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Make A Joyful Noise Parade

Join us this Sunday for the sensational second Make a Joyful Noise Parade at East Lynn Park!  As part of the kick off to the Art of the Danforth, DECA is inviting kids and kids at heart to wear a crazy hat or costume, bring an instrument and join the 11 a.m. parade around the inside of East Lynn. The fabulous folks at Silly Goose Kids will have a few surprises on hand and Rebecca will be there with her face paints at the ready beginning at 10:30 a.m.

See you there!

WHAT? A Paint Fight In The Street?

If marching around a park making a racket isn’t enough rowdiness for you, then make your way up to the 10 minute paint fight. 100 gallons of paint. 200 people dressed in white, armed and anxiously waiting for their cue to hurl hues at one another…and 10 minutes later, they will each walk away a living, breathing piece of art.

Participants from all over Toronto will gather to participate in this free, family-friendly, energetic burst of creativity and fun that will kick start the second Art of the Danforth (AoD) festival.

What you need to join in the fun: Dress in white, wear goggles and be prepared to get messy!

MEET at the corner of Ladysmith & Danforth (one block east of Greenwood) at 12:30 pm to register. Paint Fight will begin at 1 pm sharp.

BE ON TIME OR MISS THE FUN!!

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How Can I Help?

Featured artist: Audrey Cooper

Art of the Danforth 2012 will be a month long festival that presents a variety of free public art displays and activities to, for and by the community of East Toronto. There will be more than 50 public and commercial venues along or within walking distance from Danforth Avenue, Greenwood to Woodbine from May 20 – June 10, 2012. The goals of Art of the Danforth are to:

•  encourage foot traffic along Danforth Avenue
•  increase community engagement
•  showcase local artistic talent
•  bring together people from various backgrounds, cultures and interests in the creation and appreciation of art.

Art of the Danforth is in the midst of recruiting volunteers to help out during the actual event.  If  you are interested in helping out, you can get more info and sign up at artofthedanforth.com

East Lynn Farmers Market

The East Lynn Farmers Market turns five this summer. In that time, every Thursday,  we’ve brought you fresh food, kids’ games, crafts, activities, music, and five festivals over the summer, including the fabulous movie-night-in-the-park and our strawberry-square-dance. A crew of seven volunteers – six women plus one grade school girl – have miraculously managed to pull this off for five years now, and they are feeling burnt out.

We need your help!

This summer, we’d like to have someone at our DECA booth every Thursday with community volunteers each on two-hour shifts, the first from 3 to 5 pm and the second from 5 pm to 7.

Manning the booth is easy and it’s a great way to meet

your neighbours. Your jobs would include: helping set up the kids’ play area and craft table; helping farmers with odd jobs; setting up the DECA table and answering questions. If you are on the later shift, you would also serve the farmers’ their dinner (volunteer cooks arrive with meals every week), and help take down both the DECA booth and the craft/face-painting areas.

Plus, you’ll be able to play on the giant Scrabble board Farmers’ Market devotee Shelley Darling has made this winter and try on our new broccoli costume!

If you’ve always wanted to help out and never found the right window, this is your chance.

Please email Catherine Porter at Catherine_porter(at)rogers.com. Let me know which Thursday from June 7 to October 25 you’d like to cover and which slot, 3-5 pm or 5-7 pm, and I’ll pen you into our calendar.

If you’d like to join the roster of neighbourhood cooks for the market this summer, email Shelley Darling at shelleydarling@yahoo.ca.

Thanks so much. We look forward to another amazing summer at the market.

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New Year’s Resolution: More Art

Volunteer Intake / Community Meetings in January

Are you interested in volunteering for Art of the Danforth 2012?   Want to know more about the event?  Please come to one of the following community meetings:

  • Tuesday, January 10, 7-8 pm at the Danforth Coxwell Public Library (upstairs), 1675 Danforth
  • Thursday, January 12, 8-9 pm LuSculpture Studio & Schools, 663 Greenwood Avenue

For more information, or if you want to volunteer but can`t make one of the above, contact Cindy at info@eastdanforthcreative.com

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Call For Artists – Art of the Danforth

Art in Stores, Community Workshops,  Street Performers, Collaborators

The 2nd bi-annual ART OF THE DANFORTH is a large-scale, multi-disciplinary art event held along Danforth Avenue from Greenwood to Woodbine.  Event dates:  May 20-June 10, 2012.

The goals for 2012 are:

· Bring community members together through the creation of art

· Increase the sense of history and engagement in the community

· Explore the aesthetic possibilities of urban space

· Increase pedestrian traffic on Danforth between Greenwood & Woodbine

AoD 2012 is inclusive and open to all forms of artistic practice.  Free public exhibitions of art in all mediums, site-specific installations and the popular Art in Stores program will run throughout the festival, May 20 to June 10, 2012.  Community workshops will be held leading up to and during the festival, allowing community members to participate in the creation of visual art exhibits and performances. On the final weekend (June 9 & 10), the art projects of the festival will be supplemented with free outdoor performances and activities.

We believe art is a powerful tool that can be used to forge new connections between groups and transform the social and physical space in which we exist. With this project, we want to survey “what is” (physical structures, cultural heritage and individual talents), and creatively explore “what could be.” We would like to distinguish this event from other art walks in the city by encouraging ideas that transform our shared spaces in creative, profound and/or whimsical ways.

Artist Opportunities:

All participating artists will be promoted  at www.artofthedanforth.com and in our event brochure.

 ART IN STORES: The Art in Stores component of Art of the Danforth matches artists with local retailers.  Selected artists will be partnered with a local store to present 1-5 pieces of their work in a non-gallery space. Non-paying.  Notifications of acceptance will go out at the beginning of February, 2012.  DEADLINE:  December 16, 2011.

PERFORMERS:  AoD is accepting proposals from performance artists (music, dance, you name it) interested in presenting work outdoors on the final weekend of the event (June 9 & 10, 2012).  Non-paying.  DEADLINE:  December 16, 2011.

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS: 3-6 artists or artist groups will be chosen to hold free arts workshops for community members of all ages and backgrounds on the weekends of the event. Workshops will be 1-2 hours long and may be in any artistic discipline.  We are taking proposals for one-time workshops or series of up to three.  Preference will be given to workshops which are accessible to participants of all backgrounds and skill levels, and which produce a display or performance that can be presented to the public as part of the AoD event.  Small honorariums available.  DEADLINE:  December 16, 2011.

 COLLABORATORS, A Piece of a City:  A neighbourhood-based curatorial initiative presented in Zone 2 (Coxwell to West Lynn Ave) as part of the large installations component of Art of the Danforth.  This project brings together a group of emerging and established artists to envision a series of site-specific installations and performances that address the interlocking themes of locality, community & contemporary art practice. For complete project and submission details, visit www.labspacestudio.com.  DEADLINE: November 15th.

Online and downloadable applications are available at www.artofthedanforth.com. 

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A Grand Thanks – Danforth East Arts Fair

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It goes without saying that the third annual Danforth East Arts Fair was a hit. Even Mother Nature cooperated by holding off on the rain so 50 artisans, musicians and food vendors could take over East Lynn Park for a wonderful community event.

It also goes without saying that these events don’t just come together by themselves. A core group of volunteers worked for nine months to bring it all together — and many, many more helped out in the days leading up to and during the fair. Thank-yous are in order. And so, without further adieu, we say thank you to the following amazing people:

For the past three years Mary Vallis has led this amazing initiative from concept to creation. She’s endured every headache and she deserves much of the glory.  But she most certainly did not do it alone.  A core group of people have been planning this event for a year including: Melanie Ramsay, Julie Glick, Fernand Ciraco, Heather Bell Denison and Honey Dacanay.

Postering: Mike Riley

Web support: Lesley Westheuser

Stunning graphic design (posters and ads): Marie Rampino and Andrea Crofts

Weekend volunteers: The aforementioned, along with Sheri Hebdon, Cindy Rozeboom, Paul the New Guy, Catherine Porter, Jessica Schmiedchen,  Lorraine Cheng, Anita Schretien, Eric Denison, Alison McMurray and more.

Countless more people also helped out — some of whom asked to remain anonymous, and others who we have likely inadvertently forgotten. Even so, we thank you too, and ask for apologies if we’ve made an oversight.

Next up, our sponsors: A huge thanks goes out to our media sponsor, Toronto Community News, as well as  De Serres, Toronto Hydro, Starbucks and the new Danforth toy store Silly Goose Kids, who provided free arts and crafts activities for children during the fair.

Most importantly, we’d like to thank each and every person who turned out to support the arts. You’re the reason there is an arts fair — you asked for  it, so we created it. Stay tuned for an even bigger and better show next September.

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Short and Long


O.k. I’ve got a long list of items and an awareness of short attention spans so I’m going to try to make these as short and sweet as a melty mint.

The final deadline to apply to be a vendor in the hugely popular and incredibly cool Danforth East Arts Fair is June 15th so act now to avoid disappointment!

Speaking of art and how freakin’ cool we are…The Art of the Danforth crew is well into organizing for spring 2012 and they need some volunteers…some now and some next May.  Right now Cindy needs a couple people to do 2-4 hours of internet research and/or 2-4 hours of walking the street to introduce ourselves to new stores.  In May 2012, they’re wondering if there are any adventurous souls/families who live close to Danforth who would offer up their front yards for art installations.  They would love to be able to offer curators a private residence as a potential installation site – dunno if they’d use it, but it potentially could be interesting.  If you are interested in either or both or none of those things, but want to talk to Cindy, contact her at info(at)eastdanforthcreative

Tomorrow is DECA’s Container Gardening Workshop from 2-4 p.m.  Don’t miss it. Don’t forget.  And don’t give me some lame excuse about your in-laws dropping over unexpectedly.  We’re also planning another full season of DECA Learns from canning to bicycles with some gardening thrown in for good measure. More on that in a future post.

Beatty Buddies daycare is a delightful little place in the basement of Earl Beatty Public School north of Danforth, east of Coxwell.  Earl Beatty is slated for full day kindergarten in 2012 and that is just one of the reasons why the daycare has formed a strategic planning committee.  The first thing it’s doing is a survey of you – the community.  So whether your kids are in university or in utero, please take a few moments to fill out the short survey.

Yes, the photo above is of a new place on the Danforth, east of Woodbine.

Yes, Target has announced one of its first Toronto stores will open at Shoppers World at Danforth and Victoria Park.

Yes, Goodlife is once again offering free memberships to teenagers for the summer.

Notes from the Community Police Liaison Committee

  • You can register your bike for free with 55 Division so in case it gets stolen, you could possibly, maybe, have a chance at, perhaps getting it back?
  • Bugaboo baby strollers are magnets for thieves and are being stolen all the time.  Lock them up.
  • Graffiti cleaners are heading out June 15 and 16 to remove graffiti in alleys, garages, mailboxes etc.  Contact Community Centre 55 at 416-691-1113 to suggest your unwanted graffiti location and they’ll try to send over a clean team
Rock On
Because your kids are lovin’ the rock and roll, you need to mark Wednesday, June 29th on your calendar and make your way to St. Brigid’s school yard for the Last Day Music Festival.  This year, featuring the pop sensation that is sweeping the pre-teen scene (seriously) Done With Dolls.  Also Chasing Sam, Colour Connection, Sugar Rush, Checkmate Sergei, Running From Jane, Marissa Dattoli and not just another cliche.  What are you going to do on the last day of school that’s cooler than that.  More details coming soon.
Thanks for sticking with me for the whole post.  Last but not least, DECA’s terrific Parks Team has scoured the neighbourhood for all things recreational and not so recreational and has come back with an amenities list that will amaze you.  The schools, the churches, the swimming pools, the services, the classes.  It’s fabulous.  Behind every one of those links was someone who walked the streets, make the notes, found the links and posted it.  Thanks to the Parks Team for a great piece of work.  Enjoy.