Multiculturalism Day
on The Esplanade
June 27, 2021
"The Wedding" is a three-part project that invited professional artists and members of The Esplanade community to explore what a mixed-culture wedding looks like (PART I), what are the emotional triggers of wedding ceremonies (PART II) and the emotional roller-coaster of wedded life (PART III). Part I was filmed on June 27th as a celebration to Canada Multiculturalism Day, Part II in July and Part III in October - all filmed as a one-shot, at the heart of The Esplanade community - David Crombie Park.
With Part I of this wedding you will see, we explore different ceremonial traditions, based on the artists and participants' own cultures. Amongst other traditions, we brought together a Brazilian procession, a Chinese tea ceremony, an Indigenous blanket ceremony, and an Albanian shami burning dance. Even though it is now considered normal to recognize each other’s cultural heritage, do we actually celebrate and acknowledge intercultural mixing, and if so, how? Can we bring our cultures together while retaining our cultural traditions, our sense of identity and uniqueness?
"The Wedding" is an invitation to explore these questions, together.
Check out the full series HERE.
Produced and presented by:
A PROJECT SUPPORTED AND FUNDED BY:
Government of Ontario
ShowLoveTo - City of Toronto
Canadian Stage
St Lawrence Neighbourhood Association
June 27, 2020
On June 27th 2020, the community of The Esplanade came together to celebrate Canada's Muliculturalism Day, funded by Canadian Heritage and Canada Council for the Arts, and in partnership with Canadian Stage. We treated the audience with a beautiful performance bringing to life a series of eight visual portraits that were created as part of Wind Stories.
A unique way to share and celebrate each other stories.
FEATURED ARTISTS: Ashima Suri, Jonelle Sills, Jeremiah Sparks, Michael Caldwell, Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony, Sue Croweagle, Heidi Chan, Raha Javanfar, with hosts Ryan G. Hinds & Indrit Kasapi.
Photos and videos: Laura Dittmann
June 27, 2019
In 2019, in the context of multicultural day, Jamii brought together three visual artists who were invited to capture the diversity of the people of the Esplanade with live portrait drawings. Accompanied with lively music and cultural stories this event was a celebration of the rich cultural fabric of our community.
Visual artists: Alicia Herbert, Alison Garwood-Jones, and Andrew Patterson worked on capturing people through portraits encapsulating the beauty within us in their own artistic style.
Live performances from:
Haitian storyteller Djennie Laguerre
Indigenous storyteller Jim Adams
Québécois musician and singer Valérie Descheneaux
Syrian violinist Iman Abdul Razzak
and Albanian theater director Indrit Kasapi
Visual artist Alison Garwood-Jones also wrote a blog post about our event read it HERE.
In partnership with Théâtre Français de Toronto and CORPUS.
With the support of Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage and Ontario Arts Council.
Photos by Gillian Mapp