Queen West Art Crawl 2008 (QWAC) September 11, 2008
Toronto, Ontario
6th Annual Queen West Art Crawl in Toronto's Parkdale area.
Artscape launched the Queen West Art Crawl in 2003 as means to help anchor local creative and cultural resources in the community. Since then, it has evolved from a one-day outdoor art show and sale to a three-day multi-neighbourhood festival that speaks volumes about how art and artists, working together with local businesses and residents, make such an enormous contribution to our community. Over its first five years the Queen West Art Crawl has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors and members of the local community, showcased over 1,700 established and emerging artists working in every medium imaginable, and involved the creative efforts of more than 300 local business and community groups. Collectively, they have rolled out the red carpet, and helped throw a party like no other in celebration of Queen Street West’s creative edge.
Official Website: http://www.queenwestartcrawl.com/
Added by SteveKeys on February 16, 2008
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About The Queen West Art Crawl
HISTORY & GROWTH OF QWAC
Queen West Art Crawl first began in 2003 as a one-day festival. In its home base, Queen St W, 5 years later flourished into the signature outdoor art show and sale (OASS) for the summers’ end. In 2008, we at Parkdale Liberty Economic Development Corporation (PLEDC)
acquired Queen West Art Crawl from Artscape. Following the vision of Artscape, who will remain as the lead community partner, the humble community roots of QWAC will remain as the foundation for the festival.
PLEDC’s Own Arts Mix
In response to an emerging artist community in Parkdale, in early 2006 Parkdale Liberty made the highly successful switch in their summer event programming from a traditional Farmers Market to an outdoor arts and cultural fair, filled with young vibrant artists and craftspeople. The new event titled the Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival (PACF) was staged on three dates during the summer of 2006. After evaluation, 2007 saw PACF go through an additional change, namely
condensing the three dates into one weekend on July 14th and 15th 2007 in the Parkdale Town Square area. The primary objective of PACF was to provide an outdoor venue for artists and crafters to sell their wares during an event that showcased the community to the rest of Toronto.
2007 also saw the emergence of PLEDC as a leader in the installation and interventionist arts community. The Parkdale Liberty team worked in partnership with Artscape to launch PLAY/GROUNDS during the same weekend as the 5th annual Queen West Art Crawl. The primary objective of PLAY/GROUNDS was to provide venues for ten installation artists to showcase their new work to the rest of Toronto.
Bringing it All Together
QWAC as a PLEDC production in 2008 is the next logical step in our organization’s strategy for future growth and support for the emerging Parkdale artistic community. PLEDC views QWAC’s enhancements for 2008 as an amalgamation of the former Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival and previous installments of QWAC. Each of these events will not exist as separate entities in 2008; however, because of our experience in delivering both PACF and PLAY/GROUNDS, the PLEDC team is confident in their ability to deliver an even better QWAC.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
QWAC is known to strengthen the cultural fabric of the community by celebrating and cultivating the unique character, diversity and ethos of Queen West; one of the city’s most precious cultural resources – a natural habitat for individual artists, not-for-profit arts organizations, artist run centres as well as a dynamic range of creative enterprises and enterprising creatives who live, work and play in the neighbourhood. While the Outdoor Art Show and Sale (OASS) in Trinity Bellwoods Park is often thought of as the centrepiece event of the Queen West Art Crawl, the annual three-day community festival also includes a wide range of arts and community-based events that occur in galleries, businesses, restaurants, cafes, community organizations and public spaces along Queen Street West from Spadina to Roncesvalles. The dynamism of the festival therefore attracts attendees that are economically and culturally diverse; they are children, youth, adults and seniors; they are local residents and
international visitors; they are business owners and patrons; they are cultural producers as well as cultural consumers.
INQUIRIES
With QWAC having a new home we’re certain that some of you have some questions for the Parkdale Liberty team, feel free to contact PLEDC anytime.
Direct Website: www.queenwestartcrawl.com
More Info: www.parkdaleliberty.com
Email: qwac@parkdaleliberty.com
Telephone: 416-516-8301 ext# 2