Volume 27 Issue 8 | July 1 - September 20, 2022

FEATURE
The Gryphon Trio
ALL PHOTOS BY KAT RIZZA
“A SEAT AT THE TABLE”
Reflections on April’s Toronto Arts Foundation Awards
GLORIA BLIZZARD
Nestled in every story is another story, like those
wooden dolls hidden within selves. The festively
decorated Arcadian Court was the site of this past
April’s Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. The event, also
referred to as the Mayor’s Lunch, has been a part of the
Toronto arts ecosystem since 1996. The venue, located in
what was then the Robert Simpson Company Store, at
Queen and Bay, has been part of the city’s social, cultural
and commercial fabric since the 1930s.
The large crowd in attendance included the Mayor of course, at the
head table at the front of the room, along with Claire Hopkinson,
Director and CEO of the Toronto Arts Foundation and its sister organization,
the Toronto Arts Council, many financial donors to the arts,
city councillors, and the event host, award-winning writer, producer
and tv/radio host, Amanda Parris.
The Lunch
Round, white-table-clothed tables fill the rest of the room,
each seating about ten guests. The finalists for the Toronto Arts
Foundation’s Celebration of Cultural Life Award, Breakthrough Artist
Award and Arts for Youth Award are interspersed among others
like me, who have various links to the arts. So are representatives
of Meridian, Ontario’s largest credit union, on hand to accept the
already-decided Toronto Arts and Business Award in recognition of
their ongoing program of providing transformational cultural funding
to the communities they serve.
After some speeches, it’s time to eat. They feed us well and I chat
with my table mates, a lustrous group of artists, arts administrators,
heads of arts organizations, theatre directors, arts professors, and
so on. After lunch, the brilliant Gryphon Trio plays Fugitive Visions
of Mozart by Ukrainian composer, Valentin Silvestrov, followed by a
tango, La muerte del ángel by Astor Piazzolla from Argentina. And
then it’s time for the finalists to be recognized.
Even within a celebratory scenario such as this – the opening of
envelopes and announcing of winners – the structure of a system is
hard to ignore. Throughout the ceremony I’d noted the use of space
(the stage), the use of time (1.5 hours) — who speaks and for how
long. In particular, those opening envelopes, announcing winners and
handing out monetary awards – the benefactors – were not reflective
of the majority of people at the other tables in the room. There is a tale
and a history hitting us in the face if we care to notice.
The Process
Initially, when asked to attend and write on the gathering, I
wondered about the nomination and assessment process as the finalists
seemed so vastly different in art form/contributions. I wondered
how they could be assessed on the same criteria. I wondered where
the Indigenous artists were. I went to the Toronto Foundation Arts
and Toronto Arts Council staff to find out. They were forthcoming and
thoughtful in their responses.
“Our outreach is mostly through emails,” says Jaclyn Rodrigues,
Community Engagement Manager at the Toronto Arts Foundation.
The outreach team reaches out to past award recipients, board
8 | July 1 - September 20, 2022 thewholenote.com