Toronto Public Library Celebrates Culture Days

Culture Days @ the Library Returns for a Second Year
Free activities at 33 Library Branches

TORONTO (August 28, 2012) – Starting in exactly one month today, over 40 free hands-on arts and culture activities will be offered at Toronto Public Library branches across the city of Toronto for Culture Days @ the Library. In partnership for the second year, the Library, the Neighbourhood Arts Network (NAN) and Culture Days are facilitating artists to bring their work out of the studio and engage directly with the public in neighbourhoods across the city during the Culture Days weekend on September 28-30, 2012. Most activities are family-friendly, and all are free and interactive.  Now in its third year, Culture Days is a pan-Canadian celebration of arts and culture. Visit www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/culturedays, opens a new window for a complete list of activities at Toronto Public Library branches. Or visit http://www.culturedays.ca/, opens a new window to search or browse for all Culture Days activities happening in Toronto and plan your weekend using the Bright Spots Schedule, presented by Sun Life Financial.

“Over 2,000 people came to Culture Days @ the Library events in 2011. This year, we will once again provide an opportunity for the public to interact directly with artists and to try their hands at various artistic forms and media. With accessible and welcoming spaces across the city, the library will once again be a showcase for our city’s wonderful artistic talent,” says Miriam Scribner, Toronto Public Library’s Senior Services Specialist for Programming and Events.

“My activity includes a belly dance choreography demonstration with an opportunity for participants to try out some moves! It is wonderful that Culture Days @ the Library offers this opportunity for me to share the exciting world of belly dance with the Toronto public,” said Evyenia Karmi, “This is my second year working with the library during Culture Days and it is so important to me to be part of a movement that celebrates local arts and culture across the whole country.” Evyenia Karmi presents her activity at Don Mills, opens a new window, Agincourt, opens a new window and Highland Creek, opens a new window branches. 

Other examples of Culture Days @ the Library activities include:

• BLOCK LETTERS - mapping for kids, opens a new window at Lillian H Smith Library. Award-winning artist-author Cybele Young and Small Print Toronto will lead “Urban Explorers” between 2-8 years old on a short guided walk around the library branch. Participants will then get to make books based on their observations.
• Capoeira, opens a new window @ Downsview Library. Muiraquita Capoeira presents a two hour workshop teaching the basic movements of this rich Brazilian art form, which interweaves music, movement, dance and oral history into a playful game.
• Eagle Thunder: Song of Hope, opens a new window at Kennedy/Eglinton Library. West Coast Tsimshian First Nations Artist/Educator Shannon Thunderbird and Artist/Musician Sandy Horne, along with TNT drummers Christine Pohlkamp and Kate Dickson lead the audience through Aboriginal song, drumming and stories.
• Discovering Webcomics!, opens a new window at Malvern Library. Webcomics offer a new and exciting platform for artists hoping to self-publish their works and share them instantaneously with an unlimited audience. Webcomic maven Jenny Zhan leads a free-for-all, DIY webcomic session where participants can create their own original comics and then upload them to a common webhost for the world to see!

About Culture Days

Culture Days is a collaborative, Canada-wide volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Launched in 2010, the annual Culture Days event takes place in more than 800 Canadian cities and towns during the last weekend of September, generating an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm in the process. This year’s Culture Days weekend will take place on September 28, 29 and 30, 2012. Once again, the event will feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes”—and to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community. To learn more, please visit www.culturedays.ca, opens a new window

Culture Days in Ontario is supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Government of Ontario in recognition of Celebrate the Artist Weekend. 

About Toronto Public Library

Toronto Public Library is the world's busiest urban public library system. Every year, more than 19 million people visit our branches in neighbourhoods across the city and borrow over 33 million items. To learn more about Toronto Public Library, visit our website at torontopubliclibrary.ca, opens a new window or call Answerline at 416-393-7131.  For all the latest buzz about the library follow us on Twitter @torontolibrary

About Neighbourhood Arts Network

Neighbourhood Arts Network is the place where arts and community engagement meet. NAN helps artists and community organizations do what they do best: enrich Toronto and transform it into a more vibrant, beautiful, and liveable city. We catalyze new relationships and conversations, collect research and share information. We envision a Toronto where all residents are empowered to discover and shape the cultural life of their communities. Neighbourhood Arts Network is a project of the Toronto Arts Foundation. To learn more, please visit www.neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org, opens a new window

For more information about Culture Days @ The Library, please visit http://www.on.culturedays.ca/, opens a new window

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For more information about Culture Days in Ontario or to coordinate interviews, please contact: