top of page
SAFFRON PATH
ART + ILLUMINATION
SAFFRON PATH IN THE CITY OF TORONTO
As global cities increasingly embrace large-scale outdoor light installations to drive tourism, local culture and healthy family activities, CaST Public Arts has partnered with two Toronto Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), three colleges and universities, and both public school systems (TCDSB & TDSB) to present a multidimensional art and light gallery in the downtown core, and around the suburban periphery, of the City of Toronto.
LOCAL IMPACT (PROPOSED)
Five simultaneous activations, 657,000 people directly impacted, 11,400 businesses directly involved
Toronto Waterfront BIA:
10,000 members
Bloor-Yorkville BIA:
1400 members
University of Toronto:
95,000 students
TCDSB:
199 schools, 91,000 students
TDSB:
288 schools, 247,000 students
Queen's Park, Downtown Toronto:
PRODUCERS
CaST Public Arts & CaST Earth
jointly present a multi-dimensional light and art installation across the City of Toronto in May 2022. Major lighting and projection mapping services will be provided by international designer Rob Sandolowich of National Show Systems.
Drawing upon the work of artmakers from public and private schools, colleges universities, and professional artists from Canada and around the world, CaST Public Arts will activate five major sites around Toronto as illuminated art galleries, a path of light within which the public will be able to enjoy creative artistry in an outdoor environment.
DESTINATIONS ON THE SAFFRON PATH
Five major sites will become premiere destinations on the Saffron Path. These include:
1. BLOOR YORKVILLE BIA
2. THE TORONTO WATERFRONT BIA
3. QUEEN'S PARK, CITY OF TORONTO
4. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO,
DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
5. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO,
UTSC CAMPUS (PROPOSED)
1. BLOOR-YORKVILLE RETAIL CORRDIOR
Yorkville, Toronto’s elegant high-end retail district, will become the site of multiple projection mapping experiences connected to site-specific art and attractions that only Yorkville can manifest. Gallerists and artists from within Yorkville itself will highlight the creativity found in this captivating corner of Toronto.
2. THE TORONTO WATERFRONT BIA
3. QUEEN'S PARK, CITY OF TORONTO
4. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
5. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, UTSC CAMPUS (PROPOSED)
COMMUNITY PROJECTIONS
In addition to projections on schools, the Saffron Path with also be illuminated by student art projected onto public buildings around the city. Here is the Malting Silos Building at Eireann Quay with OCAD University student art projected upon it.
THE DIGITAL WATERFRONT
The Toronto Waterfront will become a site of physical, virtual and augmented-reality digital art made by students and artists across Toronto’s two public school systems, two colleges and four universities:
1. THE TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
2. THE TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
3. GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE
4. SENECA COLLEGE
5. RYERSON UNIVERSITY
6. OCAD UNIVERSITY
7. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
8. YORK UNIVERSITY
THE DIGITAL WATERFRONT
Envisioned as a virtual onramp to Toronto’s future metaverse, individual Toronto
public schools will be tethered to geo-located nodes along Queen’s Quay along the waterfront, points at which augmented and physical art representative of those
schools will become visible.
In addition, specific outdoor sites along the waterfront, such as the Malting Silos, will host digital projections of student art. All totalled, the Toronto Waterfront could play host to a thousand pieces of student art, framed by the extraordinary built environment Toronto’s waterfront has become.
UTSC (PROPOSED)
The Saffron Path destination at UTSC is envisioned as an outdoor amphitheater nestled within the Valley of Scarborough College. Upon two screens of trees, glowing from front and side illuminations, will be projected a mixture of English, French and First Nations languages interspersed with art by First Nations and Canadian artists. This activation is intended as a deeply grounded and spiritual evocation of the place we as a human species together call home: the planet earth and many lands into which it has been divided.
UTSC SCARBOROUGH VALLEY - DAY (PROPOSED)
UTSC SCARBOROUGH VALLEY (PROPOSED)
UTSC SCARBOROUGH VALLEY - SCRIPT AGAINST FOILAGE (PROPOSED)
UTSC SCARBOROUGH VALLEY -
BACKLIT NATURAL AMPITHEATRE (PROPOSED)
TCDSB AND TDSB SCHOOL PROJECTION SITES
Five school sites across the city will be chosen as projection mapping destinations on the Saffron Path. Combining citywide student artistry into creating a single set of projection composites, schools communities will be feted by playing host to an extravagant display of light and art upon their school buildings, a tribute to the work of teachers, students and administrators as they continue their own paths of discovery and learning.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, DOWNTOWN CAMPUS,
PHILOSOPHER’S WALK (PROPOSED)
Between the western wall of the Royal Ontario Museum and the eastern side of the Telus Performance space on Bloor Street is the northern entrance to Philosopher’s Walk, a green-space corridor of trees and gardens.
Saffron Path seeks to enjoin U of T to allow this space to be activated by light and art as a destination the Saffron Path. Mere steps from our Bloor-Yorkville destination, both the ROM and U of T have been open to conversation about the inclusion of their properties on the Saffron Path. Elaborate reports by Davey Tree Arborists have mapped out the sequence of lights used to illuminate Philosopher’s Walk and Queen’s Park to its east, with approvals pending full review.
SAFFRON PATH
CHARITABLE EVENTS
In addition to site activations, in support of CaST Earth and other charitable beneficiaries, Saffron Path producers will host three charitable events that will include celebrity guests from the worlds of sports and entertainment.
Each of three major hotels in Yorkville (Hazelton, Four Seasons, Royal Sonesta) will be contracted to host these events. Musical entertainment and artists of international repute will be asked to join a roster of special guests in unique music and auction formats designed to playfully but seriously attend to the business of raising charitable funds for CaST Earth.
SUMMARY
Saffron Path represents a new iteration of outdoor art and light activations, and is broadly inclusive of student and professional artists, from kindergarten to gallery professionals, displaying multiple levels of creativity across five major destinations in the City of Toronto.
Those destinations include the Toronto Waterfront and Malting Silos at Eireann Quay, the downtown and Scarborough campuses of the University of Toronto, the Bloor-Yorkville retail corridor, Queen’s Park in the downtown core, and several Catholic and secular public schools around the city.
Produced by CaST Public Arts and CaST Earth, Saffron Path has gathered a team of educational, digital arts, lighting design, curatorial, marketing, promotional and corporate professionals to realize this first ever multi-site, multi-generational festival of light and art in Toronto.
SAFFRON PATH
ART + ILLUMINATION = SPECTACULAR
bottom of page