In a year City Hall is calling the Year of Creativity for Toronto, what is needed is an honest survey of the city’s arts community: From expensive productions to hidden gems, how are the arts helping to shape Toronto? This Sunday, interested parties can take a step toward answering this question by attending a day-long book launch for The State of the Arts, the second book in Coach House Press’s uTOpia series. This volume cuts a wide swath, with essays considering arts from just about every conceivable angle.
The launch will be equally ambitious. Joining forces with This Is Not A Reading Series and Wavelength, it will begin with panel discussions on official culture and unofficial culture, to be followed by performances from independent musicians The Phonemes, More or Les and Scarborough A/V.
Of note: several past and present This Mag contributors have essays in the book, including RM Vaughan, Lisa Rundle, Shawn Micallef, Carl Wilson, fiction & poetry editor Stuart Ross and publisher Lisa Whittington-Hill.
If you’re in the Toronto area this weekend, drop by the Gladstone Hotel anytime after 3 for a taste of Toronto arts and culture.