Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON – Luminato Festival will #TurnOnTheHearn from June 10 to 26, transforming Toronto’s iconic decommissioned power plant, the Hearn Generating Station, into the world’s largest temporary community and cultural centre under one roof. Today, along with the thinkers and cultural enthusiasts at Toronto-based architecture firm PARTISANS, and leading international theatre and acoustics consultancy Charcoalblue, Luminato revealed floor plans and design details for the Festival’s first-ever residency.
“In its first nine years, Luminato was a performing arts centre without walls. Each project found its own space, indoors or outdoors. This year, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we propose a new model that is an art project itself – one where everything is open, inclusive and porous. This year, together with our incredibly talented design and artistic partners, we’re creating our own temporary space, concentrating the Festival in one location – the Hearn,” said Artistic Director Jorn Weisbrodt. “We’ll attempt to sketch out a vision for a cultural institution of the 21st century reflecting the diversity of Toronto and Canada. Visitors and audiences can move through the majestic Hearn – wandering from various exhibitions to a meal in the open air beer garden, participate in a parkour workout session, see a play, hear a baroque concert, and end with a hip-hop club event – all in one massive space without any walls.”
Architecturally, acoustically, and creatively, Luminato’s #TurnOnTheHearn project is unique. The building’s enormous scale (three times the size of the Tate Modern and the Statue of Liberty can fit in it upright), its open concept and cavernous depth presents a variety of sound and design opportunities made more complex by the temporary nature of the build. Further, the range of artistic projects and performances being presented over the 17-day festival (music, dance, theatre, visual arts, interactive performance and more), require a number of carefully constructed distinct spaces that won’t compromise the Hearn’s own sprawling sightlines and grandeur.
The starting point for the design of each space was Luminato’s ticketed artistic program: The James Plays, an epic 5-star theatre trilogy; Situation Rooms, a multi-player video experience; Unsound Toronto, Poland’s electrifying music festival; monumental, an explosive contemporary dance show with live music from Godspeed You! Black Emperor; and Rufus Wainwright’s remount of Rufus Does Judy, his sensational recreation of Judy Garland’s 1961 comeback concert.
At the project’s outset, specialist theatre and acoustic designers Charcoalblue proposed a radical framework for the building, suggesting ways audiences could move throughout the three key performance spaces. Their work focused in particular on how the 1,200 seat Hearn Theatre could be built from shipping containers, how the adaptable Music Stage could be built to accommodate 2,000 seated and 5,000 standing for live music and dance, and designs for the self-contained Situation Rooms performance space.
“Luminato’s 2016 Festival at the Hearn Power Station combines so many of the principles that Charcoalblue hold dear as venue designers,” said Jerad Schomer, Team Leader for Charcoalblue. “Innovative repurposing of former industrial space, a surprising and constantly-evolving audience experience, and a potential for cross-pollination between diverse audiences, restaurant-goers, urban explorers, and curious minds. From the minute we knew about the ambition of the project, we knew we had to be involved.”
Playing a game of architectural Jenga, PARTISANS developed the concept to enhance the raw beauty of the Hearn while maximizing flexible and inventive design solutions. The dozens of shipping containers required to get equipment in-and-out of the Hearn will be used as building blocks to carve out distinct spaces to create intimacy and functionality in the soaring 400,000 square-foot room.
“When we were approached to help Luminato achieve this bold and ambitious vision – to convert one of the world’s largest decommissioned power stations into a cultural venue – we were overjoyed,” said Alex Josephson, co-founder, PARTISANS. “This incredible opportunity to repurpose a coal plant to celebrate the energy of art (even temporarily), is also a way to inspire Toronto’s 21st-century future as a global generator of arts and culture.”
Additional areas will be customized to accommodate visual arts projects, food and beverage offerings, and front of house and backstage needs. Comfortable lobby spaces and a central box office (also in a converted shipping container) will be open daily, and a central audience pathway, called the Turbine Hall, ensures easy access to each of the performance spaces. A Grand Staircase leads to the third floor mezzanine and the Jackman Gallery where a Luminato-commissioned city-wide original art project will be on display. Three incredible restaurants will enable guests to spend the whole day (or night!) at the Hearn (see Food details below).
Serving as Luminato’s home and administrative hub for the duration of the Festival, The Hearn will be an art installation in itself. Significant focus and budget have been committed to this project to ensure the space is an exhilarating, world-class venue. As part of the Hearn investment, Luminato is curating a series of performance events and artistic activations with arts partners from across the city, celebrating the Festival’s long history of working with arts organizations and cultural partners in Toronto in a new way: by sharing at the lowest possible cost, the infrastructure and space it is building. Arts partner programming from TIFF, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Art Gallery of Ontario, OCAD University, The Dietrich Group, Music in the Barns and more will animate the space for 17-days.
“Our 10th anniversary Festival is special in many ways – we offer some of our strongest-ever programming, and for the first time we’ll be running our own unique venue at the Hearn Generating Station, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the support and major donations from key partners across the city,” said Anthony Sargent, CEO, Luminato Festival. “After a decade of partnering with arts organizations, venues and cultural groups, for the first time in our 10-year history we have the opportunity to invite friends and arts partners to help animate the vast, inspiring and atmospheric space that is the Hearn.”
For full details, see the Arts Partner release.
Luminato Festival will #TurnOnTheHearn, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays) from June 10 to 26. Public access to the building during opening hours is free with some exceptions to accommodate ticketed programming. Best efforts are being made to ensure that as much of the building as possible is accessible. Areas that are not accessible will be clearly identified.
Luminato Festival is pleased to work with Solotech Toronto, the premier end-to-end provider of entertainment technology services, as the production and technical operations supplier for the Hearn Generating Station. Code compliance is being managed by LRI Engineering Inc., fire protection and building code consulting engineers, and Blackwell Structural Engineering Services are the structural engineers.
Box Office
•Housed inside a converted shipping container, the Festival’s main box office will be open daily from 11:30 AM to closing. Tickets for all Festival programming will be available for pick-up and purchase here.
Turbine Hall
•The Turbine Hall stretches more than 900 ft. and is dominated by 35’ tall concrete plinths, the former supports for the building’s eight massive turbines. The hall will serve as the main audience pathway throughout the Festival, with accessible access to each of the performance spaces and a range of food and beverage options.
•Various bays of the Turbine Hall will house galleries and projects from a range of arts partners including OCAD University, the National Film Board and Younger Than Beyoncé Gallery.
Grand Staircase / Jackman Gallery / Lozinski Lounge
•A Grand Staircase will lead guests to the third floor of the Hearn where the Jackman Gallery resides. Thanks to the generous support of the Hal Jackman Foundation, this space will be open to the public for the first time.
•The Grand Staircase will also provide access to Le Pavillon Restaurant by Frédéric Morin of Joe Beef and John Bil of Honest Weight, located in the Control Room (details below).
•Festival donors and partners will be able to enjoy some down time in the Joan and Jerry Lozinski Lounge.
Music Stage
•The Music Stage and the Hearn Theatre are both positioned to take advantage of large open areas within the Hearn that have substantial clear height (more than 140 ft.) allowing for the installation of scenery, staging, sound, and lighting, while maintaining clear sight lines for audiences. The space also accommodates technical zones for dimmers, power and more.
•The Music Stage will be home to Rufus Does Judy (with a capacity of 2,000 seated), monumental (with a capacity of 1,000 seated), Unsound Toronto (5,000 standing), talks and programming from arts partners including Tafelmusik, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Music in the Barns.
Situation Rooms
•Situation Rooms happens in a self-contained performance space between the Music Stage and the Hearn Theatre. This award-winning, multi-player video installation allows participants to step into the shoes of people whose lives have been shaped by the arms trade.
The Hearn Theatre
•The 1,200 seat theatre will host The National Theatre of Scotland’s The James Plays trilogy, with on stage and accessible seating.
•With raked seating, this truly theatrical environment allows for intimacy and strong sight lines without taking away the audience’s sense of being within the larger structure of the Hearn.
Side Room (third floor)
•A more intimate performance space on the third floor of the Hearn will feature performances by TSO Chamber Soloists, Unsound Toronto artists, Kid Koala’s Music to Draw To, and more.
Food
•Just outside the Hearn, a traditional open air, Bavarian-style Biergarten, presented by Mill Street Brewery, will feature Parts & Labour offering a selection of sausages, sides, and Mill Street beers in a casual setting outfitted with picnic tables, bars and more. Open daily until late, the Biergarten will feature live music on the New Canadian Music Stage, supported by Slaight Music.
•Le Pavillon is a pop-up restaurant in the Control Room at the Hearn, by Frédéric Morin of Joe Beef, Liverpool House and Le Vin Papillon, and John Bil of Honest Weight. This unique dining experience draws inspiration from Le Pavillon, a New York City restaurant that defined French food in the United States from 1941 to 1966. Le Pavillon opened on October 15, 1941, serving haute cuisine just as it was served in the best restaurants in France, with no concessions to American expectations. Le Pavillon at the Hearn will bring that same quality and care to Toronto. A select number of tables are available to reserve in advance for a prix fixe meal. There will also be stools available at the counters on a first-come, first-served basis for a-la-carte dining. Le Pavillon will be open from June 10 to 26.
•Get the backstage experience by dining at the Canteen with Festival artists and crew. Grab a seat at a communal table and get to know someone new. Dining at the Canteen is self-serve with the purchase of a meal ticket in advance at luminatofestival.com. Find the Canteen just inside the main entrance to the Hearn.
•Bars will be located throughout the Hearn, serving a full array of beverages including wine, spirits, Absolut cocktails, Mill Street beers, and Van Houtte coffee.
Visual Arts
•One Thousand Speculations – Michel de Broin
•For the second time, Luminato Festival will install Canadian artist Michel de Broin’s One Thousand Speculations, a 7.9 metre in diameter ball made up of 1,000 mirrors — the world’s largest mirror ball. Originally commissioned by Luminato for the 2013 Festival, this year it will hang inside the Hearn Generating Station. Turned on, it will transform the space into a futuristic spectacle, letting us dream about what could be.
•Untilled – Pierre Huyghe
•On view in Toronto for the first time since its acquisition by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt), 2012 daringly extends artist Pierre Huyghe’s long-term interests. On site near the Hearn, within a ruined landscape of concrete rubble, weeds and gravel, the artist has placed a statue of a reclining woman, an unremarkable object but for the beehive that entirely obscures its head. Presented in partnership with the AGO and Luminato Festival.
Transportation
The Hearn is located a few minutes from Toronto’s downtown core and can be reached easily by TTC, car, bike, and foot. Luminato Shuttle Buses will run for 12-hours daily, with pick-ups at Union Station, The Westin Harbour Castle, the Commissioners St. TTC stop and the Hearn.
Guests can walk from Cherry Street or Leslie Street (approximately 15 minutes), bike on the Martin Goodman Trail, drive and park on-site (daily parking passes are available for pre-order online), take the TTC (suggested routes include the 172B Cherry Street bus from King or St. Andrews Stations, the 72C Pape bus from Pape Station or the 83 Jones bus from Donlands Station) or book an accessible Wheel-Trans bus.
Tickets:
Tickets for Luminato programming are available 24/7at luminatofestival.com, or by calling the Luminato Festival Box Office at 416 368 4849 from 12 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. Tickets will also be available at the festival box-office in the Hearn Generating Station (440 Unwin Avenue) from June 10 – 26 from 11:30 a.m. to close. Ticket savings are available for youth (18 and Under)/students, arts workers and groups (6+). For full ticketing details, dates, times and prices, please visit luminatofestival.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
•Twitter: @Luminato; #Luminato10; #TurnOnTheHearn
•Facebook: Luminato Festival
•Instagram: @LuminatoFestival
Photo: Rendering of the Hearn Theatre. 2016 PARTISANS and Norm Li.
2016-04-20
Toronto: Luminato Festival unveils design plans to #TurnOnThe Hearn June 10-26