The Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativityโwhich returns to Toronto for its third incarnation next monthโkicks off with a black-carpet gala for 1,200 guests June 5 and wraps up with a weekend of activities on the waterfront on June 13 and 14. โTo activate the entire downtown core with art and culture for 10 days is huge,โ said festival C.E.O. Janice Price. โLast year we decided we had to balance the strong opening weekend. We also discovered we needed a central hub that was easily communicated, so we decided on Yonge-Dundas Square.โ
The square will host a number of free events again this year, including an opening night concert featuring Randy Bachman. The festival's opening night will also include an invite-only gala, sponsored in part by Giorgio Armani, at Canadaโs National Ballet School. For the closing weekend, planners have invited Cirque du Soleil to perform at HtO Park and in the Toronto Music Garden at Harbourfront. โThe two weekends need to be the hallmarks of one of our hallmarks, which is that 80 per cent of our programming is free,โ Price said.
As the festival enters its third year, Price said organizers were mindful of the need to offer programming in locations that the public is familiar with. โItโs always a careful balance. You want to be creative and flexible, but on the other hand you have an audience. There are certain guiding principles you want to retain because you canโt reinvent yourself to the public every year. You have to give them something to hold onto,โ she said.
Price reported that all of the festivalโs corporate partnersโcompanies like LโOrรฉal and Telusโare returning this year. โIn this economy we are so grateful and appreciative they all came back. Understandably the philanthropic donor sector is down this year,โ she said. โWe went through a small round of cost cutting this year. We had to restructure a few positions at Luminato. There was no programming that didnโt happen per se, but we held the line and didnโt expand it.โ
Three common threads are running through the programming this year. Organizers are planning a festival-wide celebration of the guitarโincluding an attempt to obtain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest guitar ensemble at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 6. The 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allen Poe, translated into various events as a lighthearted look at goth and horror, also figures prominently this year, as does the topic of contemporary communications, Price said. โThe key is to see them reflected in every genre, in every kind of art form.โ
The three artistic themes will also play out at the Luminato and Giorgio Armani opening night party. About 1,200 guests are expected to attend the event, which attracted a crowd of 1,500 to the Royal Ontario Museum last June. โItโs still a huge party,โ Price said. โBecause we have very distinctive artistic themes, weโre using the three different levels [in the venue] to express different themes of the festival. It complements our creativity."
Price noted that event planners "gravitate towards cultural buildings" but said that no other organization "has really used the new National Ballet School for this kind of a gala event. Our personality is to be the first ones, so in some ways itโs easier for us. It matches our brand DNA to do things that are a little unexpected."
Festival sponsors include L'Orรฉal, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada, Telus, the City of Toronto, OLG Presents Music, National Bank Financial Group, Manulife Financial, President's Choice, Scotiabank Group, Aeroplan, WATERFRONToronto, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, CTV, The Globe & Mail.