/
1x
Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
Culture

Chicago wants something Toronto has: a Luminato-like arts festival (and tons of international tourists)

By Frances McInnis
Copy link
Chicago wants something Toronto has: a Luminato-like arts festival (and tons of international tourists)

While Chicago has Toronto beat on virtually every other count when it comes to arts and culture, the Big Smoke trounces the Windy City when it comes to festivals. The Toronto Star’s Martin Knelman picked up that argument yesterday, pointing to a lengthy column from the Chicago Tribune last summer that suggested Chicago needs Toronto’s crazy wealth of cultural mega-events—specifically something like Luminato, which kicks off this year on June 8. Theatre critic Chris Jones has repeatedly argued his city should copy the Luminato format in order to build international prestige (which it desperately wants) and draw international tourists (which it wants even more). As it stands, Toronto attracts roughly 2.5 times as many international visitors as Chicago, so why not steal a few pages right out of the Luminato playbook? Host lots of big, free events; commission attention-grabbing new works by internationally known names; focus on original programming rather than simply knitting together existing events and calling it a festival; and, finally, make it all possible with tons of public funding. Of course, that last bit is no longer the case—which, we suspect, is exactly why Knelman revisited the argument in the first place.

THIS CITY

Obsessive coverage of Toronto, straight to your inbox

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Big Stories

The $4-Million Girlfriend Experience: The thief, the cam girl and their whirlwind fraudulent romance
Deep Dives

The $4-Million Girlfriend Experience: The thief, the cam girl and their whirlwind fraudulent romance

Inside the Latest Issue

The July issue of Toronto Life features a behind-the-curtain look at the insatiable political ambitions of Doug Ford. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.