Aside from battling with the flu last week, I was honored to take part in an amazing conference that brought together scientists, cultural producers and some genius thinkers to imagine collaborative art projects that bring awareness to global warming – Cape Farewell. Heard some inspiring talks including: Alanna Mitchell, a freelance journalist and authour of Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis; Tom Rand, an author, speaker and entrepreneur working at MaRS here in Toronto and former Toronto Mayor David Miller.

David Miller gave a great talk about the role that he and other Mayors across Canada played in introducing climate change projects and programs. In particular, he spoke about Transit City, a plan that was going to add 120km of new light rail to Toronto’s transit system. Most of the new rail was going to serve dense and economically challenged neighbourhoods in the city. The current Toronto City Council of course canceled Transit City; it was one of the very first things to be cut.

I’m not moved to tears very often, but David Miller told a great story about a woman who on average spent 2.5 hours traveling on public transit every day to get to her job, to pick up her daughter from daycare and then to travel to her second job. It was emotional to hear this story because it reminded me of my own. I grew up in areas now known as priority neighbourhoods – up until Grade 3 I lived in the Jane/Finch neighbourhood, and later I moved to Rexdale. As a family we all relied on public transit – I didn’t get a car when I turned ‘16’ – in fact, I still don’t have a driver’s license.

I was happy to participate in the discussion this weekend, and I’m positive that good things will come as a result of my being there. As a cultural producer (I would say facilitator in my case) I was reminded – by an artist in the room (Mel Chin) – that it is our responsibility to ensure that ‘ideas’ are allowed to survive and to prepare our audience for absorption (listen).

Despite the setbacks to the Transit City plan, David Miller was hopeful that it could be saved. Inspirational! My personal responsibility – keep the idea and discussion alive. As part of Free Fall’12, The Theatre Centre’s biannual festival of new work (to be announced soon!), we are hoping to present a piece that will be a part of this discussion.

Posted: November 15th, 2011 under Franco's Blog, November 2011 Newsletter.
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As many of you know, The Theatre Centre has quite a few wonderful things planned for the future. We thought we’d give you a quick update on where things are right now.

We are still operating out of the performance space on the lower level of The Great Hall building at 1087 Queen Street West. Just recently we found a bunch of photos taken during the time when this space was made into a performance space in 2004. Check some of them out on our Facebook page. Since then, many artists and collectives presented their work in this space. We will continue working in this space for most of 2012, presenting our own programming and hosting works by other artists, and we are looking forward to welcoming you here again and again!

On the logistics side, for a couple of months now the entrance to our current theatre space has been on Dovercourt Road. We are working on making the entrance more noticeable for everyone and creating a small public lobby space inside the theatre for our patrons and visitors. There are certain challenges with that given the physical environment of the space, and we hope for your patience and understanding.

Now on to the new home of The Theatre Centre. In 2013 we will move into our permanent new home at 1115 Queen Street West to retrofit The Carnegie Library. Here is what Artistic Director Franco Boni says about the project: “We are in the early stages of raising $5M+ from private and public sources to make our 30 year dream a reality. This building is especially important to us, not only because it will provide a permanent space for artistic innovation, but because it’s a beautiful Toronto heritage building that will be re-opened for public use and cultural purpose for our neighbourhood. It will be a community anchor for many Parkdale and Queen West residents. We have made great strides as we begin our campaign efforts, but we would love the support of our fellow neighbours in the months and years ahead.”

Please email us if you have any questions about the campaign for our new home.

Posted: November 8th, 2011 under A New Home for The Theatre Centre, November 2011 Newsletter, Theatre Centre Blog.
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