music teams up with Coleman Lemieux Compagnie, their neighbours at the Citadel, and the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra from Philadelphia for Space is the Place, presented by The Daniels Corporation. A spectacular free community celebration, this event includes site-specific music and dance performances.
November sees the 10th annual Regent Park Film Festival in its new home for the first time. The festival, taking place from November 7 to 10, features a dynamic line-up of shorts, documentaries and music videos that reflect relevant concerns within the neighbourhood. On November 29, Presenting Sponsor The Daniels Corporation together with Artscape will host Under One Roof, a fundraising event in support of the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre. Performances by gospel vocalist Jackie Richardson and friends will be among the highlights of the evening.
Additional client and community events throughout the fall include Regent Park Focus: Last Fridays, evenings of storytelling, poetry and music performances held on the last Friday of each month starting September 28; a film screening of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night on October 10; UforChange, a Regent Park-based organization that works with new Canadian and low-income youth will present Vivacity, a multi-arts showcase on October 14; SpeakOUT spoken word slam competition on October 21; a public Eid Celebration on October 27 that marks the end of Hajj; Building Bridges, a Regent Park community fashion show fundraiser on November 1; The Magenta Foundation's popular Flash Forward photography exhibition will take place on November 12; Regent Park's very own Dixon Hall's Music School with their annual Music for Life fundraising dinner on November 22; and The Brothers Grimm 500th Performance Party on December 7, part of the Canadian Opera Company's weeklong Grimmfest.
The Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre was developed in partnership by Artscape, Toronto Community Housing, The Daniels Corporation and members of the Regent Park community.
For a schedule of fall 2012 events and more information on the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, including a video mini-documentary series, tenant profiles and a brief history of Regent Park, visit www.regentparkarts.ca
Artscape | Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre
585 Dundas Street East
Toronto ON
M5A 2B7 Canada
Categories: Openings
