The Luminato Festival, Toronto's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, is an annual celebration of the arts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, launched in 2007. In its first decade, Luminato presented over 3,000 performances featuring 11,000 artists from over 40 countries and has commissioned over 80 new works of art.
Janice Price was Luminato's first CEO and remained in this position until November 2014.[3] Anthony Sargent was appointed CEO in May 2015 [4] and Celia Smith took over the role in 2020.[5]
Chris Lorway was the festival's first artistic director, from 2007 until 2011, and was followed by Jörn Weisbrodt, a German arts administrator and past director of Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, who held the role from September 2012 to June 2016.[6]
In July 2016, Josephine Ridge, former creative director of the Melbourne Festival and executive director of the Sydney Festival, was named Luminato's new artistic director,[6] staying until 2018.[7]
Naomi Campbell, who joined the festival as company manager in 2011 and was appointed its first-ever deputy artistic director in 2013, was named artistic director in September 2018.[7] Campbell held the role until 2023.[8]
Editions to date
Iteration
Dates
Highlights
15th
October 13-17, 2021
Shifted due to the pandemic, the 2021 festival included film and digital experience and a drive-in concert[9]
Edward Burtynsky's In the Wake of Progress appeared on screens at Yonge-Dundas Square
New Monuments co-curated by Julien Christian Lutz PKA Director X and Umbereen Inayet with choreography by Tanisha Scott featured 40 dancers on the shores of Lake Ontario
An augmented reality version of Shakespeare's Henry V, Henry G20, retold the conflict between police and protesters during the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto
14th
June 11–13, 2020
The 2020 festival, originally scheduled from June 11–28, was cancelled,[10] but later moved entirely online due to COVID-19 restrictions[11]
Alex Bulmer performed an online version of May I Take Your Arm[12]
International Human Rights Lawyer and Activist Amal Clooney made her first visit to Toronto for an evening of conversation with her father-in-law, veteran journalist, Nick Clooney. The sold-out event, Amal Clooney in Conversation with Nick Clooney[14] was co-presented by Luminato and the Economic Club of Canada. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau gave opening remarks.
Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds plays a sold-out show at Elgin Theatre
Hundred of Torontonians from all walks of life took over Nathan Phillips Square to perform Le Grand Continental®
World premiere of the original Luminato commission Dreaming of Lions choreographed by Osnel Delgado and performed by Cuba's Malpaso Dance Company
Luminato launches Illuminating works, a program that gives presenters from Canada and around the world a chance to see work by a varied and exciting line-up of Canadian artist and companies programmed by the festival. In its first year, 25 Artistic Directors and collaborators from 17 cities around the world attended Illuminating works.
11th
June 14–25, 2017
Artistic Director Josephine Ridge programs her first festival, bringing The Famous Spiegeltent toToronto for the first time and using it as a 'festival hub'
Luminato presents three world, two North American and five Canadian premieres
14 commissioned and co-commissioned new works, eight premieres, and over 270 events at 25 theatres, museums, parks and public spaces throughout Toronto
1093 participating artists, representing 20 different countries, including six Canadian provinces.[23]
5th
June 10–19, 2011
400 mostly free events at 29 venues across Toronto
Almost 1 million Festival-goers
750 Canadian and international artists from 28 countries
North American Premiere of Robert Lepage's nine-hour epic Lipsynch, which weaves together the stories of nine interconnected lives over the span of 70 years
Mikel Rouse's epic opera trilogy for the first time in repertory. The multi-media musical trilogy includes The End of Cinematics, a live video collage. In high contrast are Rouse's solo show Failing Kansas, a multi-media opera directly inspired by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and his talk show opera, Dennis Cleveland, a fusion of pop, rock and rhythmic structures.
1st
June 1–10, 2007
1,300 local and 214 international artists, over 30 venues across the downtown Toronto core.[25]
Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12, a light installation produced by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer situated at Toronto's harbourfront. The installation was dependent on audience participation, with 20 onsite handlebars linked to computers that transmitted the heart beats of those who touched them to one of 20 searchlights streaming above Harbourfront Centre, Toronto.
Funding
Luminato receives funding from sponsors, private donors, ticket sales, and various government agencies. In 2005, the Ontario Government committed $1 million in funding, which moved the project forward for the first festival. In 2008, the Ontario Government announced a series of strategic investments in the province's cultural industry. As part of that initiative, Luminato received $15 million, which was internally restricted by the board of directors towards commissioning future projects and securing first-performance rights from Canadian and international artists.[26]
In 2007, L'Oréal was announced as Luminato's "exclusive presenting partner." This partnership has since been presented under the banner "Luminato /L'Oréal: Partners in Creativity."[27]
