Upcoming Events & New Initiatives

Here are some great opportunities for artists & community members this spring :)

Learn the basics of applying for an Ontario Arts Council Grant: Applying for a grant can be confusing and overwhelming. This spring, the Ontario Arts Council is offering a series of webinars for Ontario-based artists and arts groups to learn the basics of applying for OAC funding. Click here for more details.


Rhythm and Movement Dance Program (FREE): May 10th - 14th & May 24-28th / Rhythm and Movement Dance Program is a creative, innovative and hands on program for Black youth that will provide a safe space for young people to voice their concerns, share their opinions, acquire knowledge about healthy living through rhythm and movements. Black students ages 14-18 will gain physical education, social skill development and they will learn about the different forms of creating rhythms and movement. This program is a series of 4 sessions via zoom. Click here to register.


Ismailova Theatre of Dance is holding auditions for Contemporary dancers: Auditions for a physical theatre production in Toronto. Seeking female and male dancers for its new site-specific dance/physical theatre production to be presented over the weekends and some weeknights in July outdoors in Toronto. Auditions are May 1st 2021 9am-2pm. Auditions will be via Zoom. Herearsals and shows will be outdoors near Dufferin and Steeles with strict social distancing in place. More details here.


St. Joseph Hospital is looking for artwork: Throughout the pandemic, St. Joseph's Health Centre has received messages of support, hope, and gratitude from our community which have done wonders to lift the spirits of the staff, physicians, and learners who have been coming to work each day to support the west-end community. We would like to continue to offer images and words of encouragement to those making the important step in the fight against this terrible disease. We invite our schools across the west-end to get involved! Simply scan or photograph your artwork and inspirational messages, and send them to gillian.brunning@unityhealth.to to be proudly displayed in St. Joe’s vaccination clinic for all to see as they line up to receive their doses!

BBPA’s Community Space Financial Literacy Program: Saturdays at 10am. The ultimate financial literacy program for Black youth. This is an online and in class financial literacy / personal development program integrated into the SAY IT LOUD initiative, a national campaign for Black youth aged 14-29 that promotes Black prode and positive cultural identity. Click here to learn more and register.


Building a Black Archive Call-Out for Emerging Black Writers: A communitu initiative dedicated to unearthing of lost and forgotten Black Histories in Canada with a focus in Ontario. Click here to learn more and sign up.


Laidlaw Foundation’s Indigenous Youth and Community Futures Fund: Applications due by May 20th, receive funding for an Indigenous Youth lead project. Click here to learn more.


Labour Arts Catalyst: The Labour Arts Catalyst is a new initiative that pairs four artists from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to work with four local labour organizations in a collaborative art-making process that is in line with Mayworks’ vision to incite the creation and production of art that engages diverse artists adn workers in the advancement of cultural, exonomic and social justica. Click here for more details.


Girls with Grit Scholarship 2021: Girls with Grit has partnered with Armstrong Acting Studios to offer the Girls with Grit Scholarship. This opportunity will allow emerging female artists to have access to training and an introduction to Toronto’s TV and film industry. This scholarship is for anyone who has faced barriers entering into this industry, particularily those disproportionately impacted by systemic discrimination. Find out more here.


STEPS has launched their CreateSpace BIPOC Public Art Residency: A national program designed in consultation with advisors from coast to coast, to provide Black, Indigenous and Racialized artists with the skills, relationships and practical experience needed to take their public art practice to the next level.

Meet the 2021 CreateSpace artists-in-residence:
Yasmeen Nematt Alla
Bruno Canadien
Laara Cerman
Shelby Gagnon
Jieun June Kim
Arjun Lal
Amanda Lederle
Charmaine Lurch
Anna Jane McIntyre
Nuff
For residency updates and programming events for the public, follow @STEPSpublicart and #CreateSpaceResidency on Instagram and Facebook or visit publicartresidency.ca.


Selling your work online an Artist Project workshop: Artist Project is pleased to present a workshop series focused on skill-building for artists and the art-curious. Wednesday April 28, 5:30-7PM (ET) Click Here to Register
Fee: $20


Creating Opportunities Beyond the Gallery (International Exhibitions, Commissions, Artist Residencies and more): Join artists Kal Mansur and Nathan Eugene Carson on Zoom for a workshop focused on creating career opportunities as an independent artist. Kal and Nathan will share their unique perspectives and paths to success, from soliciting art commissions, navigating exhibition opportunities, living/working internationally and more. The session will be interactive, and will include time for questions. Wednesday May 12, 5:30-7PM (ET) Click Here to Register
Fee: $20


The 2021 Emerging Digital Artists Award (EDAA) has a Call for Applications: Applications are now open for the Emerging Digital Artists Award. Five artists will be awarded a $5000 prize and their award winning works will be featured in a group exhibition at Trinity Square Video as well as online September 10 - October 2 2021. To learn more and to apply click here.

Newcomer Artists Receive Space Awards at Akin

Congratulations are in order to a wonderful group of talented artists! Last week 20 artists took the stage at MOCA Toronto during a cheerful awards evening to highlight newcomer talent in the city. Community partners from RBC, The Artists Network, and Toronto Arts Foundation, as well as Akin Co-Director Michael Vickers, were all on hand to celebrate the winners.

Administered by Toronto Arts Foundation’s Neighbourhood Arts Network and generously sponsored by RBC, the RBC Arts Access Fund provides micro-awards of up to $1500 to professional newcomer artists to support the creation of new work. The RBC Space Award, a new partnership with arts organization Akin Collective, provides six recipients (who must be a past RBC Arts Access Award recipient) with $500 cash to support their art practice and $1,000 in studio credit to be used for shared studio or exhibition space. The initiative was spearheaded by Akin, and launched in the past year. (Akin has a similar space award with OCAD University for graduating artists in the painting and drawing faculty.)

“Akin is thrilled to partner with Neighbourhood Arts Network on the creation of this unique new award, offering space to newcomer artists to make work, sustain their artistic practice and exhibit across Toronto – a city facing an affordability crisis that we are working to address in a creative way,” said Michael Vickers, Co-Director, Akin Collective.

RECIPIENTS OF THE RBC SPACE AWARDS:

Sahar Abdallah | Award-winning illustrator originally from Egypt whose work has appeared in several children’s books, four solo exhibits and several international group shows.

Andrea Vela Alarcón | Peruvian community artist and self-taught illustrator whose work centres under-represented communities and is inspired by folk culture, femininity, and nature.

Tenzin Desel | Visual artist originally from Tibet. Born into a family of political refugees, she was invited by the Dalai Lama to study religious painting in India, spending nearly 30 years studying Buddhist paintings, philosophy, architecture and language.

Banafsheh Erfanian Painter, illustrator and educator born in Tehran, Iran, whose illustrations grace 30 books and magazines. Her work has been exhibited in 45 shows around the world and won international awards.

Tarek Ghriri Musician originally from Damascus, Syria, whose music is inspired by classical and Flamenco music, which he now blends with traditional Arabic melodies for a sound all his own. Also a founding member of local trio Diar.

Melika Saeeda Illustrator from Tehran, Iran, who has illustratedmore than 30 children’s books in Turkey and Iran. Her work, inspired by the narratives in Persian miniatures, has been exhibited at book fairs around the world.

Members and friends of Akin can look forward to seeing (and hearing!) from several of the 2019 Space Award recipients in the upcoming months at Akin’s downtown space REMOTE Gallery - Remote is available for exhibition and space rental to all Akin artists and the public at large.

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Well done! Akin also salutes all the winners of the Art Access Awards:

Volodymyr 'Volo' Bedzvin | Musician originally from Ukraine whose sound is a unique combination of cello and vocals treated with sound effects pedals. Volo has performed across Europe and North America, including at the Luminato Festival.

Banafsheh Erfanian | Painter, illustrator and educator born in Tehran, Iran, whose illustrations grace 30 books and magazines. Her work has been exhibited in 45 shows around the world and won international awards.

Tarek Ghriri | Musician originally from Damascus, Syria, whose music is inspired by classical and Flamenco music, which he now blends with traditional Arabic melodies for a sound all his own. Also a founding member of local trio Diar.

Leen Hamo | Professional singer, violinist and visual artist from Aleppo, Syria, who is a violinist and choir member with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra of Mississauga and founding member of local band Diar.

Xuefei Ji | Chinese-born painter interested in capturing body language and the human figure, inspired by the pioneering Western painters of the early 19th century.

Siavash Kavehmaryan | Iranian electronic-music composer/performer who blends computer-assisted sounds with Iranian traditional music.

Nour Kaadan | Musician from Damascus, Syria, who is a core member of local Syrian-Flamenco band Diar and the collective Music from Hope, a creative outlet where children can communicate through art to overcome trauma.

Yannis Lobaina | Cuban writer, filmmaker and storyteller who explores themes of immigration, diaspora and motherhood through storytelling. She also works at the International School of Cinema, Radio, and TV as a director, script consultant and still photographer.

Ahmed Moneka | Actor and musician from Iraq who is the co-founder of Toronto bands Moskitto Bar (a harmonious blend of Celtic, Balkan and Arabic music) and Moneka Arabic Jazz (rooted in jazz and blues as well as Afro rhythms and the Iraqi maqam style of singing).

Parisa Pajoohandeh | Filmmaker and academic from Iran interested in sociopolitical issues and the struggles of human life, such as identity, migration, war, solitude and women's stories.

Melika Saeeda | Illustrator from Tehran, Iran, who has illustrated more than 30 children’s books in Turkey and Iran. Her work, inspired by the narratives in Persian miniatures, has been exhibited at book fairs around the world.

Omid Shakib | Filmmaker originally from Iran with 20 years’ experience working in the film industry in Iran, Iraq, the UK, and now in Canada. He has directed and produced over 25 documentaries, docudramas, and experimental films.

Alice Il Shin | Korean filmmaker trained at Nihon University in Japan. Since then, she has worked in Japan, Korea, the U.S., and Canada as a director, producer, and editor.

Rouvan Silogix | Pakistani-Tanzanian director, writer, actor, producer and classical pianist. Artistic Director for Theatre ARTaud and a member of the Mammalian Diving Reflex collective, he was Writer in Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille in 2018 and a finalist for the Emerging Director Residency Award from Crow's Theatre.

Megha Subramanian | Storyteller in dance, writing and film inspired by her Indian roots who aims to modernize the traditional Bharatanatyam dance form through teaching and performance. She also draws on writing and filmmaking to support this artistic vision.

Salbhi Sumaiya |Visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a hard of hearing (HOH) individual, she was drawn to painting due to its accessibility to her as a visual art form. Her work focuses on raising awareness of contemporary issues, including animal extinction and Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya population.

Namie Ueno | Painter from Arashiyama, Japan who began studying art as a teenager. Beyond their decorative beauty, her artworks look for a balance between fear and longing away from the materialist culture of today, a truce between the often duelling aspects of our own selves.

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About Toronto Arts Foundation

Toronto Arts Foundation is a charitable organization that sparks creative connections, spotlights artistic excellence, and supports vibrant cultural growth throughout our diverse city through private-sector investment. To learn more or to make a donation, visit torontoartsfoundation.org.

About Neighbourhood Arts Network

Neighbourhood Arts Network, a network of over 1,900 members, is a strategic initiative of the Toronto Arts Foundation, offering accessible arts programming, awards, and partnership opportunities to local artists, arts workers, and arts organizations working throughout the City of Toronto. To learn more, visit neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org.