For immediate release
Jumblies Theatre Presents: The Touching Ground Festival
Launching Saturday May 13, 2-6 pm at The Ground Floor (132 Fort York Boulevard)
What lifetimes and footprints are under the concrete of our streets, yards and towers?
Jumblies has been exploring these questions for the past three years, with the help of dozens of artists and hundreds of diverse Toronto residents. They are now ready to share the results over six weeks of The Touching Ground Festival, a suite of new works on the common theme of Toronto’s indigenous and layered histories.
Jumblies, founded in 2001, makes art in everyday and extraordinary places, with, for and about the people and stories found there: dismantling boundaries, connecting disparate elements and creating an interplay of virtuosity and inclusion; participant and audience; story and history; installation and performance; activism and art; art and life.
Jumblies has undertaken residencies in 6 Toronto neighbourhoods, most recently, CityPlace, built along the lakeshore on landfill covering lake and creeks, dock-yards, train-yards and industrial lands.
From here the Touching Ground works were developed including the works featured at our Festival launch on May 13:
- On Tuesdays – an audio-musical local walking tour, with community-generated text.
- Turtle Quilt – beaded and embroidered by many hands over 3 years.
- CityPlace Chronicles – a retrospective multi-media exhibition.
- Creative Explorations – under the Gardiner and other local outdoor sites.
- Soft CityPlace – a plush concrete jungle playland.
- Guest speakers, drumming and singing, refreshments and Festival information.
Other Touching Ground Festival highlights include:
- Four Lands, an installation and concert at the Evergreen Brick Works, in partnership with Continuum Contemporary Music, June 3(1:30pm) & 4 (7pm).
- Talking Treaties & Under the Concrete, a spectacle and cantata at Historic Fort York’s Indigenous Arts Festival, June 23 (6:30pm) and 25 (5pm).
- Short films, a comic book, interactive workshops and more.
Artists involved include Lead Artists: Ange Loft and Ruth Howard; Composers: Juliet Palmer, Kyle Brenders, Jason Doell, Norbert Palej, Martin van de Ven, Melody McKiver , Britta Johnson and Rosary Spence; Choreographers: Brian Solomon, Lilia Leon and Shula Strassfeld; Film-makers Sofia Bohdanowicz and Adrienne Marcus Raja; and many other performing and visual artists.
Everyone is welcome. Admission to all events is free or PWYC. All venues are accessible.
Media Contact: rachel@jumbliestheatre.org
To learn more about the Touching Ground Festival: www.touchinggroundfestival.ca.
To learn more about Jumblies: www.jumbliestheatre.org.
