November 4, 2016 

 

Thirteen projects have been selected as part of the latest Animating Historic Sites program in Toronto, which involves artistic programming to attract and engage visitors. 

 

Highlights of this year's projects include building a birch-bark canoe, an intergenerational skill-share project centered on indigenous resurgence, a festival of foraged food celebrating ethno and bio-diversity, live radio play/podcasts created with a live audience and multiple performance and interactive community works. 

 

"The City of Toronto is proud of this ongoing partnership with the Toronto Arts Council, and now Evergreen Brick Works," said Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre), Chair of the City's Economic Development Committee. "Through exhibitions, installations and performances, this program enlivens Toronto's historic site experience."

 

Over the last four years, a partnership between the Toronto Arts Council and the City's Museums and Heritage Services section has resulted in 35 site-specific projects.

 

“The Toronto Arts Council is delighted to be working with the City of Toronto and Evergreen Brick Works on this program,” said Claire Hopkinson, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Foundation. “It has been very exciting to witness the inspiration of the artists as they work with museum curators to create new meanings in our heritage buildings and engage the public in entirely new perspectives of the city’s history.”

 

The Animating Historic Sites program provides funding to professional artists, arts organizations and collectives working in any discipline to plan or create free programming that responds to or interprets the selected historic site. 

 

The program acts as a catalyst for people to see and think about historic places differently by creating experiences for historic sites and museums to be revealed as vital public spaces of social interaction, with the past providing creative context for the future.

 

More information about the program and its recipients is available at http://bit.ly/2e8t0qo.

 

More information about past program recipients is available at http://bit.ly/2ePC9DR.

 

The City of Toronto's Historic Sites is a collection of City-owned and operated heritage properties that aim to engage the public in telling Toronto's story. For more information, visit http://www.toronto.ca/museums. The public can also interact with City museums at https://twitter.com/TOhistoricsites and at https://www.facebook.com/historictoronto.

 

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bit.ly/2fCwyRB

 

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

 

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Media contacts: 

Shane Gerard, Strategic Communications, 416-397-5711, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Sarah Gladki, Toronto Arts Council, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. LeaAnne Ross, Evergreen Brick Works, 416-596-1495 x249, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.