OPEN HEARING: DREAMING IN DARK TIMES
Sunday March 2nd, 2025, 3-7 pm
Cafeteria, at 1650 Dupont St
Call for Community Participation
“Open Hearing: Dreaming in Dark Times” is an open discussion around the future of the Toronto art ecosystem. Based on the structure of a town hall, and inspired by the Art Workers Coalition’s “Open Hearing” held in New York in 1969, the event is intended to generate conversation, ideas and solutions for the wide range of problems facing our community right now.
Organizing against the genocide in Gaza and recent waves of anti-Palestinian racism have had a chilling effect in the cultural world, including unjust firings, artistic and political censorship, and politically motivated funding cuts. Artists and arts workers have made gains against these inequalities, charting new paths forward and generating new models for solidarity. But these efforts have also laid bare many pre-existing and longstanding problems at the heart of our cultural structures. Over the last year, we have spent endless hours discussing these issues privately in studios and galleries, bars and parties, at work and online, in the street, at home, here and abroad. “Open Hearing” hopes to bring together a wide range of artists and art workers to share these conversations openly and in community, in order to imagine a new way forward.
“Open Hearing: Dreaming in Dark Times” will focus on the future of the arts sector, on what can be built together, on what remains possible, and on what our vision of a viable, just, livable art world looks like. The aim is to work together to dream and demand something better.
Anyone interested in participating is invited to present a statement, no longer than 4 minutes, to an audience of peers and colleagues at a public meeting March 2nd, 2025.
Statements may be philosophical, material, strategic, experimental, poetic, political, performance-based. The form is up to the speaker.
We are interested in hearing from community members at ALL LEVELS: Artists, arts workers, art writers, editors, activists, curators, administrators, board members, students, teachers, community workers, labour organizers, political organizers.
Anyone with ideas is encouraged to speak.
Your participation will happen in 2 steps:
- Sign up to participate by submitting an intention to speak before Feb 22nd.
- Present your ideas live to the community during the Open Hearing on March 2nd
The hearing takes place from 3-7 PM, with food shared midway through the event.
After the Open Hearing, EMILIA AMALIA will work to get the statements, conversations and ideas into the hands of the relevant parties and people, whether this be other community members, arts funders, arts organisations or governments. With the support of C magazine and Mercer Union, this second step will be determined in conversation with participants and with their permission.
We hope the Open Hearing will be a first step in a series of actions towards building a better future.
Poster design: Cecilia Berkovic, using @genderfail’s protest font