Upcoming Events
Countdown to Solstice Celebration Series
We’re celebrating 35 years of Kensington culture with a new winter festival running from November 25th through December 21st 2024.
The Kensington Market Community Land Trust, the Kensington Market BIA and Red Pepper Spectacle Arts are coming together to celebrate 35 years of Kensington culture through a 5-week collaborative curation focusing on significant cultural and historic aspects of Kensington Market.
This project is supported by the My Main Street initiative, the Canadian Urban Institute, and the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). Read the press release to learn more.
Keep scrolling for more information about each event.
Tues Nov 26 - Mid-December (TBD): The DRUM years: Kensington Market 1988-2000 (a retrospective) | 86 Nassau St | Tues - Fri: 10:30am - 9pm, Sat: 10:30am - 4:30pm
The Kensington Drum was a community newspaper that ran from 1988 to 2000. Over its history, this grassroots publication produced 66 issues and became an integral platform for community members to organize and tell their own stories.
Stop by 86 Nassau Ave for an interactive art exhibition and reading room culled from the Drum archives. The exhibition includes prints of key covers, columns and stories from The Drum Years, a near-complete bound set of the entire Drum archive, select individual print issues, photography– published and unpublished, and the launch of digital flip through editions of the entire publication.
The exhibition will be open Tuesday thru Friday from 10:30 - 6:30 and Saturday from 10:30 - 4:30.
Thurs Dec 12 - Mon Jan 13: Shared Ambition: Stories of Kensington-Chinatown Solo Exhibition by Eric Fong | Pamenar | 307 Augusta Ave
Shared Ambitions is a solo art exhibition by Eric Fong (@intheredstudio). Eric Fong is an up and coming interdisciplinary artist who explores urban culture and community through painting, drawing and printing. Eric’s work is a reflection of a keen interest in the research of Toronto’s urban history through the close reading of archival materials that tell the stories of immigration, social upheaval settlement patterns and the lives of ordinary working people.
Eric is based in Toronto, and has always been a frequent visitor of the Kensington-Chinatown area. It was here that his grandparents settled after immigration from China in the 1950s, during some of the most transformative years of the existence of the neighbourhood. Through the discovery of familial ties and stories of the neighbourhood, combined with extensive research of personal interest, his work delves into the complex and layered history of the Kensington area, translated into compositions provide a thought provoking and informative narrative.
Through the use of art, Eric aims to foster a deeper understanding of community and identity, celebrating the resilience and creativity that define the Kensington-Chinatown relationship.
Every Sunday in December: Toronto On VHS Films set and shot in Toronto that were released on VHS only. | Market Video (contact for location) | every Sunday in December at 8pm
Sat Dec 21: 35th Annual Kensington Market Winter Solstice !
6pm-10pm | Street Festival in Kensington Market | Free to attend
Experience a magical evening on the longest night of the year with Kensington Market’s Red Pepper Spectacle Arts. Enjoy live music, theatrical performances, tall puppets roaming the streets, and mesmerizing fire arts throughout the market. All are welcome!
Wander through the festival and take part in the return of light, reflecting on the warmth of community and connection. Don’t miss out on Red Pepper’s handmade Solstice Lanterns—available for purchase at 160 Baldwin St or from their Solstice Lantern Pedicab between 6:00pm - 10:00pm.
Past Festival Events:
Mon Nov. 25: Indigenous Treaty Education Pt I: Sharing Circle + Treaty Education
Fri Nov 29: Indigenous Treaty Education Pt II – Sacred Ceremony + Land Acknowledgement
Sat Nov 30: The DRUM years: Kensington Market 1988-2000 (a conversation) | 86 Nassau St
Tues Dec 3: Looking for Ida with the Kensington Market Historical Society
Sat Dec 14: Kensington Market-Chinatown Friendship Walking Tour
Mon Dec 16: Global Poetics: A Multilingual Reading in the Market
Land AcknowledgementWe, as members of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust, are aware that we are a settler organization. Kensington Market sits in the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit (an Anishnaabe people), the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat and Petun Nations, land which is now home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon wampum belt covenant, an agreement by the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee to share resources equally and peaceably. It is also covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. As a settler organization concerned with land ownership, we acknowledge that we have broken the treaties. Our work for the well-being of this land must include accountability to our relatives.
More Community Groups
Friends of Kensington Market
https://fokm.ca/
Kensington Market Historical Society
https://www.kmhs.ca/
Kensington Market BIA
https://kensingtonmarket.to/
Kensington Market Action Committee
https://www.kensingtonmarket.org/
Our Contact
Mailing Address:
103 Bellevue Avenue,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Email:
info@kmclt.ca
Mailing Address:
103 Bellevue Avenue,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Email:
info@kmclt.ca