By Heather Kelly
May is a month of fantastic festivals and concert season finales on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor. It is also Museum Month, and there is no better time to visit the Bata Shoe Museum, Gardiner Museum, and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
PHOTO BY CLARRIE FEINSTEIN/GLEANER NEWS: A Hart House Map Room exhibition that runs until May 26 aims to educate Canadians on the role of treaties in Canadian history. Canada By Treaty: Negotiating Histories — curated by history professors Heidi Bohaker and Laurie Bertram, and senior undergraduate student James Bird — is a direct response to one of the calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015.
PHOTO COURTESY PAUL AIHOSHI/FLIP PUBLICITY: Hackett’s serious demeanour obscures a seriously silly side, say his colleagues. The Annex comedian, who got his start at Victoria College, has performed with The Sketchersons and on This Hour has 22 Minutes.
PHOTO COURTESY THE GARDINER MUSEUM: Drawing from memory and using a unique visual language of hybrid animal creatures, Janet Macpherson presents her very personal view of the nation in Janet Macpherson: A Canadian Bestiary at the Gardiner Museum. Its features four immersive installations are connected by overlapping themes and questions tracing identity and history, nature and the consequences of human actions, and the idea of the North. Showing until May 22.
PICTURE COURTESY ORI DAGAN/KMJF: Order of Canada member Don Thompson performs with his Vibes Trio at Trinity Common on Augusta Avenue on Jan. 22. Following on the heels of their popular Kensington Market Jazz Festival, organizers Molly Johnson, Genevieve Marentette, and Ori Dagan have curated a series of Sunday jazz brunches during January and February.
PHOTO COURTESY U OF T THOMAS FISHER RARE BOOK LIBRARY: “Arctic Amusements” by Owen Stanley depicts the ship’s crew passing the time while stuck in sea ice in 1836-7.
By Annemarie Brissenden
PHOTO COURTESY TMO: Unlike many mandolin orchestras in other parts of the world, the Toronto Mandolin Orchestra (above) does not include guitars, though it does at times perform with woodwind instruments, percussion, and two accordions.
By Summer Reid
PHOTO BY NEILAND/BRISSENDEN: Gleaner art director Neiland Brissenden’s annual chronicle of Nuit Blanche returns this month. In an installation at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), Jody Naderi and John Fillwalk combined art and app to create The Firefly Effect.
Gleaner art director Neiland Brissenden’s annual chronicle of Nuit Blanche returns this month. Previously featured on the newspaper’s Twitter feed, Brissenden’s photo essay highlights installations that interacted with the audience to celebrate some of our neighbourhood’s most loved faces and spaces. —Annemarie Brissenden/Gleaner News