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| Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Artistic director | Naomi Campbell [1] |
| Festival date | 10 days each June |
| Website | Luminato Festival Official Website |
The Luminato Festival, Toronto's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, is an annual celebration of the arts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, launched in 2007. In its first decade, Luminato presented over 3,000 performances featuring 11,000 artists from over 40 countries and has commissioned over 80 new works of art.
Luminato was founded in 2007 by Tony Gagliano, executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, and the late David Pecaut, CM, senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group. [2]
Janice Price was Luminato's first CEO and remained in this position until November 2014. [3] Anthony Sargent was appointed CEO in May 2015 [4] and Celia Smith took over the role in 2020. [5]
Chris Lorway was the festival's first artistic director, from 2007 until 2011, and was followed by Jörn Weisbrodt, a German arts administrator and past director of Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, who held the role from September 2012 to June 2016. [6]
In July 2016, Josephine Ridge, former creative director of the Melbourne Festival and executive director of the Sydney Festival, was named Luminato's new artistic director, [6] staying until 2018. [7]
Naomi Campbell, who joined the festival as company manager in 2011 and was appointed its first-ever deputy artistic director in 2013, was named artistic director in September 2018. [7] Campbell held the role until 2023. [8]
| Iteration | Dates | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| 15th | October 13-17, 2021 |
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| 14th | June 11–13, 2020 |
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| 13th | June 7–23, 2019 | |
| 12th | June 6–24, 2018 |
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| 11th | June 14–25, 2017 |
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| 10th | June 10–19, 2016 |
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| 9th | June 19–28, 2015 |
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| 8th | June 6–15, 2014 |
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| 7th | June 14–23, 2013 |
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| 6th | June 8–17, 2012 |
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| 5th | June 10–19, 2011 |
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| 4th | June 11–20, 2010 |
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| 3rd | June 5–14, 2009 |
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| 2nd | June 6–15, 2008 |
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| 1st | June 1–10, 2007 |
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Luminato receives funding from sponsors, private donors, ticket sales, and various government agencies. In 2005, the Ontario Government committed $1 million in funding, which moved the project forward for the first festival. In 2008, the Ontario Government announced a series of strategic investments in the province's cultural industry. As part of that initiative, Luminato received $15 million, which was internally restricted by the board of directors towards commissioning future projects and securing first-performance rights from Canadian and international artists. [26]
In 2007, L'Oréal was announced as Luminato's "exclusive presenting partner." This partnership has since been presented under the banner "Luminato /L'Oréal: Partners in Creativity." [27]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO). The TSO's most recent music director was Peter Oundjian, from 2004 to 2018. Sir Andrew Davis, conductor laureate of the TSO, has most recently served as the orchestra's interim artistic director. Gustavo Gimeno is music director of the TSO, since the 2020–2021 season.
The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.
The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.
The Shaw Festival is a not-for-profit theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest repertory theatre company in North America, second only to Canada's Stratford Festival, located in Stratford, Ontario. The Shaw Festival was founded in 1962. Originally, it only featured productions written by George Bernard Shaw, but changes were later implemented by Christopher Newton and Jackie Maxwell that widened the theatre's scope. As of 2019, the theatre company was considered to be one of the largest 20 employers in the Niagara Region.
The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 by artistic director Hope Muir. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets, as well as the development of Canadian dancers and choreographers.
CJRT-FM is a Canadian public radio station and charitable arts organization in Toronto, Ontario, known as JAZZ.FM91. The studios are on Pardee Avenue in the Liberty Village neighbourhood of Toronto. The station describes itself as Canada's only 24-hour all-jazz radio station, with evening and weekend specialty shows devoted to jazz-influenced R&B, blues, big band and Latin jazz. It has a professional staff of on-air hosts, with more than 90 volunteers assisting. It is listener-supported and holds periodic on-air fundraisers, seeking donations to support the station.
Anne Of Green Gables – The Musical™ is a musical based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The book was written by Don Harron exclusively, the music by Norman Campbell and the lyrics in a joint venture by Don Harron, Norman Campbell, Elaine Campbell and Mavor Moore. The musical was Canada's longest-running musical, having been performed annually from its opening in 1965 until 2019, with the planned 2020 and 2021 productions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2014, it was officially recognised as the longest running annual musical theatre production in the world by Guinness World Records.
Alisa Palmer is a Canadian theatre director and playwright. She was the artistic director of Nightwood Theatre from 1993 to 2001. Palmer is currently the artistic director of the English section of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Robert Pomakov is a Canadian operatic bass.
The Magnetic North Theatre Festival was an annual festival celebrating theatre and related performing arts in Canada operated by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society in partnership with the National Arts Centre. The festival was held Ottawa every two years, with it being held in other Canadian cities in the alternating years. Other cities that have hosted the festival include Edmonton, St. John's and Vancouver. The festival offered not only productions and performances for the theatre-going public, but also workshops and seminars aimed at theatre students and theatre professionals.
Tony Gagliano LL.D. is a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, Canada's largest private communications company. St. Joseph is the publisher of many of Canada's magazines including Toronto Life and Fashion. Gagliano is President of the Art Gallery of Ontario and is co-founder and chair of Toronto's Festival of Creativity & Arts, Luminato. In 2009 he was appointed onto the board of the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games.
David Gordon Ben is a Canadian stage magician, sleight of hand artist, illusionist, author, publisher, keynote speaker, magic historian, magic consultant, magic collector and former tax lawyer.
Magicana is a Canadian federally incorporated not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the study, exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art. Magicana is governed by a volunteer board of directors. Julie Eng serves as Magicana's executive director and David Ben as its artistic director.
Ronald Pederson is a Canadian, Métis actor, comedian and theatre director who has worked extensively throughout Canada and in the United States. He has performed at most of Canada's major theatres including The Stratford Festival, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Arts Club, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Young Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soulpepper and The SummerWorks Festival. Pederson is an alumnus of Toronto’s The Second City and has also worked extensively in television and may be best known for his Canadian Comedy Award-nominated work and his three seasons on Fox Television's MADtv.
If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway — An Evening of Love Duets is a show conceived and directed by American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, which premiered on June 14, 2014 during Luminato in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The concert featured men singing classic love songs to one another, and included a full orchestra and performances by Wainwright and special guests Boy George, David Byrne, Josh Groban and Steven Page. Countertenor Brennan Hall, Brent Carver, Glen Hansard, Ezra Koenig and Andrew Rannells also appeared. The program featured songs written by gay men, including Noël Coward, Lorenz Hart, Jerry Herman and Cole Porter.
Jörn Weisbrodt is a German-American arts administrator, singer, and former artistic director of the Luminato Festival, Toronto's annual Festival of Arts and Creativity. He is currently the artistic director of ALL ARTS, a streaming platform and broadcast channel from WNET.
Don Shipley is one of Canada’s leading Artistic Directors, with an extensive career in Canadian and International theatre and the performing arts. He is known for leading the Arts and Culture component of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) (1961) is a Canadian playwright, director, actor, and educator based out of Saskatchewan, Canada. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She has contributed significantly to the creation and performance of Indigenous theatre in Canada.
Joel Ivany is a Canadian stage director and artistic director of Against the Grain Theatre in Toronto, Ontario and artistic director of Edmonton Opera. He is known for directing adaptations of the Messiah, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. Ivany is currently the program director for opera at the Banff Centre.
