Jean-Michel Basquiat took the New York City art world by storm in the early 1980s and gained international recognition by creating powerful and expressive works that confronted issues of racism, identity and social tension. Although his career was cut short by his untimely death at age 27, his groundbreaking drawings and paintings continue to challenge perceptions, provoke vital dialogues and empower us to think critically about the world around us. Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time marks the first major retrospective of the artist’s work in Canada and will feature close to 85 large-scale paintings and drawings from private collections and public museums across Europe and North America.

Guest-curated by renowned Austrian art historian, curator and critic Dieter Buchhart, the AGO’s exhibition will be the first thematic examination of the artist’s work. Inspired as much by high art — Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism — as by jazz, sports, comics, remix culture and graffiti, Basquiat translated the world around him into a provocative visual language.

An AGO-produced exhibition catalogue will be available in English with excerpts from Olivier Berggruen, Francesco Pellizzi, Glenn O’Brien, Christian Campbell and Franklin Sirmans.

February 7 – May 10, 2015

For more information and tickets: www.ago.net/basquiat

Young, Gifted and Black is a “live” music showcase and summit that focuses on multi-genre musical expression from African-Canadian youth. Event participants, performers and attendees will have the chance to: gain leadership skills in the Canadian music sector; connect with established African-Canadian music executives; provide meaningful networking opportunities for youth talents; all while enjoying a positively Afro-Diasporic multi-genre (i.e. rap, reggae, R&B/soul, gospel, electronic, African) music concert. 

The Battle of the Bands-styled “live” showcase component will support a select number of black youth musical talents, across music genres, by encouraging self-esteem development and “discovery”.

The “Passing the Torch” Summit component of the event will provide select musicians a tangible opportunity to connect directly with experienced African-Canadian music industry executives through an interactive speed-dating styled activity. They will get 10-15 minutes one-on-one with a high level Songwriter, DJ, Manager, Agent, Producer, Publisher, A&R, or Music Festival Producer. 

Date: February 27, 2015 at 9 pm

Location: The Rivoli 334 Queen St. W. Toronto ON

Involving the industry’s major stakeholders, Equity In Theatre (EIT) is a new and inclusive initiative designed to help redress gender inequities in the theatre industry. Although women form the vast majority of theatre school graduates, support workers, amateur practitioners, and audience members, when it comes to key creative roles in the sector (e.g. AD, director, and playwright), their numbers diminish substantially, dropping below the 35% marker. With funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Trillium Foundation, EIT will work for change: fostering dialogue, generating greater awareness of and exposure to Canadian women practitioners, and developing community actions to help rectify industry imbalances. This will be achieved via a multifaceted and multi-partnered response involving the national community as a whole. To learn more about the EIT project, click here, “like” us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

The Equity in Theatre website (www.eit.playwrightsguild.ca) will be up and running by April 2015. It will serve as an informational hub, and it will also house a myriad of items, such as a calendar of events, an equity tool kit, a resources listing, and more, including a database of women theatre practitioners (that way, when ADs and producers say they don’t know of any women playwrights or directors, there’s a website they can visit to get to know some). If you identify as a woman theatre practitioner, make sure that you are included in EIT’s database of Canadian women theatre artists, which will provide a resource for the larger community. To do so, click here: https://playwrightsguildcanada.wufoo.com/forms/z11j6i4t1p0ogz7/

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rebecca Burton (rebecca@playwrightsguild.ca) or Jennie Egerdie (admin@playwrightsguild.ca) at PGC by email or phone (#416-703-0201).

On Sunday, March 8, 2015 help celebrate International Women’s Day by hacking the internet! Increase women’s visibility in the arts by adding pages and sites on women in Canadian theatre to online Wiki pages. You can participate from the comfort of your own home, or attend one of the host locations set-up across the country. For more information, and to register for this event, visit the EIT Hackathon website: https://equityhack.wordpress.com