May, 2005 - Nr. 5
The Green/Arts Barns
Project’s Arts and Environmental
Non-Profit "Community Barn" Organizations ANNOUNCED!
Environmental Awareness...Arts & Culture...Heritage Preservation...Community Growth
Artscape and Taddlewood Heritage Association’s Urban Barn Raiser
fundraising event at the Distillery Historic District this past Thursday,
April 21st was a tremendous success, surpassing its goal of
raising $75,000 and bringing together over 500 key players in urban
planning, architecture, environmental issues and the arts to celebrate the
unique and dynamic Green/Arts Barns redevelopment project.
The Green/Arts Barns Project will restore and redevelop the former
Wychwood TTC Streetcar Repair Barns, situated on a 4.3-acre site in the St.
Clair and Bathurst neighbourhood. Using renewable energies and energy
efficient resources, the barns will be transformed into a 55,000 sq. ft.
multi-tenant arts and environmental community centre.
Highlights of the Urban Barn Raiser included the live-auction of the
original, site-specific photographs of Barbara Astman, Edward Burtynsky,
Susan Dobson, Vid Ingelevics, Geoffrey James, Katherine Knight and Hugh
Martin, which were sold off in a flurry of excitement; the silent auction,
which attracted many a bid; and the introduction of the Green/Arts Barns
Project’s community partners: Taddlewood Heritage Association, The Stop
Community Food Centre, Friends of a New Park, Hillcrest
Village BIA, Wychwood Heights BIA and Artscape.
An important part of these introductions was the announcement of the 12
Green/Arts Barns arts and environmental non-profit organizations that
will provide programming for the community in the "Community Barn" portion
of the redevelopment, including:
B Current - a multi-disciplinary performing arts company focusing on African-Canadian work
Cahoots Theatre Projects - a small theatre company that creates and develops Canadian plays with an emphasis on diversity
Citizens’ Environment Watch - a grass-roots organization engaging people with hands-on projects that monitor the local environment
Images Festival - an established annual media arts festival featuring video, installation and performance
LEAF - Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests -
a group that organizes tree-focused workshops and community tree planting projectsNa-Me-Res/Tumivut Arts Workshop - the arts and environmental educational arm of the local native men’s shelter and support organization
Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace - a multi-disciplinary community arts organization that produces an annual festival
The Storytellers School of Toronto - a well-established storytelling organization with events throughout the year and an annual festival
Toronto School of Art - an established downtown multi-disciplinary art school that will be using their space as an uptown annex
Theatre Direct Canada - a large youth-oriented theatre company that will be provided with space for rehearsal and small-scale performance
Theatre Gargantua - a small artist-driven theatre company
Women’s Healthy Environments Network - an organization, whose mission is to inform and educate communities about environmental links to health, focusing on prevention
The Community Barn will be a hub of imagination, creation, exploration, and expression; providing affordable programming and office space for these arts and environmental non-profit organizations. It will support environmental, and culturally diverse activity at a local level and encourage learning and discover by engaging the community.
As a non-profit organization with a successful history of developing multi-tenant facilities, Artscape was selected by the City of Toronto to find new uses for these old buildings. The land surrounding the barns will become a park designed by the Toronto Parks Department and will be integrated with the redeveloped barns on this City-owned site. The buildings will be programmed to include the arts, environment, heritage preservation, food security, affordable housing, animation of the adjacent park and honouring the legacy of public transit. This multi-faceted project will also serve as a demonstration project for environmental sustainability and green technology. Construction is set to begin on the barns in late 2005.
More information on the Green/Arts Barns Project can be found at
www.torontoartscape.on.ca/barns
