Pride Toronto announces unprecedented partnerships for WorldPride

TORONTO, May 22, 2014 /CNW/ - WorldPride 2014 Toronto today announced unprecedented programming partnerships for WorldPride.

"Showcasing Toronto's bourgeoning arts and culture sector is a cornerstone of WorldPride," said Kevin Beaulieu, Pride Toronto's Executive Director. "This program is an unprecedented model of collaboration among Toronto organizations, and we are proud to make it such a key part of WorldPride."

The program includes 558 collective days of exciting LGBTQ programming by 17 participating major partners, providing residents and visitors with more programming than one person could possibly take in. The program runs the gamut from film to music, theatre to clay, from emerging artists to established masters, all from Canada and abroad.

"For some of our partners, it will be the first time they have programmed LGBT content during a Pride celebration. For others, who have done it before, they are taking it to a new level. These organizations and organizers are well-known and loved within Toronto, and we adore them at Pride Toronto," said Chrystal Dean, WorldPride Manager at Pride Toronto.

The WorldPride Major Partners are:

• Art Gallery of Ontario
• Art in Transit/Pattison Onestop
• Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
• Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
• Harbourfront Centre
• Inside Out LGBT Film Festival
• IFT Theatre
• Luminato Festival
• Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art (MOCCA)
• Obsidian Theatre
• OCAD University
• Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation
• Royal Ontario Museum
• Ryerson Image Centre
• Tourism Toronto
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
• Toronto Public Libraries

Program highlights listed below. For full details, visit the WorldPride Events Calendar at worldpridetoronto.com

About WorldPride 2014 Toronto and Pride Toronto

WorldPride 2014 Toronto is an international celebration taking place from June 20 - 29, 2014 that incorporates activism, education, and the history and culture of global LGBTTIQQ2SA* communities.  WorldPride 2014 Toronto is presented by Pride Toronto, producer of Canada's largest annual festival of LGBTTIQQ2SA culture and human rights, under license from InterPride.

Pride Toronto is the not-for-profit organization that hosts the city's Pride Festival, an annual event in downtown Toronto during the last week of June and one of the premier arts and cultural festivals in Canada. It is also one of the largest Pride celebrations in the world with an estimated attendance of over one million people. It celebrates the history, courage, diversity and future of Toronto's LGBTTIQQ2SA communities.

*LGBTTIQQ2SA is an abbreviation used to represent a broad array of identities such as, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, two-spirited, and allies.

For more information visit www.worldpridetoronto.com

WORLDPRIDE MAJOR PARTNER PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Art Gallery of Ontario

Fan the Flames: Queer Positions in Photography
Artists include Claude Cahun, Colin Campbell, Chris Curreri, Shawna Dempsey & Lorri Millan, Nan Goldin, Nina Levitt, Mark Morrisroe, and Catherine Opie, among others.
June 18 - September 7, 2014

The 4th Wall: Youth Solidarity Project
Young people are invited to make the invisible experiences of Canada's Two-Spirit and LGBTI2Q youth visible through a national arts contest, a digital art exhibition, and an outdoor solidarity mural.
June 22 - November, 2014

Art in Transit/Pattison Onestop

Relationship by Zachary Drucker & Rhys Ernst
Relationship will appear as a series of 45 second slideshows across the Toronto subway system on the network of PATTISON Onestop platform screens, reaching over one million daily commuters.
June 16 - 29, 2014

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Queer Pride 2014
A festival of queer theatre from May 31 to June 29.
May 31 to June 29, 2014

Lady Hamlet
Buddies teams up with WorldPride to present this reading by renowned writer and thinker Sarah Schulman.
June 25, 2014

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, IFT Theatre & Obsidian Theatre

Just Me, You and the Silence
A powerful new play by Ugandan writer Lucy Judith Adong about the harsh anti homosexuality laws that divide her country.
June 22, 2014

Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art

Camp Fires: The Queer Baroque of Léopold L. Foulem, Paul Mathieu and Richard Milette
Camp Fires is a provocative exhibition that reveals the concept of "Camp" in the work of three important Francophone Canadian ceramic artists: Léopold L. Foulem, Paul Mathieu and Richard Milette.
May 29 - September 1

Harbourfront Centre

Late Night Queer Cabaret
Featuring LGBTQ artists DJ Light Fires, DJ Fritz Helder, pop-up performances by Boylesque and a few special guests.
June 28, 2014

Luminato Festival

If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway - An Evening of Love Duets
Featured Artists: David Byrne, Boy George, Josh Groban, Brennan Hall, Ezra Koenig, Steven Page, Andrew Rannells, Rufus Wainwright
June 14, 2014

MOCCA

Over the Rainbow: Seduction and Identity
From the collection of Salah Bachir & Jacob Yerex.
Featured Artists: Stephen Andrews, General Idea, Andy Warhol, Annie Leibowitz, and Attila Richard Lukacs, and many more.
June 21 - August 17, 2014

OCAD University

Generations of Queer: Robert Flack / John Greyson / Elisha Lim / Kiley May
This exhibition centres on storytelling, creating a dialogue between the works of two senior artists and two younger artists.
March 12 - June 28, 2014

Royal Ontario Museum

ROM Proud
An evening of revelry where you can expect the unexpected as you explore ROM Galleries after hours - dance among the dinosaurs, raise the Crystal roof with the sounds of LGBTQ artists.
June 27, 2014

Ryerson Image Centre

What It Means To Be Seen: Photography and Queer Visibility
This exhibition addresses the importance of visibility, long tied to the campaign for greater acceptance of those in the gay community.
Presented by TD Bank Group and organized by the Ryerson Image Centre in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario.
June 18 - August 24, 2014

Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases
This exhibition aims to address the representation of black lesbian and queer identity, focusing largely on post apartheid South Africa.
June 18 - August 24, 2014

TIFF / Inside Out LGBT Film Festival

Bent Lens: Pride on Screen
Bent Lens: Pride on Screen will span several neighbourhoods in the downtown core and feature in-theatre screenings, outdoor events, film retrospectives, a free exhibition and special in-person events.
June 12 - August 17, 2014

Tourism Toronto / OTMPC

International Travel Showcase
An outdoor international showcase located at Gould and Victoria streets on the Ryerson campus.
June 28, 2014

Toronto Public Libraries

Welcoming The World to Pride Toronto
In May and June, Toronto Public Library throws its doors wide open to host authors, singers, comedians, drag performers, and showcase thought-provoking discussions on the history and ongoing struggles of LGBTQ people.
May - June, 2014

SOURCE: Pride Toronto

Trevor Hampden, [email protected]
Communications Manager, WorldPride 2014 Toronto
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