Interview with Jeanne Holmes, Manager of City Cultural Events, Programing (JH) and Pat Tobin, City of Toronto (PT) by Phil Anderson (PA)
Jeanne Holmes, Manager of City Cultural Events, Programing
PA: Do you think that people will flock to this year’s event after having the pandemic looking over their shoulder?
JH: City staff are so excited to be back in person for this year’s Nuit Blanche. Staff have been working with many of the participating artists for over two years, so seeing the projects finally coming to life this week has been special. If the public feels anything like the artists and the teams working with them, we suspect the return of the traditional audiences we’ve had in past years.
In our first post-pandemic live event, we encourage folks to experience the work in the ways they are most comfortable – if you’re keen on the art but less excited about crowds, 4am to 7am is a perfect time to plan your visit. There is also a fully virtual exhibition with a return of 20 AR / VR projects created for 2020, as well as a series of new works. These projects can be accessed – through the web portal and placed on sites and locations around the City – with your personal device.
PA: Can you tell us more about the theme THE SPACE BETWEEN US and how it came to be?
JH: Artistic Director Julie Nagam’s curatorial theme focuses on connections – between artists and public space, between artists and audiences and perhaps most importantly between artists themselves, who come from a diversity of experiences and backgrounds across urban, polar and Pacific landscapes. Her proposal reveals the space between us as a potential site for sharing knowledge.
People have always commingled with different communities and nations – building new homes, spaces and families that shift their relationships and connections to each other and to place. The artists participating in Nuit Blanche are disrupting and transforming space, making meaningful connections with each other and residents by transforming the city with their stories of place and building bridges between cultures and communities.
PA: Do you see this year’s event as being unique from others? If so, in what ways?
JH: Each iteration of Nuit Blanche is unique – with artistic interventions transforming new geographies each year. And while we return to some sites year over year, Nathan Phillips Square for example, the artists interpret the site with their work making it uniquely different every time.
This year’s Nuit Blanche is our most expansive event yet. More than 170 projects created by over 150 local, national and international artists. In addition to our downtown exhibitions, we have City-produced programming in three other neighbourhoods: returning to Scarborough around the Scarborough Town and Scarborough Civic Centre; animating two new sites in North York around the North York Civic Centre and Mel Lastman Square and a satellite project at the Aga Khan Museum); and South Etobicoke in partnership with Humber College.
PA: What do you hope that people can experience and take away from Nuit Blanche 2022?
JH: The collective and personal experience of seeing art in public spaces that are not traditionally occupied with art can be transformative. Seeing a storefront, you pass every day turned into a ball pit, viewing a film projected onto a screen made of water, walking under a series of inflatable sculptures in the mall you pass through every day, or even just walking down a street closure at 4 am on a roadway that is usually filled with cars, can all alter how you see your city. It allows the public to dream differently about the spaces they live and work in.
PA: How do you think Nuit Blanche has evolved over the years since the first one in 2006?
JH: The evolution of Nuit is reflected in the evolution of the city and its artists. This is an event truly supported by the citizens and the creators in Toronto. Many of the public who attend the event rarely go to galleries or museums so often are having their first experience with contemporary visual art on the streets and sidewalks of their own city. Many artists have had their first public showings or experiences making public art at Nuit which offers opportunities to expand what and how we create and see art.
The City has spent the past 15 years reducing barriers to access for the public – allowing audiences to experience work free of entrance fees and absent of the traditional rules of gallery spaces allows for a sense of confidence in their ideas about what art is and can be and perhaps most importantly seeing themselves and their stories in the work they are experiencing. This year’s Nuit Blanche is also our most expansive event yet, with more than 170 projects created by over 150 local, national and international artists.
PA: Are there any particular installations or projects that you are especially excited about?
JH: iskocēs: okihcitāw-iskwēw-kamik ohci (sparks/embers for the leading-woman-lodge) by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Interactive Installation, a Commissioned Project at Downtown
Embers/sparks for the female giants who came before, for the women who continue to lead the way – and for the sacredness of the sky-beings.
Daughters of the diaspora by Destinie Adelakun, a Photography Installation, a Commissioned Project at Downtown
A photographic essay that is concerned with the iconographic significance of women from the African diaspora.
Mana Moana by Michael Bridgman and Rachael Rakena, Video Installation, a Commissioned Project at Downtown
An artist-led collaboration between Māori and Pacifica visual artists, musicians, writers and choreographers to bring to life video through the water screen.
The Bentway & Exhibition Place, Confluence by Striped Canary, Installation at Downtown
A new artwork by Striped Canary (Stephen B. Nguyen & Wade Kavanaugh) (Maine, USA) with sound field by Anne Bourne (Toronto, Canada) below the Gardiner Expressway; October 1-30, 2022
Pat Tobin, City of Toronto
PA: Congratulations on Nuit Blanche 2022 and its expansion. What prompted the expansion of Nuit Blanche to North York and Etobicoke?
PT: In 2018 and 2019, Nuit Blanche had a very successful expansion to Scarborough. After that, we started looking at where else it made sense to expand, with the intent of bringing incredible public art to more of Toronto’s great neighbourhoods, especially outside the city core. We also decided to expand to celebrate the culmination of Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021-22. For Nuit Blanche 2022, we are anchored downtown running along Yonge Street, while retaining a presence in Scarborough, anchored at the Civic Centre and Scarborough Town Centre, and also expanding to North York and Etobicoke. Taken together, this represents the biggest Nuit Blanche Toronto ever with over 170 artists producing over 150 artworks.
PA: Is there a way to measure the economic impact of an event like Nuit Blanche?
PT: Yes. Like other major events, Nuit Blanche Toronto relies on the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries’ Tourism Regional Economic Impact Model (TREIM) to calculate the economic impact of the event. Since 2006, Nuit Blanche Toronto has generated more than $443 million in economic impact for Toronto, including millions of dollars in income for artists.
PA: Why do you think it is important for the city to play a role in creating events for its citizens?
PT: City-led cultural events are free, adhere to high standards of accessibility and are held in public space. As such, they remove barriers to cultural access and participation for Toronto residents. Perhaps no event does this more than Nuit Blanche Toronto, offering over 150 artworks spread across the city. Our public opinion survey research indicates that when people participate in cultural events, they feel more connected to their neighbours, their communities and their city. Participants at Nuit Blanche also report that their attendance at the event means they will be more likely to take in other arts and culture activities in the city. Finally, Nuit Blanche Toronto is hugely important for artists – providing them income, letting them take risks and realize their visions at new scales, and raising their visibility to aid in their career advancement.
PA: Years ago, we had Toronto Arts Week. Do you think it might make sense to bring back a week-long celebration of the arts?
PT: The City of Toronto is highly supportive of initiatives brought forward by the arts community and is always looking for new opportunities to engage the public in cultural activities. As an example, the City delivers Doors Open Toronto each year and supports the national efforts of Culture Days. Should there be interest in the general public and arts community to revive Toronto Arts Week or similar events, the City of Toronto would welcome that discussion.
PA: Events count on good weather. Though, in 2006, I recall it rained for the first Nuit Blanche and over 1 million people came. What do you think is the main draw for an event like Nuit Blanche?
PT: There are many reasons people attend Nuit Blanche Toronto, such as: to see amazing art in unexpected places; to occupy and celebrate public space; and, to participate in a huge communal experience. This year, as Toronto remerges from pandemic restrictions, there will likely be additional motivations, such as to celebrate the return to amazing collective experiences like Nuit Blanche Toronto and to support the amazing artists who are the lifeblood of Nuit Blanche Toronto.
*Nuit Blanche, October 1, 2022, 7pm – October 2, 2022, 7am