Spring 2021 Academy Forums
Academy for Lifelong Learning Toronto webinars offer stimulating food for your brain, featuring presentations on a cornucopia of topics. Participants are encouraged to ask questions at the end of each talk.
Presentations are via Zoom during the COVID pandemic. Academy members automatically receive an invitation to each Forum via email. If you want to attend one of these forums and are not currently a member of the Academy for Lifelong Learning Toronto, please scroll down to the bottom of this page for more information.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 10 a.m.
Music and Propaganda during World War II
Robin Elliott will examine the role that music played in the war effort during World War II on both sides of the conflict. Musicians were often exempt from active fighting duties, because of their value in lifting the spirits of their fellow citizens and in furthering the war effort in various subtle, but important ways. We will consider the role that music played as propaganda in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and North America from 1939 to 1945.
Robin Elliott is the Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music and Director of the Institute for Music in Canada at the University of Toronto. He has taught at various universities in Ontario, as well as University College, Dublin. His publications in the field of Canadian music number over 130 items, including books, articles, book reviews, encyclopedia entries and shorter articles. He has also volunteered his time to many different Canadian music institutions.
Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 10 a.m.
Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment
Sarah Milroy, C.M., chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, takes us behind the scenes for an exclusive look at the curatorial process behind the upcoming exhibition Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment, which spotlights the art of a generation of extraordinary women painters, photographers, sculptors, architects and filmmakers. This exhibition will provide a more complete and diverse picture of art in Canada during the early twentieth century. Uninvited offers audiences an opportunity to explore the work of settler and Indigenous women from across Canada in a stirring affirmation of the female creative vision. The exhibition opens on June 26, 2021.
Sarah Milroy is a well-known champion of Canadian art. She served as The Globe and Mail’s chief art critic from 2001 to 2011, having started at The Globe as a freelancer covering the visual arts in Vancouver in 1996. From 1984 to 1996 she was on staff at Canadian Art magazine, latterly as editor and publisher. During her years at Canadian Art she also contributed to the CBC as visual arts correspondent. Milroy has contributed to more than a dozen books on Canadian art.
For more information about Academy Talks
If you are not currently a member of the Academy for Lifelong Learning, you can request information about the Academy’s Talks Program by sending an email to: OurAcademy2021@gmail.com
If you are interested in joining the Academy for Lifelong Learning, please visit our membership page for details. Members of the Academy automatically receive emails to register for Academy Talks. The Academy warmly welcomes new members.
Speaker / Topic Suggestions
The Academy's Talks Committee welcomes suggestions for topics and speakers for future Forums and Spring Talks.