Welcome to BizBash's newest column, covering Canada’s biggest event news from coast to coast. Got a tip? Get in touch!
Provincial News
Alberta: The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival will happen virtually over nine days beginning on Oct. 31. Broadcast live from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in the Canadian Rockies, 75 prominent films, authors, and guest speakers—including Blue Sky Kingdom writer Bruce Kirby, ecological documentary Pushed Up The Mountain, and renowned Canadian climber Barry Blanchard—will be featured. A virtual marketplace offering outdoor climbing gear and a beer tent hosting special guests will be available daily.
British Columbia: Today, Vancouver’s Beaumont Gallery opens “Shattered: A Wicked Runthrough,” to the public until Oct. 31. The physically distanced walk-through experience features thousands of stage illusions, light designs, lasers, and soundscapes that lead guests on a journey through 10,000 square feet of hallways, studios, and courtyards in the venue. Visual and sound effects for the touch-free, family-friendly production were developed in partnership with Go2 Productions, Innovation Lighting, and a wider team of Vancouver-based artists. Attendees are required to wear masks and use sanitizer stations laid out in the gallery.
Manitoba: Winnipeg’s Die Maschine Cabaret and Canada’s traveling '80s Dance Party are hosting a virtual “'70s Disco Fever” night via Twitch. Local DJ Brian St.Clair will be spinning tracks by disco’s greatest legends including ABBA, Donna Summer, and Kool & The Gang. In the coming months, all-'80s nights are set to pop-up in Winnipeg, Regina, and Saskatoon, and patrons are encouraged to donate to the event directly on the night of.
Ontario: On Oct. 3, Nuit Blanche ran programming featuring work by more than 45 artists over five livestreams on its website. The evening featured Nuit Talks webinars addressing public art spaces and opportunities; Nuit Live’s multimedia, 3D visual experiences paired with live DJs; the premiere of Nuit Podcast’s 10-part series on geographic concepts in art; online archives of exhibits featured throughout the years; and Nuit in Your Neighborhood’s augmented-reality/virtual-reality compositions. This year’s theme, The Space Between Us, explored strengthening connections through urban, polar, and pacific landscapes and identifying gaps in knowledge-sharing between far-apart communities. Exhibition recordings will be available online until Oct. 12.
Quebec: “Mondial de la bière” is hosting a beer-tasting event at Windsor Station in the heart of downtown Montreal from Oct. 8-11, with optional virtual attendance. The event will preview samples coming to the organization’s May festival, which offers more than 500 beverages and products from more than 90 breweries over four days. Daytime activities will include custom beer and appetizer pairings, talks by local hops and lager experts, tasting contests, and live music and poetry readings. Visitors are encouraged to share their favorite selections by Quebecoise brewers with the hashtag #Mondialbiere.
Coast-to-Coast
Fifteen Canadian designers revealed their creations for the 17th annual Cashmere Collection breast cancer awareness event on Oct. 6. The virtual masquerade ball, broadcast live on CTV’s ETalk and The Social’s Facebook pages, featured luxurious gowns crafted from Cashmere Bathroom Tissue, and explored the history of masks in Venetian fashion traditions and their significance as a symbol of health and community safety. Throughout the month of October, Cashmere will donate 25 cents from bathroom-tissue purchases to the Canadian Cancer Society, and one dollar for each “vote couture” submission to pick the fashion show’s top design. Each look was enhanced with support from MAC Cosmetics, FLOW Haircare, and Canadian custom jewelry designer Alan Anderson.
And on Oct. 4, more than 25,000 Canadians participated in a hybrid edition of the Canadian Cancer Society's CIBC Run for the Cure, raising over $8.5 million. Following the virtual opening ceremony hosted by Juno-winning artist Jully Black, runners followed a track they designed themselves through the event app. "We're so grateful that Canadians embraced the new run format," said Canadian Cancer Society CEO Andrea Seale. "We know that people with breast cancer and their caregivers have faced new challenges and burdens this year because of interruptions and delays in care, and isolation due to COVID-19. The opportunity to make meaningful connections online is so important right now while physical distancing is a necessity—especially for our community members who are immunocompromised."
Canada’s largest lights festival, Ontario Power Generation's Winter Festival of Lights, returns to Niagara Falls, Ont., from Nov. 14 to Jan. 10. An eight-kilometer driving trail will offer lit-up 3D animals and Inukshuks displays, Christmas trees, and the annual light show on the falls. To deter crowds from gathering, all fireworks displays are canceled this year.
Overheard
“Theater institutions in particular have taken tremendous measures to make sure they can present theater to audiences safely. The fact is that the government has so clearly targeted cultural institutions, but not private commerce. It makes it so that on Thursday, I could go to Chapters but not my library. I could go to the mall but not the museum.”
—Mathieu Murphy-Perron, executive director of Tableau D'Hote Theatre, speaking to CTV News about Montreal's closures targeting arts and culture venues.
On the Scene
In Toronto, Casa Loma announced that its annual Legends of Horror Halloween haunt has been canceled for 2020.
