Celebrating Freedom on Toronto's Bloor Street one street corner at a time

 EMANCIPATION ON BLOOR STREET - AUGUST !st

Sunday on Bloor St - Sign Says It All - sweirsweir

Emancipation on Bloor

August 1st  1-3 pm

 

WHAT : Emancipation on Bloor is an animation of the Bloor Street Cultural Corridor from Yonge and Bloor to Christie and Bloor adding to the August 1st Emancipation Day activities. The animation takes place at key intersections on Bloor at Yonge, Bay, Avenue Rd, St. George, Spadina, Brunswick, Bathurst, Palmerston, and Christie Pits with a number of artistic expressions.

 

Emancipation on Bloor takes passersby through a series of “statements” through artistic expression including the liberation from chains, masquerade, spectrums of beauty, stereotypes, something of textiles, respect, resistance, and resilience.

 

WHERE:  Pannists will be stationed at the intersections mentioned above as an anchor for the “statements”. The “stage” for performers is located on the sidewalks along Bloor from Yonge to Christie in areas are that spacious to ensure passersby and artists can adequately socially distance.

 

We are asking the Bloor Street Corridor Collaborators to make their own “Statement of Emancipation” on the pavement at their respective intersections which will weave the artistic expressions down the road.

 

WHEN : Emancipation on Bloor will take place on Sunday August 1st, 1pm to 3pm. This initiative is led by A Different Booklist Cultural Centre in collaboration with the Festival Management Committee (FMC), and the Carnival Arts Community.

 

Why? Emancipation on Bloor commemorates an important milestone for descendants of Enslaved Africans marking the abolition of slavery and honours the many contributions and resilience of African peoples throughout the Diaspora. With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent declaration that August 1st will be recognized as Emancipation Day in Canada, it is important to mark this year’s Emancipation with a visual expression and statement.

 

WHO:  ADBCC - THE PEOPLE’S RESIDENCE - CONTACT SHANNON ASHMAN - 647 880 3072

 

How: Through a heritage instrument, statements on the sidewalk and portraits of Canadians.

 

Pannists stationed at intersections

 

1. Yonge & BLOOR -

2. BAY & BLOOR

3. AVENUE ROAD

4. ST. GEORGE 

5. SPADINA

6. BATHURST

 

7. Christie - Drums 

 

THE STORY - Through groups and animation

 

They Came BEFORE COLUMBUS - THE SCHOLARS  - Nigel Barriffe - Educators

Africa - Timbuktu is the seat of Knowledge - T-Shirts.

 

THE BEAUTY OF BLACKNESS - Nasa - 647 207 7395

 

THE ENSLAVEMENT PERIOD - Family - Yes - Nicole Osbourne - taking off chains at Christie Pits  

 

THE RAPE OF AFRICA  - Gold and Uranium - Akua 3-5

 

THE RESISTANCE  - SPIRITUALITY - Martin

 

THE RESILIENCE  - Carnival Masqueraders - Carnival public expression of emancipation

 

THE LIBERATION MOVEMENTS  - GROUPING

 

Rebellions - shirt short / hoe

Garvey movement - General

Pan-Africanist movement

Independence movement

Harlem Renaissance

Civil Rights movement

Rastafari movement

Black Lives Matter

 

Contact : Shannon at shannonashman@gmail.com

Or

Wendy@casper.wj56@gmail.com

Singing the praises of Guerrilla Market(ing)

Opera Singers Meat the Saturday morning St Lawrence market crowd
Cell phone photograph captures fleeting duet
While enjoying a cup of tea at the St Lawrence Market this morning, my people watching and the observance of the hustle and bustle of the building on a Saturday came to a stop when a butcher began singing -- opera style -- to a young woman laden down with her purchases. She too broke out in song. They were good singers -- too good to be butcher and a shopper -- and besides, the headset microphones gave it all away. I was accidental witness to 10 minutes of Guerrilla Market(ing).
Were they there to promote Toronto's Opera? Were they simply making an artistic statement that had some funding from the city owned building or from the cash rich Luminato Festival? Don't know. Haven't been able to find anything on line about the performance. I will have to wait until next Saturday and quiz Brown's Butchers (who lent a clean uniform to the male singer).
She sang a solo. He sang a solo.They sang a duet. It all ended when he presented her with a pea meal bacon on a bun. They melted into the wildly applauding crowd. No flyers. No explanation. But a lot of applause. Guerrilla Market(ing) without a cause.
UPDATE APRIL 17 - Three weeks after the above picture was taken, I returned once again to the Market on a Saturday morning. After buying a newspaper and a coffee in the basement of the south market, I came upstairs to the main floor and once again heard the sounds of the Opera. Singers and a keyboardist were hard at work entertaining the morning shoppers. This time the performers were more open about who they were - the auidence were given flyers to the Secret World of Og, an upcoming world premiere production of an opera based on a children's novel written by Pierre Berton. The performers? The Canadian Children's Opera Company. Not sure if the were the same group who staged the market(ing) stunt describe in this story.
CUT LINE: I used my cell phone to take a single picture of the singers in the market. What did they sing? Don't know. It was in Italian. Given the surroundings maybe it was an operatic version of an old Dominion store jingle: pricipalmente a causa della carne