Toronto Arts Group Launches 20ft Art Raft and Hand-built Canoe

TORONTO, June 21, 2012 /CNW/ - Making Room Community Arts and the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre present: "Join the Adventure - Boat Launch and Pageant" on Saturday June 23 beginning at 4:30 PM at PARC (1499 Queen St. W) with a multi-media installation exhibit "The Life and Work of Jerry Naumyk by Dora-nominated artist and designer Sean Frey.

Artistic Director Michael Burtt describes the raft as a temporary meeting place or liminal (in-between) space where a diverse group of people come together to face any challenge that comes their way. "While there are many currents that pull us away from each other, our environment and fundamentally ourselves, there are just as many ways to return."

The meeting space created in the creation of this Project has involved the involvement of more than 20 professional artists and one hundred PARC members in various aspects of the project.

3:30 Special Installation Preview for PARC members (PARC 1499 Queen St. W)
4:30 Public Viewing of Installation "Celebrating the Life and Art of Jerry Naumyk"
5:30 Pageant begins and ends at 1755 Lakeshore Blvd. (beside the Palais Royale)
7:00 Words of Welcome and Gratitude
9:30 Lantern Ceremony

Arts Partner:
Making Room Community Arts is a multi-disciplinary, collaborative arts company that seeks to return art to its rightful place in everyday life as a bridge between our inner and exterior worlds. We do this by bringing together people, places and things that have been previously kept apart: noise and silence, action and contemplation, rest and movement, artists and non-artists, the housed and under-housed - all through a process of collaborative art-making.

Community Partner:
The Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre is a drop-in centre in the west end of Toronto that works with members on individual issues of poverty, mental health, addictions, homelessness and food security. Members access services and develop relationships with our staff and one another through four core areas of operation: a drop-in centre, a peer-support program, an outreach program and supportive housing.

The link to our promotional video can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4s1LAsLYUw&feature=youtu.be

Media Inquiries should be directed to
Michael Burtt, 416-876-5951, [email protected]