LUMINATO A CRITICAL AND POPULAR SUCCESS
INAUGURAL FESTIVAL DRAWS OVER 1,000,000 PARTICIPANTS
(TORONTO, June 12, 2007) — Luminato, Toronto’s inaugural Festival of Arts and Creativity, ended Sunday to great critical and audience acclaim. Artistic highlights and attendance results were shared today at a media conference with Luminato
Co-Founders Tony Gagliano and David Pecaut and CEO Janice Price.
“In its first year, Luminato is one of North America’s largest multi-disciplinary arts festivals and Toronto audiences welcomed it with open arms,†said David Pecaut,
Co-Founder. “Luminato’s overall attendance was 1,035,000 for all performances and events. Ticketed events achieved 70 per cent capacity which exceeded our attendance targets.†The Boston Consulting Group worked with civic authorities and site managers to calculate attendance at all public events.
The popularity of free events such as those at the Distillery Historic District and Harbourfront Centre -- connected by the hugely popular L’Art Boat -- plus the Summer of Love festival in Yorkville and the opening of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal all contributed to the excitement and festival buzz that galvanized the city. “We’re all feeling very proud of our city and its artists,†said Tony Gagliano, Co-Founder. “In our first festival with more than 1500 local and international artists, we succeeded in bringing the world’s light to Toronto and Toronto’s light to the world.â€
Critical and audience successes during Luminato were almost too numerous to monitor. Performance highlights included:
The world premiere of Not the Messiah, a new work by Eric Idle and John Du Prez
The world premiere of Book of Longing, a new concert work by Philip Glass based on Leonard Cohen’s recently published poetry collection
The world premiere of VIDA! A sensual exploration of Cuba’s social history as interpreted by Lizt Alfonso’s Danza Cuba has been extended until June 17
Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12, a dazzling light sculpture commissioned for the festival situated at Harbourfront Centre and visible citywide extended for an additional week
The Canadian debut of Shen Wei Dance Arts Re- and Rite of Spring
The highly acclaimed Norman a multimedia performance celebrating the genius of Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren
Floating Artworks installations in public thoroughfares such as Union Station and BCE Place
Spiegeltent’nTavern, a 1920s-style European cabaret extended until July 1
“It has been extremely rewarding to work with the artistic committee as well as local and international arts partners to create a program that truly reflected our three programming pillars: collaboration, diversity and accessibility,†said Janice Price, CEO. “The long-term success of Luminato will be entirely dependent on our ability to create an exciting and balanced program of both new and established work from local, national and international artists. The creation and presentation of art is always risky, always subjective, and never predictable. This inaugural year, audiences showed that they are eager to support us as we explore the broadest range of creative themes. I want to thank the audiences who attended our many Luminato events, and applaud them for making the commitment to participate in such a diverse range of programs.â€
Gagliano, Pecaut and Price ended the conference thanking the many government funders, corporate sponsors, individual patrons, Luminato artistic committee and arts partners, volunteers and attendees who participated in the inaugural 2007 festival.
ABOUT LUMINATO
For more information on Luminato visit
www.luminato.com.
Luminato gratefully acknowledges the generous support and vision of the following individuals, corporations - particularly our partner in creativity, L’Oréal - and government partners, especially the Government of Ontario:
Presenting Sponsor
L’Oréal
Founding Government Partner
Government of Ontario
Major Partners
TELUS, CTV, The Globe & Mail, St. Joseph Communications, Tourism Toronto
Program Partners
CIBC, BMO Financial Group, Scotiabank, National Bank Financial, Toronto Star,
Aeroplan, Toronto Life
Government Partners
The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council
Event Partners
Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, Hotel Le Germain, The Fairmont Royal York, Iceberg Vodka, Amsterdam Brewing, Château des Charmes
Artistic Committee
Bill Boyle, Richard Bradshaw, Charles Cutts, Atom Egoyan, Piers Handling, Karen Kain, Bruce Kuwabara, Bruce Mau, Peter Oundjian, Albert Schultz, Matthew Teitelbaum and William Thorsell
The Founding Patrons of Luminato, Toronto’s Festival of Arts and Creativity
Luminaries
Mohammad and Najla Al Zaibak, Charles and Marilyn Baillie, Avie Bennett, Helen Burstyn and David Pecaut, Kate Alexander Daniels and David Daniels, Joan Dea and Lionel Conacher, Margaret and Jim Fleck, Linda Frum and Howard Sokolowski, Kevin and Roger Garland, Anthony and Helen Graham, Lucille and Urban Joseph, Michael and Sonja Koerner, Chetan and Clara Mathur, Judy and Wilmot Matthews, Robert and Cheryl McEwen, Sandra and Jim Pitblado, Jonas and Lynda Prince, Richard Rooney and Laura Dinner, The Slaight Family, Marisa and Edward Sorbara, Larry and Judy Tanenbaum, Robin and David Young
Super Nova Program Development Fund
Margaret and Jim Fleck, Gretchen and Donald Ross
Donors
Michael de Pencier, Rosamond Ivey, The Hal Jackman Foundation, Candy Lee, Susan McArthur
Corporate Luminaries
BMO Financial Group, Ivey Foundation, MacLaren McCann, Manulife Financial, St. Joseph Communications, TELUS, Tourism Toronto
In Kind Supporters
CIBC, City of Toronto, MacLaren McCann, Searchlight: Partners in Executive Search, Stikeman Elliott LLP, The Boston Consulting Group, Toronto City Summit Alliance
This list includes funding commitments as of June 11, 2007.
