Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, August 16, 2012 - The largest festival of its kind in North America, Scotiabank BuskerFest this year features more than 100 of the world's top street performers in four days of spectacle, from August 23-26 in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood. This year's events include the lavish Scotiabank BuskerBall, a wide variety of fun activities for kids at Scotiabank BuskerPlay, cool contests and two special benefit shows for Epilepsy Toronto.
Some of the exciting events leading up to and slated for the Festival include:
SCOTIABANK BUSKERFEST/EPILEPSY TORONTO OPEN THE TSX!
Monday, August 20 - Scotiabank BuskerFest and Epilepsy Toronto representatives assemble at the Toronto Stock Exchange market at the TMX Broadcast Centre at 9:30am for a wild and colourful opening to the market!
PEARSON CELEBRATES!
Monday, August 20 - Toronto Pearson Airport hosts an in-terminal event to celebrate Scotiabank BuskerFest showcasing some of the Festival buskers to the surprise and delight of airport guests. Toronto Pearson will donate $1 to Epilepsy Toronto for every Facebook and FourSquare check-in to the airport up to the sum of $5,000.
FOURTH ANNUAL SCOTIABANK BUSKERBALL!
Tuesday, August 21 - The fourth annual Scotiabank BuskerBall (6pm-10pm) kicks off Scotiabank BuskerFest with an evening of glamour, giggles and gastronomic delights, along with live and silent auctions and an intimate preview of the world's most spectacular and unique performers headlining this year's festival! Honorary co-chairs and hosts for the evening are Scotiabank Executive Vice-President, Retail Products & Services, Robin Hibberd, and CTV News Sports anchor Lance Brown. Scotiabank BuskerBall takes places at the North St. Lawrence Market. Tickets for this fundraiser are $150 with all proceeds going to Epilepsy Toronto. Visit www.torontobuskerfest.com/buskerball for tickets and information.
SCOTIABANK BUSKERFEST LAUNCH AND KIDS BBQ!
Wednesday, August 22 - The Festival Media Launch and Kids BBQ features festival performers such as 2on1 and the Chicago Ultimate Tumblers who will delight 500 children from local community day camps at a free barbecue hosted by the Toronto Police beginning at noon in Market Lane Park.
ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS!
August 23-26: Scotiabank BuskerPlay has wonderful free activities for kids: balloon twisting, face painting, crafts, create-your-own-T-shirt workshops and more in the Scotiabank Tent. Family-oriented performances, such as Woolfe and Petersen's Pocket Carnival and The Twisted Ones balloon creations, are onstage in the afternoon on the Epilepsy Toronto BuskerPlay Stage, located in Market Lane Park.
SCOTIABANK BUSKERFEST IS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL!
Epilepsy Toronto in partnership with Accessibility Media Inc is working to ensure all visitors enjoy the festival with ease. At the AMI BuskerAccess Tent, located at Church and Front Streets near the Wheel Trans drop-off, visitors with disabilities are provided with assistance such as an escort to one of the accessible stages by accessibility volunteers. Daily throughout the Festival, there will be non-verbal performances by Rob Torres and Funny Bones. Additionally, on Friday, August 24 from 5pm-8pm, performances by The Kamikaze Fireflies, The Checkerboard Guy and Alakazam on the Metro Stage in Berczy Park will be accompanied by an ASL interpreter.
EPILEPSY TORONTO BENEFIT SHOWS!
The seventh annual Fire Show combines all the festival's incredible fire acts; hosted by Toronto's own FireGuy and featuring Dream State Circus, Les Walkyries, Pancho Libre, The Kamikaze Fireflies and much more. The Fire Show takes place Friday, August 24 at 9:30pm (rain date: Saturday, August 25 at 9:30 pm) at the Scotiabank Stage (Front and Church St).
Scotiabank BuskerFest ends with the Grande Finale on Sunday, August 26 at 6:30pm at the Metro Stage in Berczy Park, featuring performances by some of the Festival's top international performers, as well as the announcement of this year's Metro People's Choice Award winner.
Normally buskers keep the proceeds that they gather after a performance but, for these two special performances, all proceeds go to Epilepsy Toronto with Fesitval sponsor, Scotiabank, generously matching each dollar donated up to $15,000.
THE RICHNESS PROJECT:
This year there's a new way to raise money for Epilepsy Toronto through The Richness Project, a new social media initiative created by Scotiabank to raise money for charity by getting Canadians to share their rich moments. To participate, go to torontobuskerfest.com and click on The Richness Project banner. Upload a picture, video or richness message from your BuskerFest experience. For every upload, Scotiabank will donate $1 to Epilepsy Toronto. To learn more about The Richness Project go to TheRichnessProject.com.
CONTESTS:
Audiences can vote for their favourite busker to win the Metro People's Choice Award, which gives the winning busker an automatic invite back to next year's Festival. As well, each ballot filled out by an audience member will be entered into a raffle to win a Boss Sound Dock. Ballots can be entered at the Epilepsy Toronto Info Booth (Front Street, just east of Church). The winners will be announced at this year's Grande Finale on Sunday, Aug 26th at 6:30 pm on the Metro Stage.
The Scotiabank BuskerFest Photo Contest returns! By snapping a great Festival shot and submitting it to contest@torontobuskfest.com by Friday September 7, 2012, attendees could win 2 tickets to next year's Scotiabank BuskerBall, For complete contest rules and details, visit www.torontobuskerfest.com/#contests.
GENERAL INFO:
Since its inception, Scotiabank BuskerFest has featured hundreds of the best street performers from around the world, hosted millions of amazed spectators and helped raise approximately $1 million dollars for Epilepsy Toronto. Not only is Scotiabank BuskerFest now the largest street performers' festival in North America, it is also the largest Epilepsy awareness-raising event in the world. More than one million spectators are estimated to attend Scotiabank BuskerFest this year. Volunteers will be standing by entrances, accepting donations on behalf of Epilepsy Toronto. Buskers retain proceeds from "the hat" which they collect from audience members after their performances.
13th Annual Scotiabank BuskerFest
Toronto International Street Performers Festival
Thursday August 23 - Sunday August 26, 2012
throughout the St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood,
Front Street all the way from Jarvis to Yonge and adjacent side streets
Thursday, noon-10pm, Friday, noon-11pm, Saturday, 11am-11pm. Sunday, 11am-8pm
Admission is by voluntary donation to Epilepsy Toronto
www.torontobuskerfest.com http://www.facebook.com/BuskerFestToronto Twitter: @BuskerFestTO #sbbf
Photo: Dr. Draw. ©2012 Dave Dickson.
2012-08-16
Toronto: More than buskers at the Scotiabank BuskerFest August 23-26