Event Details

“Luminato began as a dream that each year Toronto would invite the world to join us in celebrating creativity. A dream where the best artists in the world and the best artists in Canada fill the stage that is Toronto with new and wonderful creations. A dream that we could create in Toronto a festival that would become renowned the world over for its excellence, its originality and its accessibility to all people regardless of background or experience. Today that dream has become the reality of a boisterous festival sprawling all over the city with music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, film and celebrations of all kinds. Luminato embraces the very diversity that is the beating heart of Toronto and is living testimony that creativity is best nourished where cultures come together in a spirit of common humanity and citizenship. One can note the artistic and economic impact of Luminato, but its core purpose is something larger: Luminato is a hugely personal and collective enterprise. In a digital age, a festival like this is one dimension of human activity that must still be experienced in person. It is a shared spectacle. Luminato’s roots go back to our earliest cultural experiences before we even lived in cities and practised formal arts. At its core Luminato is about the creativity in each one of us.

This application is for “THAW and Luminato 2025”, taking place June 7 to June 8, 2025, at multiple locations across Toronto.

Programming includes:

(1) “THAW”: created by world-renowned Australian physical theatre company Legs on the Wall, Luminato’s incoming Artistic Director Olivia Ansell brings this project to the Festival after its success at the Sydney Festival in 2022 and a 2024 tour to Antwerp and London. The piece features a colossal 2.7-tonne block of ice will be suspended above Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square) by crane. One performer stands alone atop the ice and scrambles to protect it from the elements as it slowly melts away;

(2) “Flight/REM”, a bespoke sonic experience, along with visuals by Jonathan Zawada in collaboration with a select Canadian artist at the top of the CN Tower;

(3) “What the Day Owes the Night”, choreographed by French-Algerian artist Hervé Koubi;

(4) “Nigamon/Tunai”, a polyphonic song performance by Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina;

(5) “Hamlet”, Peruvian artist Chela De Ferrari reimagines Hamlet with a troupe of eight actors with Down syndrome;

(6) “Hans: My Life in Fairy Tales”. A performance for young audiences by Canadian team Craig Francis and Rick Miller;

(7) “Madness”, a performance in collaboration with Tapestry Opera;

(8) “Dawn Chorus”, a choir performance led by Polish opera stage director Krystian Lada at Union Station;

(9) “Rainbow Dreams”, and immersive art experience by Japanese artist Hiromi Tango;

(10) “First Breath”, a light installation by UK-based Luke Jerram;

(11) “Solitude”, a new city-photography exhibit by Award-winning Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) photographer and Toronto Photographer Laureate Nadya Kwandibens, displayed across the TTC and beyond; and

(12) “Luminato at the Harbour”, a three-day pop-up hub to the Harbourfront presenting a variety of cultural activations including a curated food and beverage experience, and family friendly programming.