Register today for our upcoming panels!

On an abstract purple background three photos of a panel, dance performance and music performance with colourful lines near them.

The Gathering Divergence
Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2025
Now and for the Future: Steps Towards Dismantling Inequities in the Arts

May 21-23, 2025
Online and at East End Arts (Toronto, ON)

The Gathering Divergence Interdisciplinary Festival & Conference is a festival and conference with a specific focus on Indigenous, racialized, deaf, disabled and mad, women and other historically – marginalized arts communities. Held over 3 days, GDMAF/C features performances, literary readings, visual arts exhibition, panels, workshops and creative investigations from diverse practices. Join us online on May 21 and May 22-23 in-person at East End Arts (St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 2N3).

Geared towards meaningful conversations, professional development, sharing strategies, it encourages divergence across arts practices and collaboration. This year’s theme for Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference SPRING 2025 | Now and for the Future: Steps Towards Dismantling Inequities in the Arts. 

Upcoming Panels:

  • Who’s Talking About Advocacy in the Arts?: It’s Continued Importance (in partnership with Canadian Arts Coalition) – Wed. May 21 online via Zoom
  • Wellness for IBPOC Artists and Arts Organizations in a Sector of Continued Inequities – Thu. May 22 @ East End Arts
  • Stories / Strategies to Address Aging as an IBPOC Artist: What do we need to Consider? – Thu. May 22 @ East End Arts
  • Now and for the Future of the Arts Sector: Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Towards Pluralism (EDIP) in Action – Fri. May 23 @ East End Arts
  • Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: A Reunion of CPAMOPOC Organizations – Fri. May 23 @ East End Arts

Plus! Keynote speakers, workshops, exhibition and performances by Ana Luísa, Camille Fontaine, Bakari I. Lindsay, Robert Ball and more!

 

Tickets are $15 general admission and $5 accessibility pricing.

CPAMO is supported by the Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, Canadian Arts Presentation Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council, English Testing Canada, Barrett and Welsh, Sun Life and LeSage Arts Management.

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Save the date: The Gathering Divergence is May 21-23, 2025

 From left to right: text says save the date, CPAMO’s logo and an image of a dance performance

The Gathering Divergence
Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2025
Now and for the Future: Steps Towards Dismantling Inequities in the Arts

May 21-23, 2025
Online and at East End Arts (Toronto, ON)


The Gathering Divergence Interdisciplinary Festival & Conference is a festival and conference with a specific focus on Indigenous, racialized, deaf, disabled and mad, women and other historically – marginalized arts communities. Held over 3 days, GDMAF/C features performances, literary readings, visual arts exhibition, panels, workshops and creative investigations from diverse practices. Join us online on May 21 and May 22-23 in-person at East End Arts (St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 2N3).


Geared towards meaningful conversations, professional development, sharing strategies, it encourages divergence across arts practices and collaboration. This year’s theme for Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference SPRING 2025 | Now and for the Future: Steps Towards Dismantling Inequities in the Arts

We facilitate

  • an interactive space where arts organizations artists and attendees share
  • dedicated to advancing, visual arts and performing arts , while advocating for pluralism in the arts
  • dialogue on common interests, experienced and strategies towards a better more equitable and inclusive arts sector.

We believe

Systemic change is more effectively achieved through collective, creative action, and seeks to:

  • create, support and learn through open-source resources and toolkits
  • advance strategies to understand how we are influenced by issues of equity and digital technology in and out of
  • amplify the artistic practices and administration of IBPOC individuals

We aspire?

We hope that everyone arrives at a better understanding of the many ways in which we support, create from and within the Arts sector as indigenous / ethno-racially identified artists with a pluralist lens.


Stay tuned for the full schedule and registration in the upcoming weeks!

 

The Gathering Divergence Spring 2024’s schedule is available!

On an abstract blue and white background, on the left CPAMO's logo and on the right a photo of a workshop with 7 people sitting on chairs in a circle.

The Gathering Divergence
Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2024

June 4, 2024: Online
June 6-7, 2024: Nia Centre for the Arts & Online

The Gathering Divergence Interdisciplinary Festival & Conference (GDMAF/C) is a festival and conference with a specific focus on Indigenous, racialized, deaf, disabled and mad, women and other historically – marginalized arts communities. Held over 3 days, GDMAF/C features performances, literary readings, visual arts exhibition, panels, workshops and creative investigations from diverse practices. Held at Nia Centre for the Arts – Toronto’s newest multidisciplinary Arts centre.

Registration: General Admission: $15 | Accessibility Pricing: $5

Featured keynote:

  • Theresa Garrow
  • Alica Hall

Featured Panels and Workshops:

  • Understanding Ontario Not-For Profit Act and IBPOC Organizations
  • Outreach for Grassroots Arts Organisers: Finding Resourceful Ways to Reach Participants
  • Addressing and Visioning Beyond Precarity for the Arts
  • Impact of Technology on the Practice of the Arts
  • Building Partnerships and Strategizing Desired Outcomes
  • Public Imagination Network Imagining in Public – a creative approach to challenging questions
  • Art at the Heart: Sharing Strategies for an Equitable New Normal

Featured Artists:
Jing Xia, Thushara Premarajan, Sandeep Swaminathan, Theresa Garrow, Olga Barris,Therese Estacion, Zoe Marin, Abigail Whitney, Jesse Ryan, Maria Christina Cruz, Coco Murray and Helena Elueme.