Making art and public spaces more accessible through performance

Published on June 22, 2019

Evergreen Brick Works is a hub for arts and culture in our city. It provides the space for people to experience art in ways they may have not otherwise imagined, and sparks their imagination around bringing other spaces in their city to life.

This can all be seen through Evergreen’s Cultural Performing Arts Series. Running from May to October, the series features four music and dance performances designed to activate the space, engage the community, and highlight Toronto's diverse arts and culture landscape in an accessible and meaningful way. All of this is offered for free, made possible through the generous support from our partner, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In the same way Bank of America Merrill Lynch has brought together members of Toronto’s finance industry for the last 70 years, we are proud to help create an inclusive environment in the city by making local cultural and performing arts available to all.

By coming together to create the Cultural Performing Arts Series, we can show that high calibre art can exist beyond traditional spaces like an art gallery or theatre - that it can exist anywhere, even within a busy marketplace and against a backdrop of graffiti on old brick walls. Here, we can explore what happens when an art performance is integrated into spaces we use for our daily lives, where people can stop to experience new ideas they may not otherwise have the opportunity to be exposed to, or simply to sit down with a friend to watch something fun and exciting.

On July 17, experience the next performance of this series. Citadel + Compagnie, an award-winning Toronto-based professional dance organization, will be performing A Man in Black, a four part ensemble of skilled dancers performing a choreographed dance to Johnny Cash music, all in cowboy boots. Evergreen’s Art, Exhibits & Interpretation Program Coordinator, Hannah Kemp, has coordinated the series and is especially excited to see it in action.

With these performances incorporated into public space, it’s exciting to think someone who has never experienced contemporary dance before – who may have never even thought of it – may see this performance and fall in love with an art form they were unaware existed.

The performance will be incorporated into Evergreen’s weeknight celebration, Summer Wednesdays, situated among picnic tables for you to sit back and watch the show with some delicious summer fare and an ice-cold drink in hand.

What better way to experience high-calibre performance art than gathering with friends to sing along to songs you know and love?

Visit the event page for more information on upcoming performances.