Open Door Funding Recipients: 2016

TAC introduced its new Open Door process in 2014 as a means of responding to important and timely arts sector initiatives outside of the discipline-specific funding streams. TAC aims to provide catalyst funding for ideas and initiatives that have the potential to create transformative change for artistic disciplines, communities of artists and arts organizations and the arts sector at large.

 

Open Door Recipients 2016

Access Visual Art worked with a network of arts and disability individuals and organizations to build an online database with information on venue accessibility in the visual arts sector in Toronto.

Anandam Dance Theatre Productions launched CONTEMPORANEITY. The series features works by artists involved in Asian, African, Arab, Latin American, and Indigenous dance and related practices. The series also includes a one-week residency; exchanges between artists, artistic directors and presenters and more.

Art Spin Toronto presented in/Future, a unique 12 day, multidisciplinary and site-specific exhibition on the West Island of Ontario Place. Art Spin temporarily opened the park to the public for the first time since its closure, and animated the space with exhibitions, installations and performances.

Canadian Dance Assembly convened a two-day meeting of dance service organizations - CDA, Dancer Transition Resource Centre, Canadian Association of Dance Artists (Ontario), Canadian Association of Dance Artists (West) and the Canadian Society for Dance Studies - to discuss plans to merge into a single new organization to be called Dance Canada.

Dames Making Games created the Community Development Toolkit, an open source, interactive web-based tool kit for arts organizations seeking new models for community development, diverse participation, and sustainable practice. The Kit will create a space and mechanism for sharing and collaboration amongst organizers and volunteers involved in other initiatives across the sector.

dance Immersion created the Interdisciplinary Mentorship Program to link administrators and artists. This program provides skill development, partnerships and collaborative initiatives with services and tools that connect across disciplines, while developing career goals.

Eventual Ashes developed the concept of Indigenizing physical spaces and buildings to the Toronto arts community. The project focussed on Indigenizing the Community Arts Centre in Regent Park, which will serve as a model example for other arts organizations to follow.

Evergreen launched The Ribbon Contemporary Art Program, a long-term public art project in which local, national and international artists were commissioned to create temporary installations, performances, murals, talks and workshops on a 5-km section of Toronto’s Lower Don Trail, along the Don River.

Generator Performance created PORTAL, an on-line hub for independent artists and producers that includes a curated wiki, YouTube channel, and connection to all other relevant on-line tools for putting on a show.

Kaeja d'Dance invited 22 Toronto dance artists to participate in Exceptional TO Dances, a celebration of Canada 150. Dancers improvised one-minute solos inspired by Toronto landscapes and streetscapes for live broadcast and future replay. The improvised film performances will be developed into longer pieces to be staged at the Theatre Centre in fall 2017.

Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art marked occasion of Canada 150 with its presentation of the world premiere of North by Northwest, the first public art installation in Canada by renowned Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi.

Soulpepper Theatre Company undertook a four-week residency festival in New York City in July 2017 at The Pershing Square Signature Centre on 42nd Street to celebrate Canada 150.

Tangled Art + Disability presents Crip Canada, the first nation-wide disability arts exhibition series in Canada. The series will feature 9 new creations by artists with disabilities from across Canada, exploring themes of disability identity, history and culture.

The Theatre Centre piloted a community engagement project with a nearby condominium in 2017 that will see residents engaged in cultural and social activities in order to build meaningful relationships and social cohesion around art and culture activities.

Trinity Square Video is creating a mobile web app to provide media artists working in VR and 360° with a curated virtual space to present their works. "App Gallery" will be available to anyone with a handheld smartphone or tablet, introducing a broader audience to VR media and 360° Video media-art.