In The News

 

Join librarian Leslie McGrath and resident Owen Shime in a discussion about what childhood was like in Kensington Market. McGrath will discuss childrens programming pioneered by the Boys and Girls House on St. George Street from 1912 to 1949, while Shime will reminisce about growing up at 72 Oxford Street with his parents and grandparents from 1935 to 1955. 

 

The event is presented by the Kensington Market Historical Society and the Friends of Osborne Collection, of which McGrath is the head. 

 

For more information, visit www.kmhs.ca.

 

"It has been stated that the most important skill of the 21st century will be the ability to create your own job," writes the event description. Join a group of entrepreneurial experts who will discuss being your own boss as the future of employment. Topics include entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship, self-marketing/self-branding, business principles/business thinking, and working in an international context. 

The event will be moderated by Ushnish Sengupta, PhD student AE&CD, and Liam O'Leary, MEd, OISE 2013.

Panelists include:

Nico Koenig – Community Education Consultant, Founder, Skillshop

Sam Saad – Learning Manager, Studio Y, Founding Partner JustAccess

Sean Coutts – President, Social Entrepreneur Launch Factor

Steve Cumming – Program Manager, Youth Learning, Economic Opportunities for Youth Program, Mastercard Foundation

Nogah Kornberg –  Research Associate, I-Think Initiative, Rotman School of Management; Co-founder and Executive Director,Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada

 

To register, RSVP to: mailto:[email protected]

For more information, click here. 

 

 

Celebrate the end of fashion week with the one year anniversary of the Midnight MRKT. The pop-up night market features music (Lucie Lic, Johnny Hockin, Just b, hey! dw), snacks (From Scratch Pie Co., La Brea, Grub, Desmond and Beatrice), and indie vendors (Crywolf Clothing, Shop Wanderlust, Dynasty, House of Bauble, Parkdale Butter and many more). 

 

Bring extra cash for whatever goodies you plan to buy.

 

For a complete list of vendors, click here. 

Want your event listed in Yonge Street? Email [email protected]. 

"The real news [coming out of Toronto] is that Canada’s largest city is blossoming with cultural happenings and art exhibits you can’t catch anywhere else in North America," writes the New York Daily News in an article entitled Toronto is abuzz with art and cultural happenings, and it's just a day's drive from NYC.  

 

The Daily News seemed shocked to learn that Toronto, the fourth largest city in North America, is alive with arts and cultural happenings. For us locals, we do not have to stray far from home to see our streets buzzing with creativity, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that our cultural footprint is beginning to be recognized on an international level as well. 

 

"When I heard singer Pharrell Williams would curate a museum show on designer toys, I figured Brooklyn, Tokyo or London would host it," the article opens. "But of all places, it turns out Toronto is the only city to 'Get Lucky' and see 'This Is Not a Toy' — an insane, exuberant collection of colossal stuffed animals, giant inflatables, and even Daft Punk robots from Pharrell’s own living room."

 

The article starts at the Design Exchange then gives readers the full tour of the city, taking them to the St. Lawrence Market "Toronto's original mall," hyping up the latest exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, "Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty," and even appreciating the craftsmanship of our espresso at places such as Dineen.

 

"From behind a wooden counter in a landmarked, century-old converted furrier’s loft, bearded baristas serve up killer espressos ($3) using custom-roasted beans," the article says. 

 

What's encouraging is among the past few articles we've seen highlighting experiences in Toronto, a trend is emerging: the reporters always want to come back. Michael Kaminer is no exception. 

 

"With so much to take in, I barely got a chance to visit the museums dedicated to shoes, ceramics, textiles and hockey. But missing them gave me an excuse to plan my next visit to this pulsating, dynamic metropolis."

 

Read the full story here. 

Original Source: NY Daily News

Toronto has been ranked as the Canadian city with the best public transit system for a population of over 500,000, according to Walk Score, the organization best known for determining the walkability of a neighbourhood. We're also ranked higher than the majority of our neighbours south of the border. 

 

"In comparison to the United States, Toronto and Montreal score better than any large U.S. city except New York and San Francisco," Walk Score says. 

 

The rankings are based on an algorithm that measures "how well a location is served by public transit. Addresses with a Transit Score of 90-100 are considered a 'Rider's Paradise.'" Several areas in Toronto had high transit scores. The Bay Street Corridor, Kensington-Chinatown, and University scored a perfect grade. Church-Yonge Corridor, Moss Park, Trinity-Bellwoods, Waterfront Communities-the Island, and Dufferin Grove all had transit scores of 99.

 

Here is a list of the top 10 Canadian cities for public transit, according to Walk Score. 

 

1) Toronto (78)

2) Montreal (77)

3) Vancouver (74)

4) Winnipeg (51)

5) Ottawa (49)

6) Brampton (48)

7) Quebec (46)

8) Edmonton (44)

9) Calgary (43)

10) Hamilton (42) 

 

For more details, click here. 

Original Source: Walk Score

Two Toronto companies were announced among the finalists in the 2014 SXSW Accelerator pitch competition's wearable technologies category this past weekend.

South by Southwest, an annual music festival and technology conference that takes place in Austin, Texas, saw 500 web-based companies apply for a chance to showcase their products to at Startup Village in several different categories. 

 

Up first was Bionym, a company that launched its debut product the Nymi in September of last year. Nymi is a wearable identification wristband device that authenticates users through their heartbeat. 

 

"Identity is hard," the presenter is reported as saying in an article that appeared on livescience, but "what if you could make identity easy?"

 

Later, Kiwi Wearable Technologies took the stage to present their "Kiwi Move," a tracking device that "the company says will contain motion sensors, temperature and air pressure sensors, a microphone, and Wi-FI and Bluetooth capabilities," the article says. 

 

Although the top award did not go to one of these startups (Silicon Valley startup Skully Helmets won for its augmented reality motorcycle helmet), having two Toronto companies in the wearable tech sphere make it into the finals further solidifies our leading place in this field internationally.

 

Read the full article here. 

Original Source: livescience

The City of Toronto announced on Monday it is implementing a new system for determining the "equity score" of the city's 140 listed neighbourhoods. No longer will neighbourhoods with low scores be called "priority neighbourhood areas," but rather under the new system it is reframed as "neighbourhood improvement areas."

 

The new system grades neighbourhoods on 15 indicators that include health, economics, political participation, and education, the Toronto Star reports. A benchmark score has been set at 42.89. Neighbourhoods falling below the line will be designated as improvement areas. It includes aspects that were not considered before, such as socioeconomic issues. 

 

"(The new version) allows us to identify and measure how people are doing in our neighbourhoods … then we can go back, year after year, to track progress," Chris Brillinger, Toronto’s executive director of social development, finance and administration, says in the article. 

 

Under the new system, several neighbourhoods previously deemed priority neighbourhoods lost that designation, while others are now considered neighbourhood improvement areas. This means those previous priority neighbourhoods will no longer have access to funding. About $12 million in capital funding has been allocated for these improvement areas, which is on par with funding priority neighbourhoods received eight years ago, but the Toronto Star reports the actual total will be much higher. 

 

Neighbourhoods such as Thorncliffe Park are now considered neighbourhood improvement areas. "The earlier criteria failed to recognize some of the genuine challenges that a community like Thorncliffe faces,” says local councillor John Parker in the article.
 

"Instead of single-parent homes, in Thorncliffe, 'many families are crowded together in dwelling units,' Parker said. 'The new approach tries to address that reality and measure exactly what’s happening on the ground,'" the Toronoto Star reported. 

 

St. Michaels Hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health spent the last year developing the 15 indicators for which the listed neighbourhoods are ranked.

 

For more information, read the full story here. 

Original Source: Toronto Star

The Toronto Fringe Festival has launched a new crowdfunding platform for independent artists called Fund What You Can, a play off the "pay what you can" model of many independent shows and productions.

 

Fund What You Can will operate like other crowdfunding campaigns, but what will likely make it more attractive to Canadian independent artists is that it will not charge a fee for the service. 

 

The platform categorizes projects by theatre, dance, music, art, film and an "other" section, which so far has no active campaigns. Unsurprisingly, the theatre category is the most popular with almost two-dozen active campaigns ranging from one-woman shows to touring productions to musicals. 

 

For more information and to read the full article, click here. 

Original Source: BlogTO

 

Here's a fun one for the young people in your life. The Don Mills Library will host a free ukulele night led by David Newland of Roots Music Canada and the Corktown Ukulele Jam (for some background on the jam click here). Bring a ukulele if you have one or borrow one for the duration of the lesson. You can also purchase ukuleles at the lesson. Space is limited for this event, so call 416-395-5710 to register. 

 

 

There are a lot of St. Patrick's Day events and celebrations going on in Toronto this weekend (BlogTO did a pretty great roundup over here), but if you're looking to avoid the bars without missing the celebrations, then you're going to want to be at the 27th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. The Parade will run from Bloor & St. George and will finish on Queen Street at Nathan Philips Square. The parade will feature bands, among other things.

Toronto Paramedics will be collecting non-perishable food items along the parade route and donating them to the Daily Bread Food Bank, so feel free to also bring something to donate. 

 

 

Are you passionate about water? This public forum aims to discuss and understand the role water plays in our lives in the context of water as a sacred life source, as well as the importance of water quality. "A discussion of water policy is especially timely given that the Province of Ontario is in the midst of developing a Great Lakes Protection Act and an associated implementation strategy," an event invitation said. 

 

The event will feature water stories from Lotika Shaunik Paintal, WASH Canada; Ranjana Mitra, Community Environment Alliance; Jessica Lea Fleming, Independent artist & filmmaker; and Sheri Longboat, Red Hill Valley Joint Stewardship Board, Wilfred Laurier University. Pierette Tessier Campbell from the NCCT will open the event, and Karen Sun, Parks Program Officer, City of Toronto, will facilitate. 
 

To register, email [email protected].

Want your event listed in Yonge Street? Email [email protected]. 

$40
 

Toronto turns 180 years this week and one event looks to celebrate the city's birthday in style. Calling itself a "celebration of the city's fundamental past, the evolving present and its promising future," the event features big band music and a number of different performances and artists. All proceeds from the ticketed semi-formal 19+ cocktail affair will support programs at Evergreen Brick Works. 

Tickets available at Soundscapes (572 College St West) and online here.

AGO First Thursdays

If you haven't attended one of the Art Gallery of Ontario's monthly First Thursdays, now is your chance. This month celebrates the opening of two exhibitions of contemporary art: Elevated: Contemporary Art in the AGO Tower, and Bruce Nauman: Words on Paper. The event also features a cash bar, a performance by Egyptrixx with visuals by the Berlin-based Artist A.N.F., projects by a number of local artists and a performance by experimental musician Princy Nifty. There will be multiple of talks, interactive art-making, food, drinks, and DJs.
 

For more information and to buy discounted tickets in advance, check out the AGO's event page here. 

Helping Young Entrepreneurs Start a Business

Here's an event for young entrepreneurs looking to take the next step in their careers. The Toronto Reference Library will host Scott Bowmen, the senior director at the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, in a discussion about programs supporting young entrepreneurs ages 13-39 looking to launch their own businesses. Programs range from pre and post-launch coaching, financing, mentoring, and business resources. 

For more information, click here. 

Toronto climbed to third place in the annual Scorecard on Prosperity rankings, reaching its highest score yet since the Toronto Region Board of Trade began measuring cities five years ago.

 

The report compares 24 cities on a number of detailed livability and economic performance indicators to determine global leaders in overall prosperity.  Toronto, like many of the cities benchmarked, has benefited from the poor performance of other cities, but still a number of dynamics have contributed to our rise in the rankings.  

 

"In third place, Toronto moves up from sixth in Scorecard 2013, again drawing on a strong performance in labour attractiveness, and boosted by some improved economic rankings. For the second consecutive year, Toronto ranks higher than all other U.S. metros. Overall, Toronto placed third on Labour Attractiveness and 12th on Economy. It is worth pointing out that Toronto's higher composite score on the Economy is the story of resilience and economic potential but not yet the story of continued growth and momentum in absolute terms," the report states.

 

Paris maintained its number one status in part thanks to its "labour attractiveness indicators" and its status as the "world leader on air quality and cultural occupations." Calgary followed at second overall, the report cites, as the city "continues to show strong income and employment growth, while maintaining a favourable Total Tax Index."

 

Although the city still has some work to do before we can be compared to Paris, Toronto showed great strides in several areas. 

 

"Toronto's scores and ranking improved on six of the indicators; most notably on teachers per 1,000 school-age population, population with Bachelor's degrees or higher, and homicides per 100,000 population," the report says. "Toronto has been among the world leaders in the Labour Attractiveness domain, because of the region's diversity, excellent student-teacher ratio, steady population growth, and overall solid results on water and air quality."

 

To read the full report, click here.
Original Source: Toronto Region Board of Trade

If you want to send your kids to the province's best schools, you're going to want to enrol them at Toronto schools Hillmount Public School or St Michael's Choir (Sr) School. The schools ranked 10 and 9.9 out of 10 respectively in the Fraser Institute's annual rankings of the country's best elementary and secondary schools. 

 

The institute ranks schools on a number of indicators including grade 3 EQAO testing and grade 9 EQAO testing. It measures, among other things, if schools are improving academically and if educators are delivering the curriculum, as well as the socioeconomic backgrounds of a school's student body. 

 

GTA schools took eight of the top 10 spots in the elementary school rankings.  All of these schools scored a perfect 10/10, which is why previous rankings were taken into account to determine a leader. Hillmount in Toronto and William Berczy in Unionville tied for first place. Arbor Glen (Toronto), Seneca Hill (Toronto), St Justin Martyr (Unionville), and St Michael's Choir (Toronto) tied for fourth place. Silver Stream in Richmond Hill rounded out the top 10. 

 

When it comes to secondary schools, St Michael's Choir (Sr) School took the top spot, but many other GTA schools also ranked among the top 10. Unionville scored a 9.5/10, while Bayview and St Therese of Lisieux, both in Richmond Hill, each scored 9.2/10. Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Markham placed eighth with a score of 9.1/10. 

 

To read the report on elementary schools, click here. 

To read the report on secondary schools, click here. 

Original Source: Fraser Institute 

"…The truth is that what I really like to do in Toronto — besides walking around and exploring — is to eat," writes Francine Prose in the New York Times. 

 

The travel section ran a lengthy and thorough piece last week discussing our city's vast array of multicultural food offerings and neighbourhoods, comparing it at times to that of New York and noting, at others, that the food is in and of itself enough of an attraction to warrant multiple trips to the city. Beyond this, the article notes that the food in Toronto echoes that of our diversity and heritage. 

 

"One paradox of Toronto is that even as the city enables new arrivals to assimilate into Canadian life — people talk about how a certain neighborhood was originally home to immigrants from one area, who then moved on to a more prosperous district, making room for the next wave of people from somewhere else — its ethnic neighborhoods are strongly evocative of their residents' countries of origin, and the shops (and most notably the restaurants) seem more authentic than they do in other cities to which immigrants have imported their culture and their cuisine," Prose writes. 

 

It explores Kensington and our many Chinatowns, Little Portugal to Koreatown, and points out emerging food hubs in the surrounding area. 

 

"Had I eaten in Little Iran, up in North York, or visited Mississauga, the near-suburb that has become home for a huge variety of Toronto's ethnic groups, and where the food — people kept telling me — was even better than it is nearer downtown? Had I been to Markham, where there was a newer Chinatown, and an Indian neighborhood that outdid the Bazaar?"

 

To which the reporter says, "I'll simply have to do all that, the next time I return."

 

Read the full article here. 

Original Source: The New York Times

 

 

Toronto is home to more than 1,600 parks. The fourth annual Toronto Park Summit will celebrate the success of our parks when more than 350 "of Toronto's most passionate park advocates and champions" join together at Daniels Spectrum to discuss how communities are transforming parks across the city. 

 

It will feature a  talk from Adrian Benepe, the former Parks Commissioner of New York City. The showcase will also include:

 

1) Friends of Earl Bales Park - Partnerships for Parks

2) Panorama Community Garden Group - Rexdale Foodie Fest

3) Friends of the York Beltline - Linear Parks & Active Transportation Corridors

4) Friends of The Guild Park & Gardens - Where Art Meets Nature

 

If you're interested in Toronto's parks, this free event is a great opportunity to learn more about local initiatives and get involved in the future of our green spaces.

 

Check out the event listing here. 

 

 

It's the weekend, how about a cold glass of homemade craft beer? Microbreweries are nothing new in Toronto, but it can't be denied that most of them reside in the west end of the city. The East End will soon have one to call its own when Left Field Brewery opens later this year, and owners Mike and Mandie Murphy are inviting you to come check out the space before construction begins in March.

 

The Open House will feature samples of beer and will give you an opportunity to see the 6,000-square foot space before its transformation. Located just south of Danforth at Greenwood, Left Field will feature a 20-hectolitre brewery, a tasting room and a retail store. Currently the beer is already available in several spots across the city, but these baseball-inspired brews will soon be available to take home. 

 

For more information, check out the Left Field's website here. 

Want your event listed in Yonge Street? Email [email protected]. 

Forbes has named Toronto entrepreneur Derrick Fung, the 26-year-old behind music experience platform Tunezy, as one of the magazines "30 Under 30" list for music, listing him alongside heavyweights such as Drake (another Toronto native) and Lady Gaga. 

 

Tunezy allows fans to pay for unique music experiences such as backstage passes and meet and greets with their favourite artists. 
 

"We knew that the music industry was in trouble," Fung is reported as saying in a recent interview from New York. "We saw that more and more artists were not making their money in selling their actual music."

 

Fung worked in investment banking but quit his job two years ago to pursue his love of music. 
 

"If you're a young person and you have dreams and ambition, there’s nothing stopping you from creating the next Google or the next Facebook," he says in the article. "That's what drives me."

 

Read the full story here. 

Original Source: The Canadian Press

The results are in and across the country entrepreneurs are growing more optimistic about the economic expectations of startups and small businesses, according to a new survey.

 

The survey, issued by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business CFIB), polled 1,178 random CFIB members to determine if the country's economic outlook is improving. Overall, what they call the Business Barometer index rose 1.7 points to 64 last month. The Barometer measures how business owners expect their businesses to perform in the next year on a scale of 0 to 100. Anywhere between 65 and 70 is considered to be growing at its potential. 

 

"The gain in this month’s barometer is really fueled by Ontario, which is reporting optimism levels above the national average," says Ted Mallett, CFIB’s vice-president and chief economist, in an article that ran in Techvibes.com

 

Local entrepreneurs agreed.
 

"I definitely feel that 2014 is going to be a very successful year," Vlad Khomutov, a Toronto-based technology entrepreneur and founder of crowd-published social magazine Cover, says in the article. "As a tech startup founder, my playing field— and my audience—is global, so I can go after opportunities in markets that suit my strategy, while staying in Toronto. More entrepreneurs are realizing that they no longer need to move to San Francisco to successfully launch their business. This makes it more lucrative for founders to stay in their hometowns, which boosts their local economies in return. This is the reason why some areas such as Ontario are seeing that boost."
 

Ontario's Business Barometer Index rose from 62.9 to 65.4, the largest increase of all the province indexes. Vancouver remained the highest scoring province by maintaining its 68.1 index. Not all provinces showed increases, however. The index fell in Manitoba (62.6), Saskatchewan (63.7), and Alberta (67.1).
 

"Over the next few months, one in four businesses plans to hire more full-time staff," Mallett says in the article. "This is compared to the eight per cent who plan to cut back. Looking at the bigger picture, 44 per cent of owners feel their business is ‘good’, while only eight per cent say it’s ‘bad’. I think this makes it one of the more positive readings we’ve had lately."

 

Read the full story here. 

Original Source: Techvibes

With Friday celebrating love, and Monday celebrating families, there's plenty to do in Toronto this weekend. In this special roundup, we've included listings from around the city in an effort to highlight some of the most interesting things happening around town. Of course, there's more to the weekend than these special occasions, so we've included a couple listings unrelated to the festivities. Enjoy. 

 

 

In a singles event like no other, locals can sign up individually or as part of a team to participate in a scavenger hunt at the Royal Ontario Museum this Friday. The event listing asks: "Are you a Sherlock looking for your Irene Adler? Nancy Drew seeking Ned Nickerson?" Then this is the event for you. 

 

"A curator has been murdered and a trail of clues left behind, connected to secrets in the collections. Working in teams, you follow the clues through the museum, collecting pieces of information while piecing together a tale of greed, lust, pride and revenge. There are multiple suspects, one victim and you, the sleuths, must crack a cryptic code left in the curator’s appointment book to solve the mystery. After your adventure, use your museum admission to explore more of the ROM’s world famous collections."
 

Teams are comprised of three women and three men. For more information, check out Urban Capers Meet Your Match here. 

For couples:  Heli Tour
Throughout February
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport
Hangar 6, Suite 214
Starting at $229 per couple
 

When you take your date on a Heli Tour, love is literally in the air. For something a little different, consider soaring above the city's gorgeous skyline in a private helicopter tour of the city for two. You can choose either a 15 km or a 35 km tour that will take you above and beyond your standard Valentine's Day date. 

For more information, check out Toronto Heli Tour's special events listing here. 

 

 

 

Now in its fourteenth iteration, the Wavelength Music Festival features performances from some of the city's hottest bands, including DIANA, Odonis Odonis, and more. It runs four nights at Toronto's top indie music venues including Silver Dollar Room, Adelaide Hall, the Garrison and various record stores. It's perfect for those of you that fall somewhere in between the Valentine's Day and Family Day crowds. 
 

For full line-up and ticket information click here. 

 

Free
 

For the civic-minded individual, Jane's Walk is hosting its Food & the City WalkShop this weekend at CSI Annex. The event will feature a series of "informal, interactive workshops on walking, where participants will explore key themes that matter in Toronto and create walks for Jane's Walk Weekend, May 2nd, 3rd & 4th this year." The event is absolutely free and will be catered by the CSI Coffee Pub. If you're passionate about city exploration, learning more about our neighbourhoods, and understand the importance of walking, this is the event for you.

 

 

 

Spend Family Day skating for free at Evergreen Brickworks and exploring the surrounding area on various Nature and Heritage walks. Kids can bring a vegetable to add to the community soup pot or enjoy a slice of pizza prepared by Pizza Libretto in Brickworks' famous outdoor wood oven ($3).  There will also be a family friendly beer garden in the "Brewer's Backyard" serving libations to those of age. 

 

For that and more, check out the full listing here. 
 

For more information on skating in Toronto, check out our feature on the City's best outdoor rinks. 

 

 

Build snow forts at the Historic Fort York this weekend. Kids will be able to decorate them with hand-made flags or coats of arms, while sipping hot chocolate near a roaring fire. There will also be old-fashioned activities and games for kids, from an 1812 drills class to crafts. 

 

This is part of the City of Toronto's historic sites programming. For a full list of Family Day events visit their Facebook page here. 

Want your event listed in Yonge Street? Email [email protected].