Luminato Festival, Toronto's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, is an annual celebration of the arts in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada, launched in 2007. In its first decade, Luminato presented over 3,000 performances featuring 11,000 artists from over 40 countries and has commissioned over 80 new works of art.

History

Luminato was founded by Tony Gagliano, Executive Chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, and the late

David Pecaut David Kent Pecaut, (September 14, 1955 – December 14, 2009) was a US-born Canadian civic leader. He co-founded and sat on the board of the Toronto City Summit Alliance. Personal life Pecaut was born to Richard and Dorothy (Kent) Pecaut a ...

, CM Senior Partner at The Boston Consulting Group, in 2007. Janice Price was Luminato’s first CEO and remained in this position until November 2014. Anthony Sargent was appointed CEO in May 2015. Chris Lorway was appointed the festival's first Artistic Director, until 2011 followed by Jörn Weisbrodt, a German arts administrator and past Director of Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, from September 2012 to June 2016. In July 2016, Josephine Ridge, former Creative Director of the Melbourne Festival and Executive Director of the Sydney Festival, was named Luminato’s new Artistic Director. In 2018, Naomi Campbell, who joined the festival as Company Manager in 2011 and then was appointed Luminato's first-ever Deputy Artistic Director in 2013, was named Luminato's Artistic Director in September 2018.

Funding

Luminato receives funding from sponsors, private donors, ticket sales, and various government agencies. In 2005, the

Ontario Government The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor� ...

committed $1 million in funding, which moved the project forward for the first festival. In 2008, the Ontario Government announced a series of strategic investments in the province's cultural industry. As part of that initiative, Luminato received $15 million, which was internally restricted by the board of directors towards commissioning future projects and securing first-performance rights from Canadian and international artists. In 2007,

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...

was announced as Luminato's "exclusive presenting partner." This partnership has since been presented under the banner "Luminato /L'Oréal: Partners in Creativity."

References

{{Commons category Festivals in Toronto Art festivals in Canada Annual events in Toronto Performing arts in Toronto