New Art of Suburbia — thoughts from Scarborough

ED: Tim Whalley, Executive Director of the Scarborough Arts Council, contributed the following reflection on the New Art of Suburbia panel that took place earlier this week, and included thoughts on next week’s panel.

As someone who has worked at the Scarborough Arts Council for about a year and a half now, I am obviously a bit biased when I say that The New Art of Suburbia: Panel Discussion & Live-to-Podcast Taping is addressing some really big and important questions. For those who travelled far, and those who were but one or two bus rides away, the first evening event on December 1st served as a chance to talk about the nature and role of the arts in inner suburban communities. Because surely, for many inner suburbanites (particularly students and those without a vehicle), the trip to the Gladstone, or even the new AGO, is not worth the two bus trips, RT and subway ride (a 1.5 hour ride altogether) from north, south or east Scarborough.

So, how do we better build and support the arts in under-served areas to make the city’s cultural life more representative? Or, as was raised on Monday night, are funding agencies, support networks and cultural institutions responding adequately to what is going on in inner suburban communities? As income disparity rises across the GTA, and many inner suburban communities continue to face pressing social and economic issues (see David Hulchanski’s “The Three Cities Within Toronto” –PDF– study   ), the arts also continue to be neglected. On Monday night, Ian Chodikoff, Editor of Canadian Architect Magazine, showed a map of Toronto, flipped upside down, with the burbs at the centre — a simple, but powerful gesture.

On December 1, Matthew Blackett kept the discussion from turning into a battle of downtown vs. the burbs, seeing that many of the issues discussed are common across the city. Nevertheless, most agreed that the situation has to improve, but its up to all of us to figure what the nature of that change will be.

Agree or disagree, please come out and join us at the second session on December 9th — details below:

The New Art of Suburbia: Panel Discussion and Live-to-Podcast Taping

A Live-to-Podcast Event:* Join us in our live studio audience for a special taping of this lecture series that will be later available as online video and podcast.

About The Series
Once seen as quiet bedroom communities far from the noise of the urban core, Toronto’s inner suburbs have become centres of activity – culturally vibrant, diverse and ever changing.

Session 2: The Suburban Art Scene – Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 7 p.m.
Centennial College Residence and Conference Centre /Scarborough Room
School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culture, Centennial College
940 Progress Avenue, Scarborough

Panel:
* *Rafael Gomez*, Director, ThinkTankToronto
* *Erika DeFreitas,* Visual Artist & Curator

Moderator: *Shawn Micallef*, Spacing Magazine

Cost: FREE

For a map with directions, please click here. If you are travelling on TTC, take the Scarborough RT to Scarborough Centre station. From Scarborough Centre, take 134C Progress bus, which runs east on Progress Avenue. The Centennial College Residence and Conference Centre is just after Markham Road at 940 Progress Avenue on the north side of the street.
Photo by Craig James White