After Artscape collapse, Luminato finds new home inside TIFF Lightbox

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It has not been an easy year for Canadian cultural institutions, and Luminato is no exception.

The internationally minded multiarts Toronto festival has not only had to deal with the economic after-effects of the pandemic, but also the absence of an artistic director for its 2024 edition (Olivia Ansell, current director of the Sydney Festival, will assume full-time duties for Luminato’s 2025 instalment), and the collapse of non-profit Artscape, which housed Luminato’s offices at its Youngplace community hub.

Yet as Luminato prepares to launch the 17th edition of its festival, organizers this week reported a rare piece of good news for Toronto’s live-arts sector. Starting Monday, Luminato will be moving its operations inside the Toronto International Film Festival’s Lightbox headquarters, marking the start of what both organizations hope will be a long-term collaborative relationship.

“Go to any major city in the world that has a thriving cultural scene, and so much depends on physical, brick-and-mortar space – not just of one arts organization, but many. We thrive on each other,” Cameron Bailey, chief executive of TIFF, said in an interview this week. “The Lightbox is our home, but we feel a responsibility to share it whenever we can. The more creative people inside the building, the more possible collaborations.”

Luminato will move its 25 full-time employees inside the Lightbox, with staff numbers growing to about 60 before its festival kicks off in early June – a slot far enough away from when TIFF’s seasonal staff numbers begin to swell in late August.

“Nothing compares to the challenges of leading through the pandemic, but now we’re energized and thinking of new ways of doing things. ‘Transformation’ and ‘collaboration’ are the new words,” said Celia Smith, Luminato’s chief executive. “It’s a challenging time out there – I’m fundraising every day – but it’s good to be able to deliver solutions like this, and look forward to the future.”

The physical space arrangement is made possible partly by TIFF’s smaller staff head count coming out of the pandemic and last fall’s strike-afflicted festival, which resulted in layoffs, and partly by both TIFF and Luminato operating on hybrid-work arrangements that free up square footage.

“We have some people in the office all the time, but it’s flexible, especially because our festival operates all across the Greater Toronto Area,” Smith said. “But it’s crucial to have a place to gather, and to be with an arts organization that has the same rhythm as us.”

Aside from bringing in rental revenue to the Lightbox, TIFF’s partnership with Luminato reflects the film organization’s increasing efforts to bring Toronto’s myriad cultural forces inside its downtown doors. Last spring, it formed an arrangement with OCAD University that now has students working inside the Lightbox’s learning and gallery spaces, with art showcased throughout the building.

“Given what we’re seeing in terms of the funding and financial threats to all of us, the more we can work together and collaborate, the better,” Bailey said. “Because what you don’t want is more arts organizations pushed out of the centre of the city, or collapse. When cities don’t invest in the arts and their ability to be in the heart of the city, things go south fast for culture.”

This year’s edition of Luminato, whose programming includes the Canadian premiere of Geoff Sobelle’s acclaimed interactive theatrical work Home as well as Atelier Sisu’s “art-chitecture” installation Evanescent, runs June 5 through 16. This year’s 49th annual edition of TIFF runs Sept. 5 through 15.