Civic Impact

Tomorrow evening, six people will get up to give one three-minute speech each about making Toronto better.

It’s part of the Six Degrees speaking series put on by the Centre for Social Innovation. It happens every month, growing out of what was once just a networking event for social innovators and other interested folks.

“We recently started introducing themes to our popular monthly networking event, Six Degrees of Social Innovation,” says Barnabe Geis, CSI’s communications architect.

“We felt it would be interesting to focus on a topic to deepen our understanding and conversations around the different trends and practices shaping this social innovation movement for people and planet. September's focus was on Community Finance. This month, we're looking at The City - how cities can be improved; everything from community building to civic engagement to urban design. Next month, we'll be exploring Food; its production, distribution and consumption. We're still doing facilitated networking and offering food and drinks. We're just getting the conversation started by inviting CSI members to share their ideas and knowledge with attendees.”

The speakers’ specific takes on the question are not being announced in advance - and I’m guessing at least a couple of them are going to wing it — but given the line-up, which includes Dave Meslin (“community choreographer"), Matthew Blackett (co-founder of Spacing magazine), Ryan Dyment (executive director of the Institute for a Resource-Based Economy) and Sylvia Kim (CSI’s Regent Park Manager) — they’ll be worth listening to. The city is once again at a crossroads, possibly emerging from a rather ridiculous interlude and still in the middle of one of the biggest development booms on the planet.

“We wanted to focus on the city this month because it seemed like a very appropriate time to do so with the elections happening,” Geis says. “I expect the elections will come up in conversations between guests but I think the speakers will be presenting solutions to the challenges we face, and I believe these solutions are bigger than just one election or any specific candidate. For example, how do we make the voting system more fair and inclusive? How do we improve transportation? How do we make public art more participatory? How do we reduce inequality? These kinds of questions may be election topics but the conversation needs to happen at the community level and not be limited in scope to one election day.”

The talks and networking will be going on at the CSI’s Annex Lounge at 720 Bathurst Street, from 6-8pm.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Barnabe Geis

Photo by Chris De Paul.

Identity and belonging are especially poignant issues in a place like Toronto, as large portions of the population struggle to re-make their lives after immigration, while those already here are in a continual state of the kind of re-adjustment that immigration necessitates.

Though his work is often in French and even more often difficult, Robert Lepage is one of the nation’s foremost artists, dealing with simple issues in complex ways, and offering new insights into complex ones.

All of which makes his LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium talk, taking place this year at the Isabel Bader Theatre at 2 p.m. on Oct. 18, the sort of thing you don’t want to miss. He’s calling it “An artist’s view on identity and belonging.”

“Robert Lepage will explore why and how we navigate our inherent need to belong and the desire to define one’s identity — singular and collective — in a country with mixing cultures,” says Jess Duerden, spokesperson for the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, which puts on the annual symposium. “He’ll dissect identity and belonging, through the artist’s lens, referencing his work filled with people who are stateless, moving between countries or belonging to several civilizations.”

The ICC was founded in 2000 by John Ralston Saul.

“The Institute for Canadian Citizenship is a national, non-profit charity that helps accelerate new citizens’ integration into Canadian life through original programs, collaborations and unique volunteer opportunities,” Duerden says. “While our programs are for new citizens, encouraging them to take their rightful place in Canada, our messages of inclusion, belonging and active citizenship are for all Canadians. We want all citizens — new or not — to embrace active citizenship in their daily life.”

The symposium will be hosted by Saul and his wife and co-chair, former Governor General the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson.

The talk will be followed by a roundtable discussion of the issues it raises.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jess Duerden

Did you know Toronto has the world’s largest urban ravine system?

I did not.

Though I imagine several thousand school kids do, thanks to the Evergreen Brick Works outdoors school program, which is gearing up for its fifth year with the start of the new school season.

“Evergreen -  as a national not-for-profit established to bring nature to cities - has been helping build natural outdoor play spaces in schools across Canada for over 15 years,” says Evergreen’s spokesman Anthony Westerberg. “Hence, our visiting schools program is a key pillar to Evergreen Brick Works raison d’etre since inception four years ago (this, and the Farmers’ Market). Even before Evergreen got involved with re-adapting the Don Valley Brick works, enthusiastic teachers were leading school groups down to this under-utilized and no longer functioning industrial space. Evergreen Brick Works re-adapted the space with children and nature in mind.”

Funded through grants from HSBC, as well as fees for service from, as Westerberg describes it, “schools that can afford it,” the idea is to use the city’s extraordinary natural resources to re-connect urban children to nature.

“We are all becoming disconnected from nature. Turning on a tap, we forget that the water came from a river. Eating an apple, we forget that the fruit came from a tree,” Westerberg says. “Evergreen was established to make that re-connection, so that nature would be conscious in our daily lives. Within 3 km of Evergreen Brick Works there are 10,000 kids with no backyards in some of Canada’s most under-serviced communities. Trips to Algonquin park are costly, but Toronto’s ravines are a TTC stop away. We meet the school groups at Castle Frank, and walk them into the ravine. Like a wardrobe into Narnia the children step off the grid and discover the world of nature downtown.”

Favourite activities include building shelters, planting and harvesting food, working with natural clay, discovering ponds and vermicomposting. “Kids love worms,” Westerberg says.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Anthony Westerberg

The Centre for Social Innovation operates according to something it calls “the theory of change.”

According to CSI staffer Kyle Shantz, “The theory holds that if we provide space where people who are thinking about complex social problems can form a community, the community will produce collisions of people and ideas that we hope will spark social innovation.”

Their latest project, Turnout Toronto, was born in the wake of another, and in their opinion rather less hopeful set of personal collisions.

“A few of us were sitting around a kitchen table last winter during the height of the political scandal rocking our city,” Shantz says, “and we were wondering how in a mature, modern western democracy people could not only tolerate such a toxic political environment, but worse, how some could actually defend it. The state of political discourse on the subject seemed infantile on both sides.”

They considered staging a protest, or a letter-writing campaign, but because they’ve got “innovation” stuck right there in their name, they actually came up with something far cooler: a sort of job fair for people looking to make a difference, rather than a paycheque.

“Instead of employers and prospective employees, it would be civically engaged organizations at the tables trying to recruit members and volunteers,” Shantz says. “We'd invite the public and let them wander through aisles and aisles of potential starting places. Do you ride a bike to work? Meet CycleTO. Do you love our parks? Join Toronto Park People! By getting involved with something pre-political you'll become civically engaged by accident.”

Two previous iterations of the idea - one in the Annex and one in Regent Park — were successful enough to spin it off into two more, one at U of T tonight, and the other at Fairview Library on the 30th.

“Annex is close to U of T, so the audience skewed a bit younger, and Regent Park is home to more newcomers so that crowd was a bit more diverse,” Shantz says of the two events which, despite several forms of disparity between the neighbourhoods in which they were held, ended up being quite similar.

“Regent Park was a great opportunity. Newcomers to Canada are some of the brightest people in the world, but I've found anecdotally that some of them are hesitant to become politically engaged, many have escaped terrible and corrupt governments and are just happy to be here. They're hesitant to "rock the boat" you might say. But, the best part about Turnout is that on its face it isn't about political engagement, it's about finding out more about organizations doing something great for your neighbourhood that you can get involved with.”

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Kyle Shantz

On the evening of Oct. 7, Jamie Ellerton hopes there will be 1,000 dinner parties going on, and that the conversations are merry, multitudinous and municipal.

1,000 Dinners is headed up by another Jaime, Jaime Watt, who heard about something similar that the Chicago Community Trust did for its 99th anniversary.

It’s civic engagement at its most basic, and potentially most profound, bringing people together — the idea is that this won’t necessarily just be friends dining with friends — and talking about the future of the city to boot.

“1,000 Dinners TO is providing everyone in Toronto a chance to bring forward their ideas and be heard in the discussion about our city’s future,” says Ellerton, who’s the project lead. “What we all do for a living is as diverse as where we all come from. Let’s break bread together all across the city and come up with ideas that can make Toronto even better.”

There’s no registration fee, or any other parameters to follow.

“We want to make participating as accessible as possible,” Ellerton says. “Hosts can decide what kind of dinner they can accommodate based on their chosen location and budget.”

So far, 67 hosts have signed up to entertain 165 diners. If you’re interested, you can find out more and sign up here.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jamie Ellerton

“I can't describe in words how thrilled I was to see Nathan Phillips Square filling up with people, and the marchers' energy was absolutely incredible!”

In July, Peter de Vries filled out an application form on avaaz.org to help out with a proposed global climate march. A couple of weeks later, he got an email from them saying that he’d be in charge of the Toronto effort. “There was no interview or follow-up process of any kind,” he says. “I just got an e-mail that basically said "Go!", and then all of this stuff happened.”

The Sept. 21 marches were planned in as many as 161 locations around the world. Avaaz figures about 580,000 marched globally, including its own estimate for 400,000 for New York City (though police estimated the number at closer to 60,000).

“Leading up to the day of the event itself, I had about 600 confirmed attendees on both Facebook and the Avaaz event page, respectively,” de Vries says. In the end, official estimates were that 3,000 showed up.

According to its website, “Avaaz—meaning ‘voice’ in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages—launched in 2007 with a simple democratic mission: organize citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.”

Representatives of Idle No More, Greenpeace Canada, fairvote.ca, the Green Party, the Toronto Environmental Alliance, as well as rabble.ca co-counder Judy Rebick gave speeches before the march, with Guardian and Vice journalist Stephen Leahy and Keith Brooks, clean economy program director for Environmental Defence, giving the closing addresses.

The organization was ad hoc, but in the end, effective, adding Toronto’s voices to the rest of the world’s on the issue of climate change, with people streaming through the busiest sections of the city, and staging an unplanned but successful occupation of the intersection of Yonge and Dundas. It was also a crash course in march organization for de Vries.

“I was leading the marchers back into the square, and we were chanting ‘Wake Up, Climate Deniers!’ as we came in,” he says. However, after he arrived at the square he realized he had no plan for how to deal with the mass and keep the crowd engaged while the other marchers filtered in. 

“Throughout this time, members of [Toronto drum circle] T.Dot Batu had started performing in the middle of the square, and then Shayne [Spitzig, a march marshal] saved my hide by calling them up onto the stage to perform. They did a great job of entertaining the crowd as the rest of the marchers filed back into the square, and then I called up Stephen Leahy to speak once they had finished.”

The action spearheaded by Avaaz finished with the march, but de Vries says it’s only the beginning for him, and he hopes, for Toronto.

“Our planet's resources are finite,” he says, “despite what the oil companies and other polluters seem to think, and our government leaders must adopt new policies and practices to ensure that all of our energy is 100 per cent clean and renewable by no later than 2050. For this change to be possible, we need immediate action from all three levels of government: federal, provincial, and municipal as well.”

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Peter de Vries
Photo: Henry Chan

If you’ve ever been to a public meeting — the sort of gathering councillors call to discuss something that’s about to happen in a neighbourhood (these days, it’s mostly about a condo) —Toronto is quite good at saying no. No to shade, no to traffic, no to high-rises. Though many of us like the idea of more people living downtown, we don’t want them all too near us. Hence the term, not in my backyard, or NIMBY.

It’s this characteristically Toronto NIMBY vibe that got Christina Zeidler, daughter of a famous architect and a developer in her own right, thinking about its opposite, about change we can agree on, change we can get excited about, change that might prompt us to say "yes" in my backyard.

“The idea is really a trade fair about the great things that are going on in the community,” says Annabel Vaughan, director of the Centre for City Ecology, which is one of the organizations behind YIMBY, “and give councillors and candidates an opportunity to se the work that’s being done.”

The events are usually held in the run-up to an election, in order to get people thinking positively during a time when campaigns are often pitched negative. Last year’s event, held in February, saw more than 300 people milling about tables set up by 54 organizations, big and small, handing out information and discussing the sort of change they’re bringing to the city. This year, Vaughan says there’ll be 75 tables, with 10 organizations doing snappy five-minute presentations, including First Story Toronto and Shape My City.

One of the themes of this year’s event is Collaborative Consumption, which is also the name of one of the participating groups.

“We’re trying to highlight the Toronto Tool Library, Trade School Toronto and Repair Cafe Toronto that are the grassroots organizations working to change the quality of life in Toronto,” Vaughan says, “offering new economic models that are interesting.”

Though Christina Zeidler and her sister, Margie, still attend the events, it is now organized by Claire Nelischer and Margot Thomaidis.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Annabel Vaughan

On Monday, outgoing Lieutenant Governor David Onley announced a new provincial award for excellence in accessibility.

The David C. Onley Award for Leadership in Accessibility will be presented annually in four categories, recognizing employers, employees, role models, and youth achievement.

“Since the time of Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander, the province of Ontario has created a legacy award that they establish in recognition of the Lieutenant-Governor’s term of office,” His Honour David Onley says. “Lincoln Alexander’s legacy award is for one of racial harmony, there are three young people each year selected for their contributions to creating greater racial understandings. Mr. Jackman declined on the offer, but Ms. Weston accepted one, she has one in her name, as does Mr. Bartleman.

“When it came time for my term to come to a close, the government approached me and said what would you like the award to be about, and I said leadership in the whole area of accessibility that spoke most closely to what I’ve been trying to accomplish over the past seven years.”

On the surface, it would seem that Ontario, and Toronto in particular where his honour lives, has been doing pretty well in this area. Curbs are lowered at seemingly every corner, ramps are commonplace, and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), passed in 2005, would seem a model of its kind.

“By and large, Toronto has done a fairly good job,” His Honour says. “I qualify that because I am still amazed, sometimes stunned at brand new restaurants that will have a single step of an entrance into their facility, which they only see as a single step, but for a person with a disability can be the difference between coming and and not being able to use it at all. There’s still a way to go. it’s particularly surprising to me, while there’s 16 per cent of the population who have a disability, and when the immediate family members are taken into account, the percentage of the population affected by disability is 53 per cent.”

His Honour says physical disabilities account for half of all disabilities in Ontario.

“Who establishes a business plan that seeks to deliberately exclude a significant proportion of the population?”

The deadline for nominations for the first awards in Dec. 3, which is the International Day for Disabled Persons. Onley will be handing the prices out in May during Accessibility Awareness Week.

In addition to a plaque, the winners in every category but employers will receive $5,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: David Onley

This Saturday, the King East Design District will be holding its first, and what it hopes to be its annual, 3D Parti.

“Parti is an architectural sketch,”says Al Smith, executive director of the St. Lawrence Business Improvement Area. “The word itself ‘Parti’ comes from the French prendre parti meaning “to make a decision” and is often referred to as ‘the big idea’ behind an architect’s design. The event is so-named as a clever play on the term – the festival underlying ‘big idea’ or ‘parti’ - King East’s distinct design-rich identity and culture -  will be showcase in ‘3D’ to the public throughout the festival.”

Though the street will not be closed, there will be 15 installations, including a 10 foot by 10 foot semi-permanent piece at King and Berkeley at Klaus by Thrush Holmes. Miami artist TYPOE will be showing his work in Canada for the first time at bulthaup at King and Ontario.

“King East has long had a distinct design-rich culture worth celebrating,” Smith says, “not only for its plethora of design stores, but also the deep-rooted design knowledge and global connections of its showroom owners. All these components give KEDD an individual culture that one would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the city. 3D Parti will be a platform to showcase the neighbourhood as an epicentre of design knowledge on an international level. Not only a platform to promote, but one to facilitate engagement with the public. Above all, the BIA, made up of business owners and managers entrenched in design, want Torontonians to tap into the unique DNA of King East, and connect with the design and designers born out of this city.”

Proceeds from the event will be going to Habitat for Humanity. Other participants include artist Gary Taxali, architecture firm RAW, and the Zeidler Partnership. The Globe and Mail is sponsoring a talk on the subject of contemporary design from 1:30-3 p.m. at Biagio restaurant.

“3D Parti is more than just a design festival,” Smith says, “it’s informing the public of KEDD’s truly unique design DNA. With over 100 stores with a focus on design in the area, internationally recognized showroom owners with extensive global connections in the design world,  it’s really the promotion and rebrand of community that already exists. The BIA wants to facilitate a connection between public and the area’s rich design knowledge and roots, making people not only aware of KEDD, but creating an event in which they can appreciate and tap into this design destination.”

The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Al Smith, Danielle Klassen
Photo: kg&a

Sitting around talking about video games is not everyone’s idea of a productive way to spend your time, though it is a popular one. This is why the Hand Eye Society has gotten together with the Toronto Public Library to offer a six-week opportunity to do just that.

Saturdays from Sept. 13 to Oct. 18 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., people who register for the program, called Game Curious?, will gather at the Metro Reference Library to try out some games, and then talk about their experience of them, what they liked, what they didn’t, how even how they were made with the people who made them.

“I usually describe Game Curious as ‘a book club with buttons’,” says Sagan Yee, who's running the program. “The idea is to provide a physical space where non-gamers and gamers alike can meet face-to-face, play games together and engage in critical discussion about the medium as an art form. The games are meant to represent a wide variety of genres, themes and developers, most of them outside the usual mainstream titles that many people think of when they hear the term ‘video games’.”

Because there are already enough venues to talk about Call of Duty and InFAMOUS Second Son, discussion here will focus on games like hand-drawn choose-your-own-adventure The Yawhg.

“Video games have long been considered violent and/or mindless entertainment,” Yee says, “with a homogenous and insular community, so part of GC's mandate is to challenge those preconceptions while promoting diversity and creativity in the medium itself. That being said, I try to keep the tone fairly casual since it's open to a range of people from different backgrounds and it's important to keep it accessible.”

Registration is open to anyone (though the organizers recommend 16+), and some will be selected for a second six-week program in which they can develop their own game idea.

“Last year we had an average of around 20 people per session,” Yee says. “We don't have a rigorous registration process so it's difficult to tell how many will show up this time, but I expect equivalent or increased numbers. We have generated quite a lot of interest since the first run of the program last year, so I think word-of-mouth will have an impact.”

Yee is actually graduate of a similar Hand Eye Society program herself.

“The first time I got involved with HES was the Difference Engine Initiative back in 2011,” she says. “It was a women-only game-making workshop that ran for six weeks, in which I made my first computer game, Icarus. It ended up changing my life, though it had significant flaws- attempting to run a program for empowering women presented a lot of challenges that I'm not sure the programmers were prepared to deal with at the time. But it did provide opportunities for me to collaborate on a lot of cool game projects with many interesting people, as well as open my eyes to the importance of social justice and feminism in my work, so it was definitely a rewarding experience.”

You can register here, or by emailing [email protected].

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sagan Yee

Photo: The Hand-Eye Society

Visual art has been much more prevalent in recent years, as the development boom has brought so much of visual artists' work to the fore in the form of sculpture, frescoes, murals and other installations in vaulted lobbies and new green spaces across the city.

Add the annual Nuit Blanche, which introduces thousands in the space of a few hours to what’s been going on in visual art since Monet put down his brush, and you might say visual artists have never had it so good.

And yet, there’s this: “The average Canadian visual artist earns less than $15,000 a year, and half earn less than $8,000. Even Governor General’s Award-winning artists find it difficult if not impossible to make a living solely from their art.”

That’s according to CARFAC, Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens, the national organization of visual artists who are having their annual conference in Toronto next week.

“Our work is involved with improving that situation,” says April Britski, CARFAC’s executive director in Ottawa, “and this is one of the ways we can do that – by providing a forum for artists to discuss the issues they are currently facing, and to share resources and information.”

From Sept. 18-21, in venues around the city, from 401 Richmond to the Roundhouse, CARFAC will be looking to engage artists in talks about their rights, getting paid and changes in the way art is made, disseminated, experienced and compensated under the rubric of Artists for Artists: art, activism and adaptation. All artists, members and non-members, are welcome to participate.

The activities will culminate in an 8 p.m. celebration Saturday at Artscape Youngplace of CARFAC’s recent Supreme Court victory in its fight with the National Gallery for minimum artist fees.

Other events include a discussion of emerging arts practices, performance art in Canada, and the opening of co-sponsor Manifesto’s Transcension featuring graffiti art by Mister Cartoon and live performances.

The conference events, which are free except for the Transcension opening, are funded by the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and Access Copyright.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: April Britski

In 2011, Mark Simpson, a business teacher at George Brown College, decided entrepreneurship skills might be a pretty good way for youth with various barriers to employment to lift themselves out of the heap.

He piloted a program that has since turned into Business in the Streets, or BITS. Starting Sept. 27, it will be offering 10, three-hour weekly sessions for people aged 16 to 29 with a business idea and nowhere to go with it.

“The learning sessions are facilitated by peer-mentors who are young business professionals, outstanding business students and graduates trained to deliver peer-mentorship support to participants,” says Veronika Kvon, who’s managing the program.

Since it was launched in 2012, Kvon says there have been 85 people take advantage of the program, 13 businesses registered, four post-secondary enrolments and more than $10,000 in start-up financing handed out with the help of 10 community partners in association with 15 business advisors, 30 student mentors and seven donors.

The sessions are limited to 12 registrants and will be running with co-sponsor the Centre for Social Innovation at their offices at 585 Dundas Street East on Saturdays from 1- 4 p.m.

In addition to the knowledge and advice on offer, participants can benefit from the sessions, part of BITS’ youth program, in a number of ways, including earning a $500 grant for a convincing business plan presentation before a panel of judges, tuition fees offsets, further training, and becoming a BITS mentor in their own communities.

Those interested can apply, for free, here.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Veronika Kvon

After three years of helping youth find their way through fashion, Sew What has run out of funding and needs some help themselves, and decided to kick off their fundraising campaign with a fashion show this past Sunday in Villaways Park in North York.

“It was an opportunity for these kids and youth to show the community all the hard work they've put into their artistic endeavours this summer and celebrate together as a community,” says Kim Dayman, who handles the communications for the program. “We're hoping that the magic they created we can share with everyone and it will inspire donations to our crowd funding campaign to help positive community engagement like this to continue.”

Their needs are modest. They want to raise just $3,000 to pay for things like field trips, food, guest speakers, and of course sewing machines and fabric.

Daniel Thompson is one success story, getting inspiration from his six weeks with the program to apply to the Toronto Film School's fashion department. “The interviewer was overwhelmed that I had learned so much,” he wrote to the Sew What organizers after his interview. “She said she had to have me in the school.”

Keisha James, 21, signed up at the beginning three years ago.

“I came into the program shortly after my mom passed away. It was nice to have a space where I could go tune out and do whatever I wanted.

"I was really surprised by how hands-on everything was and all the experience and inspiration we got from designers. The trips we went on were really great because normally I don’t have the opportunity to go to places like the Design Exchange or the Textile Museum. It provided lots and lots of inspiration.  This is where I’ve made most of my friends and contacts to other art programs and volunteering opportunities.

“The experience here at Sew What also helped me get into the college program I wanted because it’s rounded out not only my personality, but also my skill.”

Sunday's event went well, complete with live music, and Dayman hopes the many who showed up will end up either donating ($5 gets you a $5 Starbucks card), or at least spreading the word to those who might.

Sew What operates under the auspices of Art Starts, and was funded for its initial three years by a grant from the Trillium Foundation.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Kim Dayman

The big concern with our condo explosion is that we'll lose the sense of neighbourhood and community that Jane Jacobs and others have so valued about the city.

Nowhere is this concern stronger than for CityPlace, the instant condo precinct that many have predicted will be next decade's St. James Town.

It seems Concord Adex, the developers behind CityPlace, may have been listening to the rumours. For the second year running, they've been the major sponsor behind Cityfest, a community celebration in the middle of the development intended to build a sense of community.

According to “reputation manager” Samia Makhlouf, “There was a demand among condo residents for networking events, events that allow neighbours to connect and meet one another, and events that build community. We wanted to accomplish this in a more creative way. Cityfest is a great celebration of what I think life in Toronto—and life at Concord CityPlace—is all about: music, culture, and art.”

With DJs, food and various other festive things provided by sponsors such as Starbucks, Molson Canadian, and Tim Hortons, Saturday's event at Canoe Landing Park was aimed at what Concord Adex and their reputation managers at PR firm Fleishman Hillard called out at “vibrant young professionals,” “social innovators,” “undergraduate and graduate students,” “fun-loving family and friends,” and “diverse neighbouring communities.”

The event drew 5,000 people last year, which was the event's first. This year, organizers estimated the crowd at about 4,000, which is still a sizeable proportion of the area's 13,500 or so residents, and a sign nt nly that they're doing somehting right, but that there may be a sense of community at CityPlace after all.

According to Makhlouf, organizers remain enthusiastic about keeping the event annual, and are looking for volunteers to help with next year's.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Samia Makhlouf
 

The Toronto Public Library has announced the 2014 Toronto Book Awards shortlist.

Whether you’re an amateur Toronto enthusiast or a committed Toronto-phile, it’s a list worth checking out. The annual award, presented by the Toronto Public Library in partnership with the City of Toronto, was established to “honour authors of books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto.”

This somewhat loose criteria meant that the selection committee members were not restricted by genre, era or subject matter. The result is a list of books that, apart from being Toronto-infused, actually have very little in common. Though it sounds trite to say so, the Toronto Book Award shortlist is a great resource for almost any Toronto enthusiast no matter what their literary taste.

From non-fiction crime writing, to magical realism to the history of one of Toronto’s most influential food banks, it’s a pretty far-reaching list.

The shortlist and judges’ comments are available on the Toronto Public Library website.

The final winner will be announced on October 16th in a ceremony held at the Toronto Reference Library’s Bram and Bluma Appel Salon.

Each short-listed author received $1000, the winner will receive $10,000. Past winners have included Margaret Atwood, Roberston Davies, and Michael Ondaatje.

“I offer my warm congratulations to the finalists,” stated Acting City Librarian Anne Bailey in a Toronto Public Library press release. “These wonderful books, so engaging and diverse in their perspectives, are now part of the fabric of our city. They are tales of wealth and privilege, poverty and loss, identity and social activism. Along the way, they touch down in the Annex, Queen West, Scarborough and Little Portugal, and reflect the many places Torontonians call home.”