Downsview Airport could soon be a creative hub for cultural events and installations.Ìý
Northcrest Developments, the lead developer tasked with transforming the lands of the former airport in North York, has announced an open call for artists and programmers to reimagine some 600 metres of taxiway, activating the space with artistic projects and events.Ìý
“We’re looking to build a cultural destination, with the broadest definition of culture,” said Mitchell Marcus, Northcrest’s executive director of site activation and programming, in an interview. “We’re taking a blank canvas and making it not so blank anymore.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Northcrest is offering up to $100,000 to one project, or to be split among several successful proposals, in hopes of unveiling it to the public in 2025.Ìý
Other projects are already scheduled for the site this year. In June, the facility will host “R.A.V.E.,” an immersive dance and theatre hybrid that’s running for six performances as part of the 2024 Luminato Festival.Ìý
Marcus said the aim of these cultural initiatives is to let artists and creative minds take the lead on defining what the space should be, long before shovels enter the ground. He describes it as a “culture-forward” approach.Ìý
“We’re creating a sense of place at this site that’s been closed to the public for decades, then taking all the lessons and the soul that’s been created from gathering people in this place and putting it into the development,” he said.Ìý
The open call comes after Northcrest took control of the former airport on April 1. The property previously served as a manufacturing facility for Bombardier Aerospace, which sold the airport for $816 million in 2018 to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, of which Northcrest is a subsidiary.Ìý
Joshua Chong is a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-based culture reporter for the Star.
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