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News Archive for Pride Toronto

NEWS 10.19.09 2:16 PM

Toronto to Host World Pride 2014

Toronto will host World Pride 2014 after beating out Stockholm with a 78 per cent margin of victory in a vote at the InterPride 2009 Conference in Florida yesterday. "We are delighted to have been awarded this opportunity to bring the world to Toronto," Mark Singh, chair of the World Pride committee, said in a statement. "In this exceptionally diverse city, the advent of a festival like this is an opportunity to highlight the acceptance of the queer community by Canadians, and to raise awareness of other countries where queers are still discriminated against." MORE >>

Pride Toronto, World Pride, InterPride

NEWS 10.15.09 3:37 PM

Decision on Toronto's Bid to Host World Pride 2014 Expected Sunday

Pride Toronto—the nonprofit organization that hosts Pride Week—will find out Sunday if its bid to host World Pride in 2014 is a success. The organization is pitching to host the event at InterPride’s annual general meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida, this week. The city of Stockholm is also bidding.

"We believe that hosting World Pride 2014 in Toronto will engage and inspire people from around the world, be a fabulous celebration of Pride, and showcase Toronto as one of the most diverse and accepting cities in the world," Mark Singh, Pride Toronto co-chairman, said in a statement on the organization's Web site. MORE >>

Pride Toronto, InterPride, World Pride

NEWS 12.23.08 10:00 AM

Pride Toronto Restructures, Begins Planning for 2009 Festival

Performers at the 2008 gala
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash

Pride Toronto has created new staff positions—and new volunteer opportunities—in an effort to secure sponsorship and generate revenue for the 2009 Pride Week festival, which is set to run June 19 to 29.

Ryan Lester is taking on the role of sponsorship and resource development manager, and new volunteer positions are being created to help secure corporate sponsorships and plan the Pride gala, which adopted a Grecian-theme for the 2008 fund-raiser held at the Fermenting Cellar. MORE >>

Pride Toronto, Pride Week

WHO'S DOING WHAT 09.25.08 1:00 PM

Pride Toronto Hires Executive Director

Tracey Sandilands
Photo: Courtesy of Tracey Sandilands

Pride Toronto announced this week that Tracey Sandilands is set to become the organization’s new executive director on November 3. Bringing 20 years of experience in media and marketing, Sandilands will provide strategic and operational leadership to Pride Toronto's staff and volunteers and support the organization's board of directors in handling its affairs. She is ultimately responsible for executing Pride Week, Pride Toronto's annual festival held during the last week of June. (Toronto Pride Week ranked as the second largest festival in our Top 100 Festivals, Parades, Walks and Holiday Events in 2008.) MORE >>

Pride Toronto

EVENT REPORT 06.25.08 5:08 PM

Pandora's Box Inspires Entertainment at Grecian-Themed Pride Gala

Acrobats at the Pride gala
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash

For the fourth annual Pride Toronto gala and awards—held at the Fermenting Cellar on Tuesday—event planner Daniel Chimento of Dragos Productions used entertainment throughout the evening to convey the theme of the event: "A Journey to Mount Olympus."

"It's based around Pan and Pandora and the opening of Pandora's box and all of the mischief that comes with it," Chimento said. All of the performances, courtesy of Suspended Animation Circus, involved Greek gods and goddesses. "So Atlas is basically hanging from a hoop in the air. We have Prometheus starting a fire; Aphrodite is in there seducing and landing people in a trance," he said.

Chimento, who planned and produced the event for the first time this year, worked with Pride Toronto co-chairs Lenore MacAdam and Mark Singh. He looked to ancient Greece for the evening's inspiration in an effort to choose a theme that he felt hasn't been "overdone" in the city. "I really wanted to take it to the next level ... I absolutely love coming up with unique themes, particularly in a gala atmosphere." During the cocktail reception, guests mingled in Zeus's statue garden, where models posed as statues throughout the venue. "The statues turn into the entertainment once Pandora's box is open," he said. MORE >>

Pride Toronto, Sandra Bernhard

Q & A 06.18.08 5:13 PM

Mark Singh Gets Ready for the 28th Annual Toronto Pride Week

Pride Week co-chair Mark Singh
Photo: Courtesy of Pride Toronto

Toronto's 28th annual Pride Week—which begins tomorrow and runs until June 29—has several new features, including more stages for programming and a three-day contemporary art show called "Plot, Engage, Disperse." The 10-day event is put on by the not-for-profit organization Pride Toronto, and includes a street festival and the Pride Parade. The whole event draws more than a million participants. "It's not hard to promote Pride Week—it's ubiquitous," says Mark Singh, one of the co-chairs of this year's event. "Where it becomes challenging is that it's a very large festival with dozens and dozens of events. We spend a long time planning what we're going to do and how we're going to promote these events." Here's a look at his strategy.

What’s new this year?
We have a lot that’s new this year. Probably the most exciting thing for us is our kickoff event. It’s the largest kickoff event we’ve ever done, and it’s a Sandra Bernhard live comedy festival on June 22. We’re very excited about it, and the response has been incredible from the community. We’re also doing a number of other new arts-related events, and the festival has expanded into three parks that have become three new programming areas.

Another thing we’ve developed is a full program around our selected international grand marshal [this year's marshal is Gareth Henry from Jamaica], including a forum, panel discussion, an exhibit, and some video pieces. We think that’s really important, because here in Canada, we’ve reached a place where we’re comfortable, we have widespread acceptance, we have legal rights on par with few other places on the planet. We feel that it’s important to do what we can for other queer communities. MORE >>

Pride Toronto, Sandra Bernhard, Pride Week

NEWS 05.27.08 11:11 AM

Pride Toronto to Host First-Ever Closing Night Party

Pride Toronto has announced plans to hold the first official Pride Week closing night party—called Last Dance—following the massive parade along Church Street on June 29. Singer and drag artist Rupaul will headline the event at Circa. "Our mandate is to put together an outrageous, racy, and fabulous event," Pride Toronto executive director Fatima Amarshi said in a statement. "No one does that better than Peter Gatien and Circa. We're thrilled to be partnering with Circa to offer the first ever Pride Week closing night party."

The party will take place in four separate spaces within the nightclub and will include performances by Canadian new wave band Trans-X, R&B artist Adam Joseph, DJ Billy Carroll, DJ Jamal, and Toronto-based performance artist Christabel. —Susan O'Neill

Pride Toronto, Rupaul

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