All in Arts Commons Presents
On November 20th the first TD Amplify Cabaret of the 2021-22 season launches in the Engineered Air Theatre at Arts Commons. After almost two years of quiet venues, dark dressing rooms, and an infinite number of Zoom shows, the anticipation of live performance is palpable––and for the inaugural artists of the TD Incubator Program, even more so. Here’s a peek behind the curtain at the performers who will be lighting up the stage Saturday night, and the curators who brought it all together.
This November, Arts Commons’ TD Amplify Cabaret series is back, but this year the series is taking a bold new step. Under the artistic helmsmanship of the Arts Commons Incubator Fellows, Jae Sterling and Contra, the evening will feature multidisciplinary artists from the program as they explore the theme of existence in liminal or limbo space.
If you haven’t heard of blues band GA-20 out of Boston, MA, that’s about to change. When duo Pat Faherty and Matthew Stubbs were joined by drummer Tim Carman in 2019, they quickly rose amongst the ranks of Blues names-to-know. With their debut album Lonely Soul premiering at number two on the Billboard blues chart and follow-up record Live: Vol. 1 hitting number one the following year, they’re a band that knows how to mix the perfect combination of classic Blues with 50s/60s era Rock & Roll to a modern standard.
This past August, we celebrated the return of live performance with Showtime: A Live Music Celebration. The beautiful Olympic Plaza hosted 1500 socially distanced friends, patrons, and donors who gathered to celebrated a love for the arts.
Long-time patrons of Arts Commons, as well as avid supporters of the arts, Rodney and Karen McCann along with their family, wanted to find a meaningful way to give back to our essential workers who have given so much to get us safely through the pandemic. The idea that they came up with, in collaboration with Arts Commons, is the Season of Gratitude program which aims to bring essential workers to productions by the Resident Companies of Arts Commons.
“I like to say that I’m 107 years old in musician years,” says Miss Emily with a smile. “I’m actually 39, which I normally wouldn’t say but it's an important piece of the puzzle.” Kingston Ontario native and best new blueswoman on the block has been performing her evocative music for over 16 years, but to Toronto musicians and blues appreciators alike (just two hours down the road from Kingston) she just sort of dropped out of the sky.
Summer is unquestionably here with record-breaking hot weather that has found many of us looking to beat the heat with a dip in the closest body of water or lounging in the shade of our favourite park. When you’re not taking refuge from the sun, you’ll definitely want to check out the latest line-up from the Arts Commons Presents series: ArtsXpeditions! Taking the performing arts outdoors for the second year in a row, the local artists of ArtsXpeditions will be performing everything from flamenco and jazz to Indigenous drumming and even a DJ spinning electronica. ArtsXpeditions is popping up in every quadrant of the city––maybe even at a park near you!
