The York Region Arts Council hosted The Artists’ Circle event at the King Heritage & Cultural Centre last night. Guests from all walks of the creative community gathered to re-connect and hear about the success of collaboration. Above, guests enjoyed a tour of the King Heritage & Cultural Centre grounds, including one of the works – Butterfly – from The Experience Trail Marker Project, designed by Indigenous artist Don Chretien. Below, from left, Narek Nersisyan, Holland Marsh Wineries’ head of sales and marketing, brought the good cheer and offered tastings; YR Arts Awards winners, from left, Yafang Shi, Aali Badihi, Alysha Rocco and Shadowpath Theatre (Alex Karolyi); and The Artists’ Circle Sharing Circle led by Jan Beaver, bottom centre with back toward camera.
If you’re looking for a sign that arts and culture is alive and well in York Region, you didn’t have to look any further than The Artists’ Circle, held last night at the King Heritage & Cultural Centre.
The inaugural event brought together painters, writers, dancers, filmmakers, curators, event organizers and venue hosts who spent a lively few hours making connections, hearing about what works best to build community engagement and enjoying each others’ company in person for the first time in more than two years.
The evening featured live interactive theatre courtesy of Shadowpath Theatre, a dance lesson in the gazebo led by award-winning choreographer Katya Kuznetsova, a keynote address by KasheDance Artistic Director Kevin Ormsby, The Artists’ Circle Sharing Circle and, a treat all by itself, food from Pimento Jerk Jamaican Food Truck.
“We’re thrilled with the number of creative folks who came out tonight,” said Monica del Rio Pain, program curator at the York Region Arts Council. “We have representation from almost all of the active arts and culture organizations in the region and they’re all pretty excited to re-connect with one another.
“There’s incredible power in co-operation and collaboration and we’re thrilled to be the hub of those collaborations, to bring folks together to create incredible experiences.”
Winners of the Silent Auction will be notified by email.
The event was made possible through partnerships with the King Heritage & Cultural Centre and Holland Marsh Wineries, with support from Tourism Vaughan, Long and McQuade Musical Instruments, the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites, Flato Markham Theatre, Coppa’s Fresh Market, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada and York Region.
While no date has been announced for the next installment of The Artists’ Circle, organizers advise it is something they’ll be working on.
