Luminato

DATE: June 10 – 19, 2011
VENUE: Various Locations, Toronto
AUTHOR: Tina Kessler
PHOTO CREDITS: Tina Kessler

Luminato: A Festival of Creativity in Toronto

Free Creativity: the tagline of Luminato. In its fifth season, Luminato celebrates theatre, art, film, magic, literature, dance, food, celebrations, fashion and music in Toronto. From June 10th to the 19th, those living in the GTA, tourists from across the province of Ontario, as well as other parts of Canada and other countries came to celebrate creativity.

 

With events around the city both ticketed and free, for people of all ages and creative appetites, Luminato has something to offer for everyone. While some may choose to make Luminato a one-day activity with family or friends, for those living or working in Toronto it’s more about experiencing the festival over the course of 10 days. It’s about taking a different route home so you can check out what’s going on in the Festival Hub at David Pecaut Square or heading over to Brookfield Place to admire the art installation Sargasso by Philip Beesley Architect Inc. And if you’re interested in an evening show, there are a number of free and ticketed musical, theatrical and ballet performances across the city.

 

Creativity and Innovation go hand-in-hand, so it’s not surprising that Luminato offered a mobile phone app for the festival. It included a full event guide by date and category, with maps, favourite’s list and connection to social media. Luminato gets two green thumbs up for reducing the amount of paper printed for event guides and providing such a helpful and user-friendly mobile phone app.

It would be an impossible feat to experience everything that Luminato has to offer, but then, that isn’t the goal of the festival. As an attendee, you can see how much or how little you want in a day. You can attempt to understand its creative significance or simply appreciate the art form.

Those involved in bringing you Luminato have freed their creativity, and it’s up to you as the attendee to savour its offerings.