Mitchell Marcus “City Building Through Creativity: the Redevelopment of the Downsview Airport Lands.” On Wednesday, May 10 at 10:15 a.m. (Spring Talk # 5) at Innis College, 2 Sussex Avenue.

Mitchell Marcus is a cultural entrepreneur, Founding Artistic Director of The Musical Stage Company, and presently the Executive Director of Site Activation and Programming for the Downsview Airport Lands redevelopment project (Northcrest Developments). Mitchell Marcus will share his vision for the transformation of this 370 acre heritage land into one of Toronto’s most culture-forward, innovative communities.

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Andrew Kirsch: “Discussion with a Spy: What CSIS is.  What it does. Why it’s important for you to know more about it.” Wednesday, May 3 at 10:15 a.m. (Spring Talk #4) at Innis College, 2 Sussex Avenue.

Andrew Kirsch, former Canadian Spy, gives a rarely seen peak behind the curtain of Canada’s intelligence agency.  He explains what the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is and what it’s really like to work there. In a ten-year career with CSIS, Andrew held roles as a policy analyst, a field investigator, ultimately leading teams on clandestine warranted special operations. Andrew now works as a consultant in cybersecurity with Kirsch Consulting Group Inc.

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Mitchell Marcus “City Building Through Creativity: the Redevelopment of the Downsview Airport Lands” (Spring Talk #5 Summary)

Our last Spring Talk for the season had Mitchell Marcus talking about how to be creative with one of the largest underused open spaces in the city, indeed in any city in North America. At first, Mitchell gave us some of his own artistic background in theatre to tell us how he came to be working for a developer, Northview Developments. He is the founding director of The Musical Stage Company, which has produced several original musicals. However, his wise mother encouraged him to have a plan B: he started a business degree, didn`t like it at first, but after many years in the creative arts he was looking for more avenues in which to be creative. The opportunity came when he was offered the position of Executive Director of site activation and programming for the Downsview Airport Lands redevelopment project.

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Mitchell Marcus “City Building Through Creativity: the Redevelopment of the Downsview Airport Lands.” On Wednesday, May 10 at 10:15 a.m. (Spring Talk # 5) at Innis College, 2 Sussex Avenue.

Mitchell Marcus is a cultural entrepreneur, Founding Artistic Director of The Musical Stage Company, and presently the Executive Director of Site Activation and Programming for the Downsview Airport Lands redevelopment project (Northcrest Developments). Mitchell Marcus will share his vision for the transformation of this 370 acre heritage land into one of Toronto’s most culture-forward, innovative communities.

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Dr. Jean Marmoreo – “MAiD: Where We Have Come, Where We Are Going” (Spring Talk #3 Summary)

A well-attended Academy Spring Talk at Innes College featured Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) assessor and provider since the enactment of Bill C-14 in 2016. Dr. Jean has been a family doctor for over 46 years, with an eclectic resume ranging from academic and author to trekker and marathon runner. She offered a comprehensive and thought-provoking examination of “the journey so far and the road ahead” in MAiD in Canada. Her presentation used beautiful visuals of vast and remote regions of Canada as a metaphor for the journey that the medical community and MAiD patients have followed in the last several years.

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Andrew Kirsch: “Discussion with a Spy: What CSIS is.  What it does. Why it’s important for you to know more about it.” Wednesday, May 3 at 10:15 a.m. (Spring Talk #4) at Innis College, 2 Sussex Avenue.

Andrew Kirsch, former Canadian Spy, gives a rarely seen peak behind the curtain of Canada’s intelligence agency.  He explains what the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is and what it’s really like to work there. In a ten-year career with CSIS, Andrew held roles as a policy analyst, a field investigator, ultimately leading teams on clandestine warranted special operations. Andrew now works as a consultant in cybersecurity with Kirsch Consulting Group Inc.

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10 Benefits of Lifelong Learning

Experience the Benefits of Lifelong Learning! When we reach “retirement age”, we have also gained a lot of wisdom to share with others. If we can all integrate lifelong learning into our lives, we will reap many benefits. The following are ten specific benefits that lifelong learning brings to our lives.

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Artists’ Lives

Bi-weekly;  Week Two;  Tuesday;  10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Online via Zoom

Small group workshop therefore membership will be limited

Join us as we continue our exploration of various artists’ lives, artwork, influences, challenges, themes, philosophies, and legacies. Using various texts (e.g. novels, biographies, films, podcasts, interviews), we’ll also analyze representations of these lives. Possible artists include Yinka Shonibare, Suzanne Valadon, Barbara Hepworth, Käthe Kollwicz, Prudence Heward, Niki de Saint Phalle, Katsushika Oi/Katsushika Hokusai, Daphne Odjig, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Amrita Sher-Gil, Egon Schiele, and Maira Kalman. Members are expected to read, watch, or listen to each session’s text/s and present once. Presentations should include interesting research findings, thought-provoking discussion prompts, and, ideally, some images. Note: this is a smaller-group workshop with one in-depth presentation and extensive discussion per session.

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China In The Evolving World Order

Bi-weekly;  Week One;  Tuesday;  12:15 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Online via Zoom

For the past several years this workshop has studied the rise of China, the US response, and their ensuing conflicts that affect Canada and the global order. The workshop will consider a range of current events, issues and policy options as they emerge and evolve in a world fraught with uncertainty. Subject to the facilitator’s discretion, it is expected that workshop members will do a presentation on a topic of interest.

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1848: Springtime of the Peoples

Bi-weekly;  Week Two;  Monday;  12:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
In-person  **NEW**  

1848 was a pivotal year for the development of modern Europe. The aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleanic Wars was playing out in almost every aspect of society. Certainly we see this in politics, with reform movement leading to civil disturbances of different levels of violence even up to actual revolutions in many countries. We also see radical changes in governance, education,  finance and economic systems, science and technology, music, theater, architecture, indeed virtually in every human endeavor. It’s true that some of the changes started before, and some of the ramifications didn’t become clear until long after, but the Revolutions of 1848 will be a handy way of referring to these changes.

We expect that every participant will prepare a brief (20-30 minute) presentation, given about 20-24 members in the class. A lower number of participants would allow for longer presentations or more than one presentation per member.

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