This past weekend, UFTR’s When Brothers Speak shook down the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts in downtown Toronto. 2009 marks the 11th year this inspiring event has took place and the first year it has expanded out of Toronto with a tour date in Ottawa.
Organized by Dwayne Morgan (one of Format’s first features ever), and featuring Will Evans, Leviathan, Andrew Abraham, Mike Ellison, Marcus Jameel, and Future, this is the place to be for spoken word in Toronto, so if you missed this years event, make sure to take it in next year or subscribe to the UFTR newsletter for other upcoming event information.
Sleeping Giant was the location of Mad Love Industries first curatorial endeavor last Friday night. A crowd showed up to pay their respects to a some of Toronto’s top artists. We apologize for the lack of detailed images of the actual art, but check out the photos and the artist’s websites. These guys are all killing it in their own ways. Darryl Graham (low brow illustration), Harry Gils (photo), Dana Cowie(mixed media/paint), Jess Baumung (photo), Cody James Finney (illustration), Joel Lee (graph. design/photo), Vanessa Heins (photo), and Gordon Ball (photo). Read more »
The Manifesto Chapter 3 Art Exhibit video, shot and edited by Riel Roch Decter for apg3.tv arrived in our inbox today. Covering the 3-Floor Art Exhibition, as part of Manifesto, which took place in Toronto’s downtown area, the video provides an interesting visual review of the show that featured art by no less than 30 international artists…
One of the original minds behind creative evolution and social change prospects in Toronto’s Manifesto community projects is Che Kothari, noted photographer, social activist, organizer and more recently, tagged as the executive director of the Manifesto festival. This man navigates through life indefinitely dependant on the sentiments of peace, love, respect, unity and fun. These same sentiments play as the foundation of organizing and executing the third annual festival of community and culture. Manifesto is a non-profit grassroots organization working to unite, energize and celebrate Toronto’s vibrant and diverse music and arts community. Sprung out of a simple exchange of knowledge with friends, something special was born, a passion for building dynamic communities. This beautiful exchange rapidly manifested into Canada’s largest festival rooted in hip hop and urbanology. With a set of concrete ideas, the right resources, a torrent of dope volunteers and a vast amount of support from the people, the Manifesto family, in which Che is a key ingredient , brought this project to life, soaring with dance parties, b-boy battles, outdoor concerts, art manifestations, film screenings and plenty more.
We had a chance to converse with Che during his hectic schedule. Read more »
Toronto based electro-rap outfit Thunderheist has dropped this video for the infectious track “Little Booty Girl.” For more on Thunderheist, don’t forget to check out Format’s interview with Isis located here.
Award-winning, Toronto-based ad agency Dentsu Canada announced its innovative new outdoor gallery this week, which features a host of leading Canadian artists. D.O.G (Dentsu Outdoor Gallery) aims to showcase the very best that Canada has to offer, drawing from visual art in all its forms including but not limited to such disciplines as graffiti, mixed-media and photography. For more information on this great concept, Dentsu urges Torontonians to visit the street gallery, where giant banners are set-up in the heart of Toronto’s entertainment district on King Street West (King and Duncan). Eepmon, Seripop and Scott Hansen are just some of the artists included in this initiative… Read more »
Toronto’s own Show & Tell Gallery is setting up a pop-up shop at 107 Shaw Gallery. The pop-up shop will be selling prints by some of the most intriguing artists active in street art and contemporary art in North America today, including Vladimir Kato, Labrona, Rcade and Cody Hoyt. The shop opens on October 1st, 2009, and closes on October 22nd 2009, but prints are also available from the Show & Tell online shop. The amazing flyer you see above was created by Toronto street artist Rcade, whose work can be seen after the cut. Read more »
Following the hard-hitting collaborative effort titled The Les Kils EP and awesome work for the Mor Or Les album called The Truth About Rap – emcee More or Les and producer / engineer Fresh Kils are now set to celebrate the release of their latest video for “Pop ‘n’ Chips” which features Ghettosocks and Timbuktu. Tonight (September 9th, 2009), the duo will be taking over The Drake Underground in Toronto to host the video release party for the single “Pop ‘n’ Chips” – directed by Darrell Faria and produced by Mike MacMillan for Lithium Studios.
If and when you’re not reading the Toronto Blog on Format, take a minute to check out 1 Love TO. With a fresh logo concept (we see you NY!) designed by Bryan Brock and daily updates relating to Toronto’s urban arts, music, and culture scene, this is a must check/favorite for locals or anyone interested in the city.
