ARTrageous 2024

You are invited to Partners in Art’s signature biennial fundraising event, ARTrageous, with tickets on sale via this Eventbrite at 9:00 a.m. on May 9, 2024.

Every two years this lively event brings together artists, curators, arts administrators, partners, sponsors, donors, and PIA members for an evening filled with art, music, libations, dance, mingling, fun and so much more! This year, ARTrageous will be raising essential funds for PIA’s newly created Artist-Direct Grant. Read more about this dynamic party in support of this crucial initiative below. Mark your calendars and help us bolster artists’ ability to work and thrive in Toronto.

And, help us spread this word—share this page with any potential party goers!

Banner: (Image behind graphic) Alexander McLeod, Cubeworld 2, 2020.

THE EVENT

Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Location: Historic Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario

Time:

VIP Reception + Open Bar: 6 – 8 PM

Art Party + Cash Bar: 8 PM – Midnight

TICKETS

Tickets go on Sale: May 9, 2024 via this Eventbrite.

Ticket options:

$199.99 ( + processing fee)

Includes:

• Admission to VIP reception 6 – 8 PM
• Open bar (until 8 PM) + appetizers
• Special performance at 7 PM
• Art installations
• Meet the evening’s participating artists
• Entry to Art Party 8 PM onwards

$99.99 ( + processing fee)

Includes:

• Entry to Art Party 8 PM – Midnight
• 1 wine/beer ticket + cash bar after 8 PM
• Passed foods
• DJ + dancers
• Art installations + performance

$2500: ARTrageous Sponsorship

Email admin@partnersinart.ca for more information.

Want to buy a ticket for an artist? When you check out for a $99 ticket, add "GUEST/ARTIST" to the name, and we will invite a (previous or current) PIA-supported artist or arts administrator/curator to the event on your behalf.

SPECIAL EDITION FOR FIRST* 100 TICKET BUYERS

What better reason to buy your tickets early than the incentive of receiving an Alexander McLeod X ORXSTRA special edition blanket that was designed specifically for ARTrageous 2024. With this collaborative special edition, we see the world-building practice of Alexander McLeod merge with ORXSTRA's affinity for lush colour, textiles, and patterns to create this vibrant, frozen-moment of budding florals. Use it as a blanket, shawl, or display it on your wall! This special edition was generously supported by PIA Member Heli Donaldson.

Be one of the first 100 people buying either *(1) ticket at $199.99 or (2) at $99.99 at 9:00 a.m. on Thurs. May 9, 2024 to be gifted one of these specially designed blankets. This offer is open to PIA members and the public. Limit one per person only. When the special edition is sold out, it will be promptly announced on PIA's Instagram. If you miss the window to receive the special edition, do not worry: the ARTrageous party boasts an incredible lineup of food, drink, dancing, and curated art performances and installations. And, all funds raised at ARTrageous will directly support GTA artists' ability to live, work, experiment and thrive!

Edition Information
Alexander McLeod X ORXSTRA
Drifting Blossom, Galatial Hepatia, Space Bloom
Cotton Polyester Blend
50" x 70"
2024

The Fine Print
- Limit only one special edition blanket per person—there are no exceptions or situations where one person would receive more than one edition.
- You must pick up the special edition in-person at the event on Oct. 16, 2024. PIA is not responsible for shipping, mailing, or storing your special edition.
- Eligibility is being one of the first 100 ticket buyers to purchase (1) ticket at $199.99 or (2) at $99.99.

ABOUT ARTRAGEOUS 2024

FUNDRAISING FOR ARTIST-DIRECT GRANTS

This year, ARTrageous will be raising essential funds for PIA’s newly created Artist-Direct Grant, which will provide grants directly to artists in the GTA to cover supplies, materials, production costs, and to pay themselves for their time and labour. These grants aim to address the lack of funding for artists, recognizing that the barriers they face in Toronto are abundant and growing. With the soaring cost of living, shortage of studio spaces, and reduced opportunities for artists to create and showcase their work, this looming crisis poses an urgent threat to our arts community. PIA’s Artist-Direct program is our response to these obstacles. All funds raised through this event will support the multi-year implementation of this grant to artists directly.

THE FUN STUFF

ARTrageous will be an unforgettable evening featuring:

• Multiple art installations by 3 GTA-based artists, including large-scale sculpture, neons, and digital works;
• Art performances by 2 Canadian artists happening throughout the evening;
• 2 ticket pricing options enabling a younger generation of art enthusiasts the opportunity to attend;
• Dance the night away with DJ Tyler Johnston and a number of selected ‘art-rageous’ dancers.

Disclaimer: Please drink responsibly at ARTrageous 2024. Plan to cab or uber to and from the event.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

It wouldn’t be ARTrageous without the art! We are proud to announce the participation of four GTA-based artists and one collaborative project.

RODA MEDHAT

Roda Medhat is a Kurdish-Canadian artist, currently based in Toronto, Canada. He obtained BFA from OCAD University and has studied film production at FAMU Film and Television School of Prague. In 2023 Roda was selected as the 401 Richmond Career Launcher Prize recipient. His creative vision often centres on the experience of being a child of the 1.5 generation, exploring the complexities of living between cultures.

Website / Instagram

LAUREN PIRIE

Lauren Pirie is a Toronto-based artist working in a range of media and scale and often in collaboration. Her practice is spawned from ideas of ecology in relation to desire and regeneration. Lauren has curated collective art functions and community events, including at PRIDE and MOCA Toronto and was a co-founder of grassroots art and environmental organization, The About Face Collective. Her site-responsive installations have been exhibited in Nuit Blanche, DesignTO, and Lumière and as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art. Recent gallery exhibitions include; Conversation at Mayten’s Contemporary in collaboration with Jah Grey, and Sacred Spit at Open Space Gallery (Toronto); Like A Devouring Fire, at Blah Blah Gallery, (Philadelphia); Vibrant Matter at PADA (Portugal), and Mirror, Portal at NARS Foundation (New York), where she was in residence in 2023.

Website / Instagram

ALEXANDER MCLEOD

Alexander McLeod (1984, Scarborough) is a multi disciplinary artist who explores interconnection and illusion. His practice includes gallery exhibitions, integrated art, and screenings. He has presented his work globally from waiting rooms to the Whitney. McLeod works both independently and collaboratively. Recent collaborations include Nike, Nelly Furtado, and Cadillac.

Alex’s artwork Cubeworld 2 (2020) was generously donated for ARTrageous 2024’s promotional materials.

Website / Instagram

MEGHAN LINDSAY

Praised as being equal to “the best Mozart interpreters anywhere in the world”, Canadian soprano Meghan Lindsay continues a diverse practice as a performer and creator. In 2023, Meghan received great acclaim for her interpretation of Mary Magdalene in Handel’s La rezurrezzione with Opera Atelier, performed the titular role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Opera Atelier), and made her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Northern Lights Music Festival. Meghan was a soloist in a concert of R. Murray Shafer with Soundstreams, for whom she performed the premiere of Frehner’s L.E.X at Koerner Hall. She returned to her home town of Ottawa to present Strauss Four Last Songs at Chamberfest in Summer 2023. Meghan has performed across the world, notably at the Royal Palace of Versailles in France, Carnegie Hall, Koerner Hall, and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. She is the Co-Founder of Collines-en-musique, a chamber music organization in Western Quebec. In Fall 2024, Meghan will perform the role of Galatea in Acis and Galatea with Opera Atelier, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Chamberfest, and a program of French Baroque repertoire with Pontiac Enchanté. Meghan’s acclaim continues in her extended biography here.

Website / Instagram

NAVA MESASS-WAXMAN

Nava Messas-Waxman is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator working within visual arts, moving-image, intermedial performance work, and immersive installations. Her work is deeply informed by research into movement practice, diasporic subjectivity, the notion of gestures, archives, and the embodied materialities of memory. Messas-Waxman earned an MFA in Visual Arts from York University, where she explored the re-materialization of performance archives and initiated performative-based research on the migration of gesture in visual arts and dance. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Visual Arts department at York University. Her doctoral thesis, Diasporic Gestures, examines the significance of embodied methodologies and new media technologies in contemporary archival art practices. She has exhibited her work widely, including at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto (2022), Artworx Toronto (2022), and the Varley Art Gallery of Markham (2019). Her projects include Shared-View (2022), Variations on Broken Lines (2020), Open Work (2020-2023), Choreographed Marks (2019), and Elements of Chance (2016). In 2019, she received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's Joseph Armand Bombardier Scholarship (SSHRC), along with several grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts, among many other accolades that can be found here.

Website / Instagram

ORXSTRA

ORXSTRA is a creative partnership between Tala Kamea Berkes and Alexander McLeod. Lifting its sensibility from the harmonic energy of the orchestral, the symphonic, and the mythological, ORXSTRA is an artistic partnership oriented toward communion and ceremony. Engaging deeply with body, mind, and spirit, ORXSTRA is inspired by infinite patterns, opulent texture, and transcendent beauty. ORXSTRA is a project in time, open and adapting to change in the form of temporal Offerings: wearable pieces, music, art, and designed experiences.

ORSXTRA website / Instagram