April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on ON THE COVER History delivered (Spring 2019)
COURTESY CANADA POST
Canada Post recently issued a new stamp in honour of Canada’s first black postman, Albert Jackson. His route included Harbord Village. For a reprise of Gleaner coverage on Jackson see page 10 and for more on the stamp, please see page 2.
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on NEWS: Huron-Washingon Parkette relocates while UTS expands (Spring 2019)
Concerns expressed about future of playspace
A rendering by architects Diamond Schmitt of the new east face of University of Toronto Schools on Huron St. south of Bloor St. COURTESY SHANE GERALD, CITY OF TORONTO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE
By Ahmed Hagar
In December Councillor Mike Layton announced the closure of the Huron-Washington Parkette to residents on his website, stating that it will be moved from 420 Huron St. and relocated to 406 Huron St. The parkette is now closed, but concerned residents are being assured that this closure is only temporary.
“Eventually the new park will be placed back at the old site, albeit in a slightly smaller space due to the presence of the gym under the ground of the park,” says Layton.
The Huron-Washington Parkette is temporarily closed due to construction at U of T Schools, with the playground equipment having been removed in January.
The closure of the park is part of the University of Toronto School’s (UTS) Building the Future campaign. The 371 Bloor St. West location is undergoing a major renovation as a condition to the new affiliation agreement signed with U of T in December 2015. The campaign states that prior to this agreement, the school’s future was uncertain with the school being at risk to losing both its name and location.
The project will increase the school space by 33 per cent to 120,000 sq. ft., and will include new facilities such as a 700-seat auditorium, a sky-lit atrium, new science and media labs, and a restoration of the historic facade. UTS has a temporary location at 30 Humbert St.
The school also raised $51.6 million for their campaign from alumni, parents, and other donors, which is about 86 per cent of their $60 million-dollar goal.
Huron-Sussex Residents’ Organization co-chair Julie Mathien says that the park and the playground are “very important” for the community.
“Throughout the planning process with the University of Toronto and UTS, we were very clear how important it was,” she said. “And they agreed.”
Mathien says the residents have worked with U of T, UTS, and councillors Joe Cressy and Mike Layton for two years on the development.
“We were concerned about the loss of trees,” she said. “The underground double gym would have taken up all of the space that is above ground in the park.”
After consulting with residents, UTS changed their plans regarding the underground gym, reducing its size to accommodate the parkette. The gym was also moved to avoid “crowding out the houses”, according to Mathien.
Mathien and the HSRO took part in a public consultation about the parkette last spring. She says that green space and playground equipment are important factors for the community.
“One of the things that needs to be understood is that it is not just green space but a place where children can play,” she said. “We are going to need equipment and amenities for a playground.”
Mathien says that the councillor’s office, U of T, and UTS were upfront and “willing to consult” with residents during public consultations and meetings.
Councillor Layton says that Huron-Washington Parkette will be redesigned and that there will be a public consultation in the near future, with no specific date yet.
“The city will be hosting consultation with the Huron-Sussex Residents’ Organization and U of T in the coming years as we plan the new space,” he said, adding that the parkette will re-open temporarily in the spring.
“The major thing we are looking for now is that everything is ready to go once the bad weather stops,” she said. “The city would need to have certain kinds of weather and soil conditions to move the equipment and we do not want to have any hold-up.”The new parkette will open when UTS completes their work, which is estimated to be in three years’ time.
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on NEWS: Ten Editions Bookstore calls it a day (Spring 2019)
Heritage designation of building does not extend to its occupants
By Lena Sanz Tovar
Ten Editions, a beloved book store at 698 Spadina Avenue, has officially closed after 35 years. The University of Toronto is set to begin its newest residence-building project at the site, and many community members are feeling bittersweet.
Open since 1984, the bookstore was named after the owner’s ten children – her “ten editions”. The eccentric and romantic vibe of the store has drawn in people from many walks of life, including Ryerson University film students and McDonald’s advertising teams hoping to shoot in the store. After the passing of her mother, Susan Duff took over the store and has been the primary operator for approximately thirty years.
“My family is all around this place,” she says. “My sister wrote the history of the store on the wall. My nephews did the artwork on the wall at the front of the store. It’s always been a very family affair.”
The Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) and others in the community have long fought alongside Duff against the store’s closure.
“No one I’ve spoken with wants the store to close, but bookstores are closing,” says Duff. “You would expect an institution of higher learning to protect one a bit.”
Nearly a decade ago, the University of Toronto purchased the property. Sometime after the purchase the university expressed interest in redeveloping the land. The proposed site will consist of a new student residence, faculty housing, and a coffee shop that will serve as a place where U of T students and members of the community can gather. According to Duff, however, Ten Editions has acted as a gathering place in the Annex throughout its operation.
“At every meeting we ever went to someone in the audience would say, ‘Well, what about the bookstore? We want to keep the bookstore,’” says Duff. Ten Editions, a staple of the neighbourhood, had been a place where community members gathered and socialized.
For five years the community has attempted to save the store and the building together, but as the new plans for the U of T residence proves, only the structure of the building will be preserved as a heritage site under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.
A site is considered for heritage designation based on the cultural heritage value of the building’s physical attributes. Though current and past occupants of the sites considered for heritage designation may be mentioned in heritage impact assessments, their occupancy is not part of the criteria used to designate a building as a heritage site.
While this project will help address housing challenges for U of T students, it has been a difficult process for Duff and members of the community.
“I’ve never met one person who was happy about this decision. When we got partial heritage, everybody thought ‘Oh, you can stay!’ But they don’t tell you exactly what this means. U of T has never said anything to me about staying,” says Duff. “You want to believe that your actions accomplished something or at least it’s explained to you why your mindset is so different, but there was never any word of explanation.”
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on NEWS: BIA behind green plan (Spring 2019)
BIA infrastructure improvements, parkettes construction to begin in 2019
By Meribeth Deen
Big changes are coming to Bloor Street: new sidewalks, new water-mains, new trees in the ground, and four new parkettes. At the recent Bloor-Annex Business Improvement Association AGM, BIA chair (and publisher of this newspaper) Brian Burchell told local business and property owners that, after years of planning, the City of Toronto is confident that the Bloor St. Greening Initiative will come to fruition in the coming year.
“We’re working with the city to co-ordinate construction efforts,” says Burchell. “The idea is to have work related to the greening project and infrastructure work done at the same time. The challenge is that the equipment and the expertise required to do this work is very different.”
Take, for example, the granite rocks that will be found in the parkettes.
“They’ve been quarried from Quebec and are the size of small cars,” says Burchell. “They are going to have laser-cuts in them to create seating areas even though they are technically intended as art installations. Installing these will require large cranes to get them into the correct position.”
The parkettes are located on city-owned rights-of-way that abut Bloor Street at Robert Street, Major Street, Brunswick Avenue, and Howland Avene. Each parkette will have new trees and feature wood decking made from sustainably sourced wood that is infused with resin so it will last for decades, and a pollinator-friendy garden catering to the 350 species of bees living in the Toronto area as well as birds and butterflies.
Another challenging aspect to the project will be the removal of the planter-boxes on Bloor St. and replacing them with in-ground trees.
“First of all, we want to provide more space for pedestrian traffic,” says Burchell. “But also, these boxes are known as tree-coffins. There’s not enough space for their roots, which means the lifespan of the trees in those boxes is limited. By planting trees in the ground with space for proper root systems, we’re making an investment that will outlive us. That said, the engineering costs of making it happen are not insignificant.”
To complement the new bike lanes on Bloor St., the greening project will also increase the amount of bike parking by 30 per cent.
“This is one pillar of our greening plan. We are the only business improvement association in the city that endorses bike lanes,” says Burchell. “As a whole this project is about creating value out of providing non-commercial space in the neighbourhood. Simply put, we want to give people another reason to come to the Annex. Bike lanes are a part of that, but we’ve also done the research and we know that, contrary to popular belief, they’re actually good for business.”
With the pending construction, Burchell acknowledges that the board of the BIA is aware of its members’ concerns. The board has already made steps towards mitigating the effects of construction in several ways including helping businesses improve their e-commerce presence. The BIA has engaged the services of Digital Main Street, a City of Toronto consultant. DMS has been meeting with members and advising them how to better position their products and services on line. In addition, the BIA has sanctioned an aggressive construction schedule for the road work which will permit the contractor to work two shifts a day – six days a week if necessary – which will make the total time of disruption to Bloor shorter.
At the AGM, Councillor Mike Layton assured the members that he would serve as a strong ally and advocate for the project, just as Councillor Cressy had been up until the recent ward redistribution. As a local resident, he said, he looks forward to assisting the work of the BIA.
Canada Post issued a stamp honouring Albert Jackson just in time for Black History month this year. Born a slave in Delaware in the 1850s, Jackson came to Canada as a toddler on the Underground Railway. He grew up in Toronto and won a position as a letter carrier in 1882. The other Canada Post employees refused to train him because of the colour of his skin, and the media fuelled a heated public debate about “the coloured postman”.
The local black community came to Jackson’s defence publicly, and Sir John A. Macdonald, who was courting their vote, chimed in as well. He promised that the youth would go to work as a carrier “come what may,” according to one newspaper article.
Jackson persevered, and went on to work for 36 years with the postal service.
“Albert Jackson’s determination opened the doors for many Black Canadians to enter the postal service,” says Ann Therese MacEachern, chief human resources officer at Canada Post. “His courage laid the foundation for the diverse workforce we have at Canada Post today.”
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Meet’n’Eat in the Annex (Spring 2019)
Annex residents are meeting and eating their way through the neighbourhood. In an initiative launched early this year, the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) is inviting neighbours to gather at a different local restaurant every month to enjoy some food, support local businesses, and get to know people.
The ARA hopes that initiatives like this can help neighbours develop closer relationships, creating a sense of local warmth that melts away the isolation that can sometimes occur in big cities. As one Toronto-bashing Conservative MP stated, when you live in downtown Toronto, no one would dare knock on a neighbour’s door to ask for a cup of sugar. In case others feel the same way, the ARA hopes that get-togethers like these can shift the dynamic.
If you’re interested in learning more about the ARA or getting involved in community-building initiatives, there are plenty of ways to get in touch online. There’s a website (theara.org), a Facebook page, mailing list (theara.org/Sign-up-for-the-ARA-Newsletter), and Twitter handle @AnnexResidents. While the ARA welcomes your online engagement, they think meeting in-person is even better. The next Meet’n’Eat is on April 3.
—Terri Chu, Gleaner News
Comments Off on CHATTER: Meet’n’Eat in the Annex (Spring 2019)Tags:Annex · News
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Annex icon Queen Video slated to close (Spring 2019)
Queen Video’s Bloor Street location is having a closing sale until April 28. NABAHAT HUSSAIN/GLEANER NEWS
Queen Video has been serving film buffs in Toronto for 38 years, and now its last remaining location is closing down. Located in the Annex across the street from Lee’s Palace, the video rental company opened its Bloor St. store in the year 2000. The shop is known for attracting film fanatics from all over the city.
“This place has movies you can’t get anywhere else, not on Itunes, not on Amazon,” remarked a customer named Bob. “It has been a jewel, so for somebody like me who’s a bit of a film geek, this was the best thing in Toronto.”
Store owner Howard Levman says the number of people renting movies has declined steadily over the past seven years. “I’ve loved the interaction with the customers,” he says. “It’s just that there aren’t enough of them. There’s also an availability issue: some really good TV shows and movies are never even made into DVDs now.”
Levman told his staff that the Annex store has been the busiest branch of Queen Video, and he’s going to miss it. Customers can take advantage of Queen Video’s closing sale until April 28.
—Nabahat Hussain/Gleaner News
Comments Off on CHATTER: Annex icon Queen Video slated to close (Spring 2019)Tags:Annex · News
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: It’s not your private police force, Mr. Ford (Spring 2019)
When an Ontario public servant decided to leak the province’s secret plan to overhaul the healthcare system to the media, Premier Doug Ford shifted into attack mode and demanded an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). It seems the Premier has an affinity for calling in the police, in the hopes they’ll do his bidding. The leak story is, as Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter, and former Minister of Education stated, “Exhibit A of why Ron Taverner cannot be OPP commissioner… the OPP is not the Premier’s private police force.”
What would the OPP investigation on the leak have looked like if it were? The leak publicized evidence that the government was planning to eliminate many health agencies and create a “super agency” as part of its overhaul of Ontario’s healthcare system. The unnamed public servant deemed responsible for it has been fired.
If Taverner was running the OPP, would the Premier being cruising around Ontario in a $50,000 van, complete with a leather Lazy-Boy and Blue-Ray? That was what he asked for, but with Brad Blair running the police force, the premier didn’t get his way.
In the late fall, when Ford hatched the plan to hire Taverner the Premier’s office faced a major obstacle: Taverner was not qualified. The process needed re-engineering or “rigging” as critics would come to describe it. Enter Dean French, who worked with Cabinet Secretary Steve Orsini, Ontario’s top civil servant, to lower the bar on behalf of the Premier’s friend. Orsini was on the hiring committee and was integral to seeing Ford’s plan come to fruition. When the public announcement about Taverner getting the job was met with outrage, Ford strangely tried to distance himself and claim that the process had been “independent.” It was at this is the point that Orsini lost his stomach for the sham. According to Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner, J. David Wake’s report on the matter, Orsini gave an ultimatum to the Premier: “If you feel that the installation [Taverner’s] must proceed, it is with heavy heart that I recommend the appointment of a new Secretary of the Cabinet who will fully support your decisions as the Premier of Ontario…”
In the end, Orsini retired abruptly after 27 years of serving provincial governments of every stripe. Brad Blair was fired because he revealed what Ford was up to, and is now suing Ford for $5 million for wrongful dismal and defamation. Taverner withdrew his name from consideration in the face of the lingering public outcry over his relationship to the Premier and the process by witched he managed to leap frog ahead of other more qualified candidates including Blair.
The lesson, which is evidently lost on Ford, is that democratic countries need to put a wall between government and police, lest police feel beholden to those in authority. Police become the enforcers for the political will of those in power and people stop believing that laws will be enforced without favour.
The Premier would eventually come to describe decisions like hiring Taverner are a result of him talking to “thousands of people across the province.” It’s not clear who these people are or when these consultations happened, but he claims it included the OPP’s “front line officers,” who were apparently clamouring for Ford to hire Taverner. How would these officers would even have know of Taverner existence? This refrain that he is taking his cues “from the people” is something Ford loves to invoke. He uses it to justify acts of autocracy like slashing the size of city council, forcing a one-sex fits all autism strategy, or stealing the Toronto subway system. It’s a faux democracy that’s looking more and more like a dictatorship.
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on FORUM: Layton laments city’s snow job (Spring 2019)
City budget a place to lock in priorities
By Mike Layton
The city’s 2019 budget deliberations are underway and I have had many residents from across the city reach out about the issues that affect them and the services they depend on the most. We are in the midst of one of the most damaging winters on our roads and no amount of pothole blitzing is going to be able to patch up the decline in public assets that Torontonians depend on every time they step out of the door.
My discussions with you have confirmed that the issues you care most about are the same ones I have been working on to get added to the budget. These include funding for affordable childcare and youth hubs, a litter picking strategy in our ravines, and reversing the fare increase on the TTC. I have also spoken out about the fact that this budget does not substantially address our growing State of Good Repair backlog on public assets (like roads) and Toronto Community Housing.
What is top of mind for most people right now is the request to see the city provide enhanced snow removal, salting, and clearing city-wide. The three week response times most residents have been told to expect before their roads and sidewalks are cleared (if they even receive sidewalk clearing) is unacceptable.
The city’s ombudsman recently released a statement saying that this lack of service is having an effect on the quality of life of our residents. When we fail to provide safe passage on our public rights-of-way we are putting public safety at a serious risk. It does not need to be this way.
Our ability to quickly respond to recent snow storms has been seriously impacted by the degradation of funding for these services over the last nine years. The downtown core is seemingly “stuck in time”, grappling with a service standard for snow clearing from the time of amalgamation that no longer works in our denser core. Putting off problems for future generations to solve is not going to work. I have brought this issue up at budget committee and will continue to advocate for proper investment until it is made.
I recently moved a request in Budget Committee for Transportation Services to report back on the cost to expand and enhance winter maintenance in response to the issues with snow clearing, and the extreme freeze-thaws we have been experiencing. Unfortunately, this request for information was not approved by my colleagues on the committee, but I remain committed to getting this funding approved as quickly as possible.
Another issue that is top of mind for the residents of Ward 11 is the need for substantial investments in affordable housing. The Housing Now strategy that was passed in January aims to increase the supply of affordable rental housing within mixed-income communities by making municipally-owned properties available to non-profit and private organizations for redevelopment on long-term leases.
I was successful in having council agree to add an additional property in Ward 11 to the list of sites to be considered, bringing the total number of sites to 12. Council also agreed to my request to look at alternative ways of financing affordable housing through refundable debt.
Unfortunately, council rebuffed my efforts to add a higher percentage of deeply affordable and affordable housing units to the approved strategy. Some councillors even shared their belief that this would make the development less profitable. I hope that one day City Council will learn to put people before profits.
If you would like to chat about the budget, or want to share any local concerns with me, please do not hesitate to write to me at councillor_layton@toronto.ca or call 416-392-4009. I am looking forward to hearing your ideas on how to build a city we can all be proud of.
Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.
A mature tree at 113 Howland Ave. fell victim to a windstorm in April 2018. COURTESY ARTHUR GRON
By Arthur Gron
In the Annex and Harbord Village, large maples and majestic Dutch elms are maturing and dying out. The trees that are taking their place tend to be smaller ornamental trees, throwing the future of the area’s beloved canopy into question.
On December 3, TreesPlease held a “Tree Talk” event at 918 Bathurst. I presented an analysis I had completed of the trees on Howland Ave. The Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) presented their extensive survey of the approximately 5,000 trees from that neighbourhood.
Between 2009 and 2012, TreesPlease collected data on almost all of the trees in the Annex, both backyard and frontyard trees. The information can be found at the Annex Residents’ Association website. On the same website, one can view all the reports detailing the Annex’s tree varieties.
COURTESY ARTHUR GRON
Almost 10 years later, and before the December event, I resurveyed the front yard trees on Howland Avenue. Using the 2009 data, I looked to see what had changed and found the results startling: the street had lost almost 10% of its trees.
In 2012, there were 74 large maple trees along Howland, but by late 2018 only 66 remained. Elms had decreased from 18 to 12. Even more worrying, the replanting rate was only 1 percent, and the trees that were replanted are of small ornamental varieties – no substitute for broad maples or majestic elms. Out of the 141 trees that Howland Avenue had lining the street, 123 were left in 2018. That’s almost a 10% loss, in less then 6 years.
Though this is a sampling of the trees, it suggests that if the trend is accurate 10% of the 10,000 trees surveyed in 2009 have vanished. That would be 1,000 trees, the majority of which would be maples and elms.
Data collected from the Harbord Village Residents’ Association shows an even worse decline than that which I found on Howland Ave. The HVRA carried out an inventory of trees in 2007-8 that counted 6,386 trees. In 2017-18 in a followup inventory, they counted only 4,552 trees demonstrating a remarkable loss of 30% of trees in a decade. Again, the loss is amongst the large mature trees, such as the maple. And, just like on Howland Ave., the trees that are being planted in Harbord Village are of a small ornamental variety, which will not enclose the street in a canopy and generally have a shorter life-span.
What explains the loss of the maple and the elm? To begin with, the urban tree has a shorter life than its rural counterpart. City maples, such as the pervasive and invasive Norway maple, can be expected to live 100 to 120 years in the city. Compare that to 250 years in a natural settling. Several factors speed a city tree’s demise: road salt, not enough space for roots, pavement preventing water from reaching the roots, air pollution, compacted soil, and damaged bark from accidents or construction.
The planting of large maples and oaks in the 1800s, when the Annex was being built, was part of the culture of that time. Sailing ships required large amounts of good wood and the British navy in particular sought sources of premium wood for its masts despite the shift at this time towards iron masts.
Iron furniture, having been mass-produced since the 1850s, took on a taint of cheap plastic: prized furniture was made of woods such as walnut, mahogany, and rosewood. Yet another reason to plant a hardy, large tree in the front yard. These trees were symbols of elegance and status.
The front yard itself was a showcase for a house, as landscape architecture was coming into vogue. Central Park in New York was established in 1857 and Toronto’s High Park in 1876. Parks were no longer game reserves for the rich, but were manicured to look like paintings of pristine, scenic forests. Green space provided an attractive contrast to the rapidly industrializing landscape of the time.
Lastly a home was seen as something that would be passed down from one generation to the next, so planting a maple that would take 30 or 40 years to grow into a large tree was an investment in the future and the family.
Recent storms including the ice storm of December 2013, the wind storm of October 2017, the ice storm of April 2018, and the wind storm of May 2018 have all taken their toll on the behemoth-sized trees of Howland Ave. Undoubtedly, with climate change, we can expect more severe weather and less hospitable conditions for these aged trees.
The Annex and Harbord are changing, and I cannot say how long the tree canopy will last. The smaller trees will look pretty, but they will never provide us with the majestic canopy we now enjoy.
For a printed walking tour of Howland Ave., visit my website gron.ca. and for a tree map visit the ARA’s website at theara.org/Interactive-Tree-Map.
Arthur Gron is a member of Trees Please, a committee of the Annex Residents’ Association. Gron has participated in long term surveys that chronicle a demise of the Annx’s treasured tree canopy.
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on ARTS: Spring fever brings corridor to life (Spring 2019)
Annex cultural communities bring their best to the table
By Meribeth Deen
The Bloor St. Arts Corridor offers some of the richest and most diverse cultural opportunities anywhere in Toronto, all within a subway-accessible 1.5 kilometre strip. Each year, more than three million members of the public go to Bloor St. Culture Corridor exhibitions, performances, and events. Each month, the Bloor St. Arts Corridor offers readers of the Annex Gleaner a taste of what we’ve got to offer in upcoming events. This spring brings a plethora of offerings, so get out and make the most of your neighbourhood.
MUSIC
The sounds of the 1930s are bound to get spring swinging in the Arts Corridor, starting at the Bata Shoe Museum on April 10. The museum is welcoming students from some of the city’s most prestigious music programs to play works from the 1930s. This free event (if you register, by emailing rsvp@batashoemuseum.ca or calling 416-979-7799) will provide the perfect mental soundtrack for your viewing of the exhibition Want: Desire, Design and Depression Era Footwear. You may want to continue enjoying the spirit of the age by hopping over to the the Alliance Française for the film Django, on April 11. This film serves as a warm up to the Stephen Wremble Band’s April 13 concert, performing The Django Experiment, celebrating the 109th anniversary of Django Reinhardt’s birth.
On the weekend of April 12, step out onto your experimental edge at the Music Gallery. In co-operation with Arraymusic and Native Women in the Arts, the Music Gallery is hosting the Raven Chacon Mini-Festival. Born on the land of the Navajo Nation, Raven Chacon is acclaimed as a composer of chamber music, performer of experimental noise music, and as an installation artist. The festival will feature the world premiere of For Zitkála-Šá, dedicated to the first American Indian librettist with the Array Ensemble (Allison Cameron, Nicole Rampersaud, and Germaine Liu) and others. Go to www.musicgallery.org for more information.
If you want to keep mixing up musical melodies, head to the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Koerner Hall on April 14 to experience DakhaBrakha’s “ethnic chaos”. DakhaBrakha was created at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art by avant-garde theatre director Vladyslav Troitskyi. Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian, and Australian traditional instrumentation, the quartet’s astonishingly powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a trans-national sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.
FOOD & FILM
Hungry for the taste of spring? Be sure to make your way to the Japan Foundation for a free screening of the Hunt for Matsutake, on April 4. This documentary features the Japanese-Canadian history of Matsutake hunting. The mushrooms are prized for their distinctly spicy and aromatic flavour in Japanese cuisine, and can only be found in the wild.
Speaking of mushrooms, try pairing them with vodka on April 12 at the Museum of Estonians Abroad. Estonia has a long history of producing and enjoying vodka. Sada ja seened (100g with mushrooms) refers to the tradition of having a bite of salted mushrooms or mushroom salad with 100g of vodka. At this event led by Paul Lillakas and vodka specialist Wes Galloway, participants will have a chance to taste different vodkas and learn how to make tasty bites to go along with them. Tickets: $35/$20 (students). 19+ event. Please register by April 8 to vemu@tartucollege.ca.
If you’re still craving a story with flavour, put April 16 in your calendar. Hot Docs is featuring the world premiere of Red Chef Revival, a docu-series showcasing the work of three indigenous chefs from across Canada who bring traditional ingredients to the modern table. The premiere includes dinner, a cocktail, and a post-film Q&A, all for under $50.
LEARNING
Ever wonder What happened to Yiddish Theatre in Toronto? Well head to the Miles Nadal JCC to find out on April 4 at 1 pm. Ralph Wintrop, founding member and chair of the Jewish Theatre Committee of Toronto, will be offering this entertaining presentation which includes dramatic readings from plays that once graced local stages.
To zoom out and see humanity from a completely different perspective, head over to the ROM on April 11 at 11 am to discover the museum’s newest permanent project dedicated to the story of the dawn of life. This new space will take visitors on a journey from the origin of life itself, close to 4 billion years ago, to the dawn of dinosaurs, roughly 200 million years ago. Speaker Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron, the Senior Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the ROM, will show spectacular fossils never before exhibited to the public.
Finally, delve into the history of Toronto’s hip hop scene by checking out For the Record: An Idea of North, an interactive mixed-media exhibition at the Toronto Reference Library, which illuminates the emergence of Toronto’s hip hop culture, and includes a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 16, 6:30-7:30 pm, and free guided gallery tours on Tuesdays at 2 pm. www.tpl.ca.
Comments Off on ARTS: Spring fever brings corridor to life (Spring 2019)Tags:Annex · Arts
