The Barns Art Market is back! We are calling all artists, creatives and makers!
Artscape Wychwood Barns is hosting a BAM Holiday Art Market on Saturday November 27, 2021 in Barn 2. The market is intended to support the widespread talent across the Artscape buildings and the community. We invite any members of our tenant and owner community to take part of the market covering all art and craft practices.
Where?
Artscape Wychwood Barns, Barn 2, 601 Christie Street, Toronto ON
Who can participate?
All Artscape Tenants and Owners are welcome to apply as a vendor. This market is prioritizing the talent within the Artscape community. There will be 20 vendor booths designated for Artscape and 5 vendor booths for community artists. Artscape members will be selected on a first come first serve basis. The community artist/makers will be juried.
Is there a fee for the space?
The registration fee to participate is $75.00 + HST
Fees will be collected once confirmation of participation is sent and approved. Additional fees for table rentals may apply.
Application Deadline: Friday October 29th, 2021 11:59PM
All applicants will be contacted by November 8th with a confirmation email and next steps.
The health and safety of our tenants, owners and guests are of the upmost importance. Vendors and guests to the market will be required to follow strict COVID-19 Guidelines as directed by Toronto Public Health including proof of vaccination for all vendors, clients and staff. For more information, please visit: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/
For more information on the market please contact Olga Schellenberg, Hub Manager of Artscape Wychwood Barns: oschelleberg@artscape.ca or 647-244-8365
WBCA Farmers’ Market Update
The Winter 2020-2021 COVID edition of the Farmers’ Market has ended for the season. Thank you to the Wychwood Barns Association for operating the market over the last few months!
Details for the Spring/Summer market will be shared shortly.
Reach out to your favourite farmers, vendors to learn what’s next :
The Wychwood Barns Community Association is thrilled to be supporting the indoor Farmers’ Market at Artscape Wychwood Barns this season. Featuring a rotating roster of vendors, the market will be open on Saturdays, starting this Saturday, November 7th, from 8:00AM to 1:00PM until the Spring (unless otherwise noted and further COVID restrictions are put in place).
Important Information:
Please enter through the courtyard on the South side of the Barns
Masks are mandatory
Capacity is limited
We’re looking forward to seeing you!
Update from the Toronto Garlic Festival 2020
Garlic virtually stinks at the 2020 Toronto Garlic Festival September 19 and 20.
Due to ongoing COVID-19 health concerns, the Toronto Garlic Festival will not be held at Artscape Wychwood Barns this year. The festival has pivoted to a virtual garlic harvest celebration with the online Garlic Map for consumers to find local garlic for sale, Instagram Live garlic culture talks and cooking demos, and Facebook Live music performances.
We are deeply saddened and angered by the recent news of police brutality, racism, and violence happening in the U.S. and Canada. Artscape stands in solidarity with our Black employees and community of creators in raising our voice to say that Black lives matter. We are all indebted to the activism, art and cultural contributions of Black creators. As an organization whose core values align with community, we have a responsibility to use our platform to share info and resources that combat racism, hatred and discrimination in our society.
Actions we can take to help support the Black community:
Donate to the BLM movement, national bail funds, and the families of those affected by police violence
Get involved with a local BLM chapter
Make a conscious effort to consume and support Black art and patronize more Black-owned businesses
Engage in these important, and often difficult conversations within your own circles on dismantling white supremacy and anti-blackness, and learn about how racism often operates unconsciously through implicit biases.
We encourage you to use your voice to let our governments, our police forces, and our fellow citizens know that racism will not be tolerated, and systemic change needs to happen now.
Children’s Arts Studio located at Artscape Wychwood Barns, Studio 162, is offering a $100 discount for Art & Yoga Summer Camps 2020! Register now at childrensartstudio.ca or contact info@childrensartstudio.ca
Rebirth Launches b current’s New Vision
b currentperforming arts, a theatre company producing work by and about the Black and Brown diaspora, based at Artscape Wychwood Barns, welcomed Catherine Hernandez in 2017 as its new Artistic Director. We chatted with Catherine about her experience taking the reins and the company’s current season, Rebirth…
What’s it like becoming the new Artistic Director of an established company like b current?
It has been a fantastic experience. I’m focusing on us doing fewer things, but doing them really well. There are always challenges with a small company—not enough staff, not enough room in the budget—but we’re working with what we have to grow the company and turn the page to a new chapter of b current’s development.
You recently announced your emerging artist performing ensemble. What’s in store for this group of emerging artists?
This is a really exciting initiative. Everyone accepted to the ensemble is from the black and brown diaspora, and has had the experience of being racialized in a larger theatre or other educational institution. Everything about our program will ensure they are honoured for the way they are telling stories, using their bodies and in general sharing cultural experience as they advance their work. There are two streams to our bcHUB program: Emerging Artists, and the youth ensemble at St. Margaret Public School in Scarborough, which we connected with originally through the East Scarborough Storefront. This is a fantastic school in need of an arts curriculum; we’re looking at working with Grades 6 and 7 on storytelling. The program will take whatever shape the participants give it—we’re there to listen to what the community wants. Based on the community’s priorities, the program will have an inter-generational focus, with participants interviewing and interacting with elders in the community, doing theatre and improv work to tell stories, incorporating objects, recordings, mask work and anything else that is interesting to them.
Tell us about your Long Table Series — a dinner party to support b current?
Long Table is about raising funds for b current while creating outreach to the community. We kicked off Long Table for Black History Month 2018, inviting B. Denham Jolly to discuss his memoir My Life in the Black in which he writes about his career as a publisher, broadcaster and civil rights activist. I made a huge gourmet dinner for 30 people, seated at one long table. We talked about what it means to be an activist in the black community and how to find the fire to keep going. It was an amazing night and helped us to raise funds for our St. Margaret PS program. We plan to have two or three of these events per year.
Why is your current season called Rebirth?
B current has a 26-year history, which really is a beautiful dream come true for the company’s founder, ahdri zhina mandiela.
With Rebirth, I wanted to distill our season to one to two productions, a residency program and a youth training program. We have moved away from the company’s past rock.paper.sistahz festival format and we’re embracing a new rock.paper.sistahz artist residency model under the mentorship of Banff Playwright’s Lab’s Brian Quirt, to ensure that artists have a prolonged amount of time to develop their work. So far, the feedback has been great—our last residency artist, Makambe K Simamba, was from Calgary and felt truly supported. Since her play deals with police brutality against Black youth, we were thrilled to support this emerging Black theatre artist by paying for her time to develop her work alongside the award-winning Audrey Dwyer.
___
Catherine Hernandez, Artistic Director of b current, is a theatre practitioner and the author behind M is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and the award-winning, Scarborough. To learn more about b current and its upcoming productions, visit bcurrent.ca.
Holiday Hours
The Artscape office will be closed December 23 and will reopen on January 2.
The building will remain open from 9am-5pm everyday except for December 25 and January 1.
Take a look at our Upcoming Events page to see what is happening at the Barns over the holidays and into the New Year!
Wishing everyone a safe and happy holidays!
We’re Hiring!
Artscape is currently seeking three Venue Supervisors to join our Daniels Spectrum or Artscape Wychwood Barns teams. This position is ideal for individuals committed to excellent customer service who thrive in a fast-paced environment. Venue Supervisors provide safe, welcoming and successful events, ensuring that clients’ experience is positive.
The Artscape Wychwood Barns or “The Barns” as they are known, was originally built in 1913 as a streetcar repair facility for the Toronto Civic Railway (TCR). At the site’s busiest point there were five barns which could house 50 streetcars with spaces for an additional 110 cars in the five acres surrounding the facility. The structure was built with utilitarianism in mind and is considered to be a prime example of the classic revival industrial style.
During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the Wychwood Barns was one of the most important transit facilities in the city. When the Toronto Transit Commission took over the space in 1954 however, its future was in doubt: the TTC was considering phasing out the use of streetcars. In 1978, the Wychwood Barns were decommissioned. Although used briefly as a testing and development facility, the barns ultimately began to fall into disrepair.
Thanks to the hard work of Councillor Joe Mihevc and a group of dedicated individuals, they saved the Barns and helped turn it into what it is today – a community cultural hub and multi-faceted complex where a dynamic mix of arts, culture, food security, urban agriculture, environmental and other community activities and initiatives coexist.
Read the entire case study on the Artscape DIY page here.
