Programs Overview
TBA Programs bridge Biennial editions by providing ongoing explorations of the artistic practices and ideas running through and between our bi-annual events. A Biennial is defined as “an event happening every two years.” The term also refers to a “plant that lives for two years, producing seeds and flowers in its second year.” In relation to TBA Programs, this second interpretation is particularly relevant: our accessible public and learning programs engage visitors, artists, partners, and collaborators year-round, with a particularly generative period during each Biennial.
Artist-led, participatory programs both inform, and are informed by, each Biennial edition’s curatorial direction. During the 3rd edition of TBA, Precarious Joys, we are adopted the methodologies employed by exhibition curators Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López, centring dialogues and active listening as key components of public and learning program development. Inspired by conversations with artists over the past year, Programs Curator Jenn Goodwin conceived programs for intergenerational audiences that centred the body as a container of time and attention. In parallel, Mary Kim, TBA’s Senior Manager of Learning & Mediation, collaborated with artists and educators in the creation of meaningful learning tools and activations for the exhibition, continuing TBA’s commitment to land-based, embodied learning grounded in the Toronto region’s complex contexts.
TBA public and learning programs take many forms – conversations, workshops, performances, storytelling sessions, walks, and more – and occur year-round with increased activity during TBA events. We invite you to further explore our public programming and learning streams:
Programs & Events is a platform for artist-led programming with a two-pronged approach, responding to the artists and curatorial vision within and between Biennial editions, while also creating a platform to address the diverse needs and local contexts that emerge from the communities with which the Biennial collaborates.
The Mobile Arts Curriculum (MAC) is a collection of commissioned learning resources or tools, developed by artists and centring decolonial practices through the arts. Each tool supports and expands learning curricula, building upon the curatorial ideas explored in each Biennial edition.
TBA’s Storytelling Program creates a model of contemporary art mediation for TBA Exhibitions and learning activities that combine modes of conventional interpretation with artist-led, narrative and embodied responses to the artworks presented in the Biennial.
School Programs are active year-round both virtually and in-person. Through these activities, students and educators engage with contemporary art through learning tools and Storytelling sessions during and in between Biennial editions.
The TBA Podcast series is a forum for curator-led conversations with past Exhibition artists that approaches reflection, listening, and learning with an engaging and experiential lens.
TBA grows its library of content and concepts with online and printed Publications connected to its exhibitions and programs.
