Art of the Danforth
August 20-28, 2016, daily from 10am-10pm
Festival Hub – Roberston Parkette, 1549 Danforth Avenue (at Coxwell)
A FREE neighbourhood arts event
Volunteer Opportunities
Art of the Danforth is a reflexive and changing public art experiment that aims to transform, engage, uncover, and discover the possible roles and functions of an artist in a diverse and changing community. The neighbourhood art event is August 20-28.
Art of the Danforth is a free neighbourhood art event that looks at big ideas from an intimate perspective. The event explores the idea of “fault lines”, asking artists and community members to consider the unseen forces at play in their neighbourhood, the weight of unstoppable and insistent change, and the friction between invisible societal forces. It asks us to think about our day-to-day lives, and how we contribute to these “fault lines”.
Join us each day from August 20-28, 10am-10pm at the Festival Hub, located at Roberston Parkette, 1549 Danforth Avenue (at Coxwell).
The Festival Hub will feature art projects and will be the meeting place for all the festival’s performances and events taking place throughout the neighbourhood. The space will feature free wifi, tables and chairs, and free coffee and water. Come to the hub often and frequently, find out what’s happening in the festival that day, relax, sit, work, play, sleep, and engage. For 9 days, your everyday space will become your space, every day.
Current Opportunities to get involved:
Volunteer with Art of the Danforth
There are a variety of volunteer roles that you can assist with, and we invite you to join the Art of the Danforth team. This is also a fun way for students to collect volunteer hours by contributing their time to a community arts event.
We request that you please fill out a form to let us know your volunteer availability and which roles you are interested in. We will follow up with you, and thank you for your interest in helping! Full details HERE.
This summer, sketch artist Marjan Verstappen is searching for photos of you, your home, and your neighbourhood. She would like to visit your home and look at your favourite family photos, or take some for you. She will turn these photos into beautiful drawings that celebrate the memories of the neighbourhood and community.
From August 20-28 these drawings will be on display around the neighbourhood as part of the Art of the Danforth festival. If you live on or around the Danforth between Greenwood and Woodbine, and you would like to lend Marjan a photo, or be photographed by her, contact her at marjan.verstappen@gmail.com or at (647) 229-7820.
The Centre for Communication and Poetry Research is seeking five local residents of the Danforth community to collaborate on creating a series of poems. The poems will be recorded and made available through listening stations located throughout the neighbourhood during the festival (Aug 20-28). The poems intend to reflect the quietude of everyday lives and thoughts that float above the noise of the Danforth. No experience in writing/poetry is required.
Requirements: Participants will be required to attend two workshops:
Workshop 1: Saturday, Aug 6, 10am – 12pm
Workshop 2: Saturday, Aug 13, 10am-12pm
Location: S. Walter Stewart Library, 170 Memorial Park Ave, East York
Collaborators will also receive an honorarium of $50 for their participation. Email Annie Wong if interested: anniewong416@gmail.com
Call for Participants – Climate Talks: Not in my Backyard
YOUTH:
As part of Art of the Danforth 2016 (August 20-28, 2016), Toronto art collective, Madeleine Co. is recruiting outgoing and energetic youth between the ages of 9-12 to be part of a series of performances where they interview local adults through a conversation on climate change. We will be paying a small artist honorarium for participating youth.
Commitment: The participating youth must be available for the 3 workshops and the performance dates listed below:
Workshop #1: Fri., August 12, 2016, 10am-12pm – 2 Hours
Workshop #2: Mon., August 15, 2016, 10am – 12pm – 2 Hours
Workshop #3: Fri., August 19, 2016, 10am – 12pm – 2 Hours
Performance: Sat., August 20 AND Sat., August 27, time TBA – 1 Hour
All workshops and performances will take place in the neighbourhood. The workshop programming will include climate change education, learning how to interview, as well as examining issues with particular relevance to the Danforth community.
ADULTS:
As part of Art of the Danforth 2016 (August 20-28, 2016), Toronto art collective, Madeleine Co. is recruiting interested adults to be interviewed their backyards or shared spaces. These adults will be interviewed by local children (aged 9-12) on topics related to the Danforth community and issues around climate change.
Commitment: The participating adult must be available for the performance date(s) listed below:
Performance: Sat., August 20 OR Sat., August 27 (daytime, exact time TBA) 1 Hour
Additional Commitment: The participating youth will be part of workshop programming to learn about climate change, how to interview and also examine issues with particular relevance to the Danforth community. All workshops and performances will take place in the neighbourhood.
Though not mandatory, please let us know if you would be interested and available to meet the youth during the last workshop taking place Friday, August 19 for 30 minutes.
CONTACT
If interested, please contact: Alexandra Hong at: alex@madeleineco.com or by phone at 647-209-1539 by Monday, August 8, 2016.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Climate Talks: Not in my Backyard is a series of youth-led performances in the Danforth neighbourhood in which local kids (age 9-12) converse with adults on their fears, failings, and hopes in the face of the youth’s eventual inheritance of a world impacted by climate change. The performances will take place in Danforth residents’ backyards and shared spaces to bring the abstract feeling and threat of climate change into a personal, neighbourhood setting. Climate Talks invites honesty and refreshing candour into a deeply polarizing discussion around the impending threat faced by future generations.
The Climate Talks: Not in my Backyard performance series is part of the Climate Talks project by Madeleine Co., a video series of child-led conversations commissioned by the Ryerson Image Centre. The Climate Talks video series will premiere concurrently with the “The Edge of the Earth: Climate Change in Photography and Video” exhibition taking place from September to December 2016.
About Madeleine Co.
Madeleine Co. is a Toronto-based art collective reimagining social issues through experiential storytelling and multimedia art. Projects include: the Creative Catalyst symposium on art and social change, international presentations of the These are the People in Your Neighbourhood performance, and Let’s Imagine Canada’s Future commissioned by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Madeleine Co. has been featured in festivals such as Art of the Danforth, Nuit Blanche, and Luminato. Learn more about past projects at www.madeleineco.com
Art of the Danforth festival sponsors:
