Wide range of dynamic and culturally diverse programming kicks off on Sept. 22!

“Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre [is] a new cultural hub at 585 Dundas Street East, which kicks off its inaugural season on Saturday, September 22, 2012 with a public Open House. Artscape, Toronto Community Housing, The Daniels Corporation and members of the local community have partnered to develop the innovative 60,000-square-foot, purpose-built facility. Designed by the award-winning Diamond & Schmitt Architects, the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre will be the newest addition to downtown Toronto’s thriving cultural landscape. Complete event details and information are available on the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre’s newly-launched website, www.regentparkarts.ca.

An Open House from 12:00 to 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 22 will offer an opportunity for the public to enjoy performances, explore the facility and meet the new tenant organizations. From 1:00 to 9:00 PM on Sunday, September 23, the Centre’s Courtyard will be the venue for the revival of a long-standing annual community tradition, Block-O-Rama. A free, family-friendly event, Block-O-Rama is led by the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre’s Youth Sub-Committee and celebrates the neighbourhood’s spirit with food, games and live performances by local talent.

“We are guided by a set of shared values that inform our programming and underpin the way we work together and with the community,” says Tim Jones, President and CEO of Artscape, the non-profit organization responsible for the ongoing operation of the Centre. “By integrating and celebrating the cultural richness of the city of Toronto, the Centre plays an important role in creating a socially inclusive, livable, healthy, safe and vibrant neighbourhood.”

The Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre’s fall calendar encompasses a wide range of culturally-diverse performances, celebrations, public and community events presented by several of its dynamic tenant organizations — ArtHeart Community Art Centre, Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), COBA Collective of Black Artists, Native Earth Performing Arts, Regent Park Film Festival, Regent Park School of Music, and Pathways to Education Regent Park CHC, as well events hosted by clients from the community and beyond: Regent Park Focus, Culture Days, Manifesto, Why Not Theatre, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, DiverseCity, the Canadian Opera Company, SpeakOUT, and UforChange, among others. The Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre works with grassroots community groups and not-for-profit organizations on a subsidized rental model to ensure that there is affordable access to programming and event spaces.”

For more information about the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, please visit www.regentparkarts.ca

-posted with permission from Luisa Trisi, Big Picture Communications