Toronto knows a thing or two about activities, especially during the winter months. But after the craziness of the holidays, your wallet could definitely use a break. Luckily, this January, you don’t have to spend a penny to be able to enjoy some amazing activities around the city. We’ve rounded up the very best free events for you to enjoy.
Here are 15 free events to check out this month in Toronto!
Skating at Nathan Phillips Square
Grab your skates and head to Nathan Phillips Square where you can enjoy free daily skating as you enjoy the picturesque views of Toronto City Hall. Equipped with change rooms, washrooms, a snack shop, and skate rentals, this skating rink has everything you need for a quintessential winter day.
When: Open daily through March 22
Time: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: 100 Queen Street West
Price: Skating is free, skate rentals available on-site
DJ Skate Nights at Natrel Rink
Toronto’s hottest winter skating party is back for another exciting season with another stellar lineup of DJs that will bring the heat to your Saturday nights. Featuring house, R&B, soul, disco, soca, hip hop, dancehall, throwback, drag anthems, and pop, there will be music for every taste, and for every occasion.
When: January 11, 18, 25
Time: 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Where: Harbourfront Centre’s Natrel Rink
Price: Admission is free
The Bentway Skate Trail: Winter Season
The Bentway below the Gardiner Expressway is worth braving the cold for. Not only is there free ice-skating on the 220-metre, figure-eight skate trail (you may bring your own skates or rent for $10), there’s an on-site winter village that serves hot chocolate, drinks, and boozy beverages for skaters and spectators, while warming stations will help visitors get toasty before getting back on the ice.
When: January 6 through February 7
Time: Weekdays, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; weekends, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: The Bentway, 250 Fort York Boulevard
Price: Skating is free; skate rentals start at $5 for kids or $10 for adults
AGO Free Wednesday Nights
Free admission on Wednesday nights at the AGO has been a longstanding tradition for years and is a great way to get your culture fix. The popular initiative invites Torontonians and visitors the chance to spend the evening at one of the largest and most distinguished art museums in North America and get inspired by the incredible art displays and new and changing exhibits.
When: Every Wednesday night (January 8, 15, 22, 29)
Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West
Price: Admission is free
No Pants Subway Ride
The ‘No Pants Subway Ride’ returns to Toronto for another cheeky year. Hosted by the No Pants Society, the annual risqué event will be taking place simultaneously in over 50 cities around the world this month with the hopes of bringing a smile to commuters’ faces. Here in Toronto, the pantless ride will be be followed by a parade from Wellesley Station to a no pants dance party (location to be announced).
When: January 12
Time: 3 pm to 10 pm
Where: The ride begins at the CF Eaton Centre’s Dundas Street entrance
Price: Free to participate, but you’ll have to pay for your TTC ride
Mayor’s Skate Party
Celebrate the new year with Mayor John Tory and City Councillors at Kew Gardens for the annual Mayor’s Skate Party. Come on down to enjoy a fun afternoon that’s filled with music, hot beverages, and of course lots of skating. Even better is that skate rentals are free, too!
When: January 12
Time: 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Where: Kew Gardens
Price: Free
Winter Stations Presents: Loop
Leading up to the return of Toronto’s annual Winter Stations, event organizers are teaming up with the city’s Waterfront BIA to bring more public art to the city during the coldest months of the year. This month, Torontonians can check out ‘Loop’, which is an interactive retro-futuristic machine powered by the public. Visitors can hop on two at a time into one of the six illuminated cylinders and pump a lever to activate the lights and glowing images.
When: January 15 through February 18
Time: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily
Where: York Street Park (York Street and Harbour Street)
Price: Admission is free
Province Apothecary Mini Facials @ Detox Market
If getting your skincare game together was on your list of goals for 2020, then look no further. On January 16, head to the Detox Market flagship for your free Province Apothecary mini-facial that’s followed by relaxing accupressure point stimulation and education about your skin type. There are limited spots available so make sure you RSVP early so you don’t miss out on your best skin ever thanks to this free event.
When: January 16
Time: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Detox Market Flagship (116 Spadina Ave)
Price: Free
DesignTO
DesignTo returns to Toronto for its 10th installment this month to celebrate Canadian art and design. Over the past decade, DesignTO has grown from a collection of seven exhibitions and events to a ten-day Festival of over 100 free exhibitions and events throughout the city. You can find full programming details here.
When: January 17 through 26
Time: Varies by exhibition
Where: Venues throughout the city
Price: Over 100 exhibitions are free to the public (others are ticketed)
Toronto Light Fest
With the coldest and darkest days upon us, the city’s historic Distillery District will be the place to be for the fourth annual Toronto Light Fest. Bringing dozens of curated light installations and illuminated sculptures created by a number of local and international artists, the Toronto Light Festival should not be missed.
When: January 17 through March 1
Time: After dusk
Where: Distillery District
Price: Admission is free
Rom 3rd Tuesday Nights Free
The ROM is giving Torontonians the perfect reason to leave their homes this winter with the return of 3rd Tuesday Nights Free. During this monthly event, ROM guests will be able to explore art, culture, and nature in the museum’s 30 galleries and collections from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, completely free of charge.
When: January 21
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park
Price: Admission is free
Power Plant Opening Party
To kick off the 2020 winter exhibition season, Toronto art enthusiasts can check out a free party on January 24. Attendees will be amongst the first to experience new exhibitions by Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Dawit L. Petros, Naeem Mohaiemen, and Rashid Johnson. There will also be a cash bar available on-site throughout the evening.
When: January 24
Time: 8 p.m.
Where: The Power Plant
Price: Admission is free
The Mommonality MRKT
Experience the very first Mommonality MRKT to shop all sorts of goodies. It’s at this exciting market that you can shop over 40+ vendors from a wide range of categories including adult & children’s apparel, accessories, home decor, custom gifts, and lots more!
When: January 26
Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Mississauga Convention Centre
Price: Admission is free
Winter Fridays
Happening every Friday until February 14 at Evergreen Brick Works is Winter Fridays where you can make the most of those chilly winter nights. While we love cozying up at home with a movie and cup of tea, sometimes you just need a night out. At Winter Fridays you can skate for free, enjoy DJ performance, and food & drinks from food trucks.
When: Every Friday night (January 10, 17, 24, 31, February 7, and 14)
Time: 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
Where: Evergreen Brick Works
Price: Admission is free
Free Mindfulness Meditation
Clear your head with some free guided meditation. that’s happening every Monday at 6 p.m. until February 3. Located at Centre Place on Richmond East, the meditation is open to everybody regardless of your experience. While this event is totally free, a donation of at least $5 is suggested. If 6 p.m. doesn’t work for your busy schedule, you can still stop by until 8 p.m., although the guided part of the meditation ends at 7 p.m.
When: Every Monday night (January 13, 20, 27, February 3)
Time: 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Where: CentrePlace (320 Richmond St E – Unit 101)
Price: Admission is free
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Last week, the city’s most extravagant event took place at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.
The Power Ball: 21 Club, presented by Holt Renfrew, hosted a mix of the city’s taste makers and artists for a night of indulgence and excess. Each year, the Power Plant’s annual gala manages to out do itself, and this year was no different.
The space was transformed into an illicit speakeasy with hidden rooms, larger-than-life artist projects, drag shows, live performances, flowing cocktails, unlimited food, and so much more.
Throughout the night, guests explored rooms like a “Tron209” by Toronto-based aritst Bruno Billio, which made an ordinary room glow in the dark; “Sleeping Giants,” a large-scale inflatable sculpture by Max Streicher; a food speakeasy by Arthur’s Restaurant; DJs and dance parties; freshly shucked oysters served on a grand piano by Chase Fish & Oyster; and inventive cocktails by Spirit of York.
Of course, like each year, the event had all that and more to offer guests, making it an unforgettable night of great art, food, drinks, and friends. To match the lavishness of the night, guests dressed in their best and their outfits were just as imaginative as the party.
Take a peek at some of the best and most out-there outfits from the Power Ball 2019 event.
All images by George Pimentel for The Power Plant.
All images by George Pimentel for The Power Plant.
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Meet the People who were Chosen as Toronto
For this edition of “How I Got My Job,” we had the opportunity to talk to a woman behind a popular art gallery in Toronto.
Gaetane Verna has the dream job of art students everywhere. As the Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, she guides a team to bring the very best in contemporary Canadian and international art to the All Year All Free gallery program, helping artists gain the recognition that they deserve.
Prior to landing the role at The Power Plant, Gaetane Verna gained experience as an art historian, a curator, and an arts administrator.
While seeing artists flourish is one of her greatest joys, another project Gaetane Verna loves to work on is The Power Plant’s annual Power Ball, aka the hottest art party of the year. Each year, the party brings together Toronto’s notables and most stylish for an out-of-this-world event that raises funds for the gallery.
We had the opportunity to talk to Gaetane Verna about The Power Plant and what we can expect from this year’s Power Ball. Take a peek below!
When did you fall in love with art?
I’ve always been in love with art! Being interested and involved in the arts has been a big part of my life. I first played cello in an orchestra, and was also part of the corps de ballet of Ballet Ouest in Montréal many many years ago now! When I first began working with visual art, I was interested in working in an auction house, but soon realized that the study of art history, and then later curation and exhibition making, was my true calling. I was drawn to opportunities where I could enable artists to present their art to different audiences.
Curation requires research, planning and working closely with the artist to present their work to the public. Art history is key – by understanding the history and the socio-political context in which art is produced, viewed, and experienced, it enables us to deconstruct the visual codes imbedded in artworks, creating entry points into the artists’ vision and shining a light on the human condition — both past and present — in the process.
How did you land your position at the Power Plant?
Before taking up the post at The Power Plant, I was the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette in Lanaudière, Quebec for six years. And from 1998 to 2006, I was the curator of the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University, while also teaching in the Art History department of both Bishop’s University and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned in your career?
Be true to yourself no matter the circumstances and as Michelle Obama says, “When they go LOW, we go HIGH!” I always do what I say and say what I do. As such, honesty and empathy are paramount to me and they are at the core of my values and the values of the institutions that I have had the honour to lead. We never achieve anything alone, and I always surround myself with colleagues and collaborators that share the same values and passion for life and work that I have.
Lastly, work hard even if you think that no one is watching! The challenges are part of the learning and the journey.
What advice would you give to someone looking to get into your line of work?
If you want to curate exhibitions, see exhibitions, visit artist studios, study in Art History, read books, see movies, go to the theatre, read the newspaper, and listen to the news. Be a current citizen interested in all human issues. Having a knowledge of the issues of our current world is as important as understanding the work of artists from the middle age to our contemporary world. Forge your own ideas and determine the works of art that you are interested in defending and presenting. Find an institution that shares the same ideals that you hold true and work with people that are like-minded. Be bold and be passionate about your work and be self-motivated to share the work of artists with the audience regardless of its composition.
Who are some artists at the gallery that you’re excited about right now?
Just after our annual fundraiser Power Ball, taking place June 6, we will have our Summer Exhibition Opening Party on June 21 from 8 – 11 pm to celebrate our Summer Season. We’re thrilled to have Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige present their landmark series On Scams alongside the first solo exhibitions in Canada for German artist Mario Pfeifer and British artist Thomas J Price. All summer long we will present free public programming that encourages the public to engage with the exhibitions, including artist talks, tours, film screenings and our Sunday Scene series, which provides guest speakers from the world of contemporary art and beyond the opportunity to offer responses to our current exhibitions. Regardless of whether they choose to focus on a single work/artist or on multiple exhibitions, presenters nonetheless highlight intriguing connections between our programs and broader cultural and intellectual debates.
What is the Power Ball and why is it important to you?
Since its inception in 1999, Power Ball has thrived as a major fundraising event and evolved into Toronto’s most notorious art party, setting the standard as one of the most highly anticipated and influential art galas in Toronto.
Power Ball is vital to The Power Plant. As our annual fundraiser, it the engine that makes it possible for us to commission new works by artists, provide programming that empowers and encourages creative expression, publish catalogues on the exhibiting artists and circulate our exhibitions around the world. Admission to the gallery is free, so visitors may engage with the exhibitions as often as they wish and also take in exhibition tours, artist talks or other such events. We offer a range of programming that engages with visitors of all ages: from Power Kids as part of our family programs and Power Youth to film screenings and Master Classes with exhibiting artists and portfolio nights for our local artists.
We approach this event like we approach everything at The Power Plant: with presenting local and international artists as our priority. Keeping artists at the center of it all means including their voice at every level of the institution: on our board, as members, as part of our educational programming and as guests of Power Ball. We welcome artists to this event in part through our artist package initiative, which includes two Pre-party tickets and a donation enabling us to invite ten artists to partake in Power Ball and celebrate with other artists and guests from the vibrant arts and culture scene in Toronto and beyond.
What can guests expect from this year’s event?
For Power Ball: 21 Club, presented by Holt Renfrew, the entire gallery space will become an illicit speakeasy, where guests come into the shadows with us for a night of revelry by way of an immersive art experience. For the 21st edition of the event we were inspired by how people find creative ways to do things we’re told we’re not allowed to do, and took as our starting point prohibition in the 1920s. 21 Club therefore makes reference to the most infamous speakeasy from 1920s New York, but with our signature contemporary spin.
During the Pre-Party/VIP, local artist-designer-restaurateur Sarah Keenlyside will take partygoers on a spectacular journey that combines food and performance. Keenlyside will present her work Centerpiece (2019), a reimagining of the dining experience where the background becomes the foreground. Performances in collaboration with Ace Dance Theatre will transport guests into a space that celebrates the glorious dance of service, all while they indulge in exquisite cuisine by Man Ray Bar à vin, Restaurant La Banane and CXBO Chocolates.
We will also be presenting the work of a diverse group of local and international artists at Power Ball. This year, Toronto-based artist Bruno Billio will present an enlarged, immersive version of his Tron209 room, a work that engages with bygone visions of the future, specifically the 1980s movie Tron, by manipulating everyday objects and spaces with tape and black light. I’m also very much looking forward to seeing Mexican artist Chelsea Culprit’s commanding installation Tru Bruja (2018). In this work, Culprit plays around with the meaning of the word ‘witch’, critiquing its negative connotations while pointing to the powerful ways witchy women continue to disrupt social norms. And though it might seem paradoxical, prohibition in the early 1920s was a rich time in history for drag culture — both drag kings and queens performed regularly. In fact, until the repeal of prohibition in 1933, when speakeasies were forced to close and Nazism and Hollywood homophobia drove gay subcultures even further underground, so-called “pansy clubs’” flourished in major cities across the United States. To acknowledge and honour this history, we are engaging Toronto’s diverse LGBTQ community through a series of drag and burlesque performances curated by Tobaron Waxman of the Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency. Carlotta Carlisle, Tynomi Banks, Drag King Flare, Gay Jesus, and Dainty Smith and Imogen Quest of Les Femmes Fatales Burlesque will strut, sashay and strip their way across the stage. Guests will also experience a special, site-specific installation by Two-Spirit, Métis, disabled artist Michel Dumont, an alum of the Residency. It is our way of remembering that in 2019 we pay homage to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and Riots, which saw members of the LGBTQ community rise up against harassment from the police in Greenwich Village in New York City. These riots are widely known as the birth of the modern LGBTQ movement in the United States.
There will be many other surprises at Power Ball and guests should always expect the unexpected with the art, the food, the drinks, the music and a true Toronto celebration. Join us on June 6 when all will be finally revealed!
Day to day, we put on our regular clothes and go about our normal lives, but sometimes you just get into the mood to spice things up.
We don’t always have fancy events to attend like holiday parties or weddings, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make yourself opportunities to get dressed to the nines.
Whether you’re into themed events, or just want to dust off that suit or dress you have sitting in your closet, these summer events are worth getting dressed up!
Power Ball: 21 Club
We love our wonderful city, but Toronto living can get pretty expensive. You get a lot, but you pay a lot, too. Luckily, this January, you don’t have to spend a penny to enjoy some amazing activities around the city. We’ve rounded up the very best free events for you to go to with your family, best friends, or significant other:
1. Get Your Skate on at The New Bentway Skate Trail
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This much-anticipated skating trail under the Gardner Expressway is finally open to the public. Rentals may cost you an extra $10.00, but the skating is completely free. Don’t miss out on BEATS AND BENTS Friday Night Skate Parties, featuring one of the hottest DJ’s spinning tunes all night long.
2. Take a Stroll Through Allen Gardens
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Pretend you’re in a tropical rainforest in this oasis in the middle of the city. Take a warm walk through the different sections of flora and explore six greenhouses, featuring the historic, glass-domed Palm House. It’s also the perfect backdrop for bloggers and photography enthusiasts.
3. Check Out Toronto Light Fest and See Unique Installations
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Take a romantic evening stroll through the Distillery to check it all out. From January 19th until March 4th, The Toronto Light Festival will be shining brightly, with works from local and international artists. Expect a lunar eclipse, a new micro-distillery, a fire-breathing dragon, a pyramid, and so much more.
4. Get Cultured at the AGO
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Wednesday nights at the AGO are completely free! Spend your evening at one of the largest and most distinguished art museums in North America. Get inspired by the incredible art displays and new and changing exhibits.
5. Catch a Concert With The Canadian Opera Company
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Listen to the incredible sounds, presented by the Canadian Opera Company, at the Free Concert Series. Discover established and emerging artists while enjoying a live performance in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.
6. Check out the Toronto Design Offsite Festival (TO DO)
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Enjoy 100 free design events, exhibitions and window installations across Toronto. The festival is all about bringing people together to celebrate contemporary culture. If you love design and art, this is definitely something you should check out.
7. Winter at Ontario Place
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A festival dedicated to all winter activities is taking over Ontario Place this season with free admission. Make sure you see the Winter Light Exhibition, with 12 illuminated exhibits by local artists. Highlights also include ice skating, a bonfire, watching movies at the Cinesphere in IMAX®, hiking the Trillium Park and William G. Davis Trail and viewing the Illuminated Island.
8. Admire The Public Art Installations With Ice Breakers
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Starting on January 19th, stunning works of art will be displayed around the city. Discover and explore the five different art installations located around Queens Quay West this winter.
9. Learn More with Digital Innovation Hubs
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If you’re looking to expand your mind, register for free workshops with the Toronto Public Library. They’re offering incredible classes like 3D printing, Photoshop, Web design and more!
10. The Power Plant: Winter 2018 Opening Party
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To kick off the 2018 winter exhibition season, there will be a FREE party on January 26th! Be amongst the first to experience exhibitions by Kader Attia and Emeka Ogboh, and view the progression of Michael Landy‘s continually evolving Fleck Clerestory Commission Project. Free admission to the gallery all year round.
Featured image: Instagram/@dewucme
Are you going to check out any of these free events this month?
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