Since the 1999 creation of the revitalization task force joining federal, provincial, and municipal governments, we’ve seen a great deal of growth take place on Toronto’s waterfront. The focus over the past decade has been a combination of design excellence, innovative and sustainable development, as well as public accessibility to the waterfront. With the increase in public transit, open spaces, and beautiful developments (such as Pier 27), the organization is well on its way to reaching their goals. Next up? A project that’s designed to make use of these public spaces and showcase the city’s greatest creative talent: the Animating Our Waterfront program.
With the success of Nuit Blanche and Sugar Beach Sugar Shack Event, it made perfect sense to give Toronto’s creative talents the opportunity to revisit and reimagine the waterfront. The revitalization project began with a focus on creating high quality parks and public spaces for the community. The Animating Our Waterfront project provides a chance to bring these newly developed spaces to life.
This pilot program will award a maximum of $5,000 grants to artists or organizations who want to present arts and cultural programming in the waterfront public spaces. The goal is for Toronto’s waterfront to become a destination that hosts arts and cultural programming that highlights these new public spaces and invites Torontonians to celebrate and enjoy them.
There are some guidelines in order for an individual or organization’s project to be eligible. The event must be free and open to the general public, as well as take place between June 1 and September 30 of this year. Waterfront Toronto is looking for projects that present themes such as place-making, civic and community engagement, education, health and wellness, or environmental issues.
The deadline to apply is May 13, 2016 at 11:59pm, so if you’re interested in taking part be sure to take a look through the program application and guidelines provided by Waterfront Toronto. Torontonians and visitors to the city have a summer of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, performance, and literary and media arts to look forward! We can’t wait!
Header Image via Connie Tsang Photography for Waterfront Toronto