Shaping Perspectives: Sharing the World of Performance
“World Stage provides a visionary perspective, which is risky, urgent and provocative.” – Atom Egoyan
Over a rich 27-year history, World Stage has been committed to building culture through the exchange of ideas, offering patrons a portal into the current state of international contemporary performance. With a bold curatorial vision and highly subsidized ticketing structure, World Stage brings some of the most innovative and boundary-pushing performance leaders from around the world to share and develop contemporary viewpoints with Toronto audiences.
Beyond this, Harbourfront Centre has worked hard to ensure not only that the best of the world comes to Toronto, but that Toronto sees itself reflected in the World Stage programming. Central to the World Stage vision is the juxtaposition of international, national and local creations, providing Canadian artists with resources, venues and exchange opportunities.
Along with a commitment to artistic development, audience development is also at the heart of programming. The season always includes an array of extras to ensure the delivery of a more textured performance experience. From the speakeasies and cabarets to poster exhibitions and film screenings of past years, this year’s post-performance talkshows, opening night receptions, and artist development workshops are no exception.
The world awaits.
Harbourfront Centre programming is curated. That means behind practically everything we do, there’s an underlying principle or “big idea.” This fall and winter, the Big Idea we’re exploring is two letters: “re.”
Sometimes, the simplest alignments are the most powerful. When placed in front of another word, “re” asks us to consider something again. It challenges our vantage points, makes us question the familiar and examine our assumptions. It asks us to look back to the places we’ve journeyed from. And that, for us, is one of the fundamental aims of artistic expression.
As you experience World Stage this season, we invite you to consider how each of the performances fit into our Big IDEA.
