The workshop features all aspects of jazz such as various eras, styles, musicians, groups, and instruments. Each participant is requested to select a jazz related topic and prepare one or two presentations (depending on workshop size) of 50 minutes, the majority of which will be recorded music. Discussion occurs spontaneously during and after each presentation.…
New this year!Devoted film buffs want to share their love of fine films by viewing them together and having great discussions about them. This in-person workshop is designed for just that. The 12 films will be chosen by Workshop members and the Co-facilitators. The films will be drawn from the list of 100 Best Films…
We have all lived through significant historical shifts. Think 9/11, Oct 7th, Nov 22, 1963, or the fall of a wall in Berlin in 1989. Further back in history: 1066; 1453; the shooting of an archduke in Sarajevo; the Magna Carta of 1215; December 7, 1941; 1929; 1867; 1492; the 1455 discovery of the printing…
Spain has a long and interesting history, as successive waves of conquerors have come to the land of the original Iberian peoples, each leaving its particular marks. Looking at this gives not just the flavour of Spain, but of the Mediterranean itself. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Gauls, Celts, Goths and Visigoths with early church Roman Catholicism,…
New this year!This workshop will focus on understanding today's Europe in all its complexity. Why? After the Cold War ended, there was a widespread sense that democracy would prevail, peace and prosperity would follow, and the horrors of fascism and communism were past. In the intervening years, that quaint notion has fractured: war in Yugoslavia…
Join our continuing exploration of artists’ lives and artwork spanning a variety of time periods, geographies, cultures, identities, art forms, and media. We’ll also analyze representation of these lives and consider connections to our own world. As a member of our workshop, you will present once, selecting your own focus, e.g. the artist’s life, artwork,…
Our walk will run north to Dupont and then back to Bloor Street where participants can reconnect with the Spadina subway or go for lunch. Participants will be given a single sentence about an Annex murder and then invited to fabricate a story... before learning the facts of the story. We talk about: The janitor…
Come and join a Zoom discussion group of film lovers. Participants will each select a contemporary film available on Netflix that they wish to introduce to the group. Two films are discussed at each workshop. Participants are expected to have viewed the two films recently in advance of the workshop to ensure lively and congenial…
New this year!Thornton Wilder regarded theatre as "the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." Join us as we explore selected classic plays from the 19th and 20th centuries. We will read aloud…
This workshop aims to touch the entire world of opera: from its early beginnings in the 16th C. to the modern day. We will learn about and listen to the music of the historic opera repertoire, the most beautiful music in the world, and view exciting performances on stage by the most enthralling voices. There…
The following Academy members created interesting and unique presentations for their workshops over the past year. Now, they’ll share them with you! Suzanne Valadon: The Life of a Bohemian Artist in Montmartre during the Belle Époque Suzanne Valadon was a Parisian model turned self-taught painter who was lauded in her time (late 19th and early…