PICTURE COURTESY HEATHER KELLY: The Royal Conservatory’s red piano at Open Streets TO.

PHOTO COURTESY THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM: Saul Williams of North Caribou Lake First Nation, Weagamo, infuses his first exposure to the homes of non-Indigenous women in the city with humour in White Women and Their Plants, 1978. The painting is part of Anishinaabeg: Art & Power, a Royal Ontario Museum exhibition that explores the life, traditions, and sacred stories of the Anishinaabeg.  Read more

PICTURE COURTESY?THE?ROYAL?ONTARIO?MUSEUM: The Family Camera, at the ROM?until October 29, invites viewers to consider family portraits with a different lens.

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.  Read more

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.  Read more

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.  Read more

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.  Read more

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.

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.

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.  Read more