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June 2007 - Nr. 6

 

The Editor
Dad
Vater
Zum Vatertag
Petition
Petitorial
Dan's Satire
European Community Events
Harper in Berlin
Open Letter by GIT
KW & Beyond
Celebrating the Big 40
Annual Chef Festival
Dick reports...
Sybille reports
Ham Se det jehört?
Conservationist of the Year
Art History - June
Stratford Summer Music
M-RT Hall
Balanchine's Don Quixote
Xing Presents INK
Met Pays Tribute
Indian Art at AGO
Aboriginal Art at AGO
Bernini in Focus
New Citizens Through Art
Gladstone World Music Series
Canada Council Arts Challenge
To Be A Famous Writer
5 Star Experience
Regreening of Canada
Sick, Injured Wild Animal
Astronaut Thomas Reiter
Tax Freedom Day Earlier
VW: Every Model a Hybrid

European Community Events

Sybille Forster-Rentmeister

Cheers by Sybille & Dr. Karl Schmidt, Austrian Trade Commissioner and ConsulThere are small and there are big community events. Some take place in our intimate ethnic niches, others encompass a continent, such as Europe. All of them are designed to help culture along and give it meaning. On a larger scale we witnessed the opening of The EU! – Meet the Europeans. This third annual Film Fest had a great kick-off party in the heart of the city, the Peridot Resto Lounge on Bloor Street, near Yonge, above the Jazzing it up!Spotted Dick, a popular watering hole in the English tradition. Peridot however is very European and chic with very now foods and a great space, including a terrace overlooking Bloor and the Bay Store across the street. This would also be a good spot for stargazing during the big film Dr. Arpad Sölter & Dr. Ulrich Schmidtfestival later in the year! At the party anyone who is somebody in the European cultural community was there. Dr. Ulrich Schmidt of Germany’s Consulate General, and Dr. Arpad Soelter, Lucia Rikakiwho had organized for the 3rd time this event with growing appeal, spoke the opening words. During the first week films were shown in the Royal, an older and very quaint theatre on College Street, right in the heart of little Italy.

Celebrities & Audience

The first film of course was a German one by Oskar Roehler, ElementaryParticles / Elemantarteilchen, a moral shocker, if you will. In it we can observe first hand how mankind is reverting back to animalism. Sex and instant self-gratification are substitutes for love and normal human relations; definitely not a film for folks with weak stomachs and distaste for frontal nudity. The film will have had 3 screenings, including the one on closing day June 10th. After 18 days of top notch European films, national hits and international successes will have graced the Goethe Institute’s screen for the last time, before that part of the institute will be closed Mrs. & Mr. Dr. Karl Schmidtfor the public together with the gallery space and the library, which will move in part upstairs to the second floor, which will be reached from University Ave, around the corner as of July 1st.

Another EU event took place in the Delta Chelsea Inn. The European Chamber of Commerce in Toronto (EUCOCIT), a newer institution, in partnership with the World Trade Centre.

The Toronto Board of Trade hosted the EU Rendezvous - "Friendship in Business", and was presented in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Commission to Canada in Ottawa. A visit with the KroisenbrunnersBesides all sorts of wonderful and traditional entertainment, by various ethnic cultural groups, there were business displays inviting to explore art, travel, culture, and unusual products from abroad. (Pictures for this segment by Daniela Rausch)

Manfred Petz and the Edelweiss Choir
Manfred Petz and the Edelweiss Choir

Ursula Ivonoffski

The German language based cultures were strongly represented by Manfred Petz and his Edelweiss Choir, the Alpine Club Dancers from Kitchener, and a bit of class and classic by Ursula Ivonoffski.

 

Alpine Club Dancers - Kitchener
Alpine Club Dancers - Kitchener
Alpine Club Dancers - Kitchener Alpine Club Dancers - Kitchener

Dancers from CyprosOther dance groups represented Cyprus and Croatia, and musical fare from Portugal. Combined with wines and other beverages from the various countries, delectable food bits from each region, this evening was easy to digest and gave all an appetite for more European fare.

Slovakian pageantry

For a few days the Rotunda in the City Hall of Toronto was home to a show of artwork, also available as post cards, and displays to promote Europe’s Union, showing what can be achieved when the 27 member states work together. At the same time the space was used for the awards ceremony of the EU Essay Competition, where Torontonian students were rewarded for their fine efforts.

Luminato, a feast of over 100 free shows, including many presentations from Europe, is further proof of interest in European culture. The list is long and illustrious.

On a smaller scale the German Chamber of commerce invited to a presentation about the crossing of the Atlantic by Gerd Wengler, President of Park Property Management Inc, and his wife in a one engine Cessna. That took a lot of planning and cooperation between nations and was besides courageous and dangerous also very beautiful.

All these are samples of what can and could and should be the order of the day: A respect and admiration for other cultures and the nurturing of each of them with care and interest.

What a beautiful world it would be if we could only not blow each other up!

 

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