Wavelength Panel-versary

Wavelength, Toronto's long-running indie rock and beyond series, will be celebrating its seventh anniversary next week. How far beyond indie rock does it get? Come to a special panel examining the topic "Diversity: Our Strength?" next Thursday (February 8) and we'll see.

I'm very grateful to Jonny Dovercourt for inviting me to participate in this discussion. My fellow panelists - Sara Saljoughi, More Or Les, Rosina Kazi and Mr. Dovercourt himself - are just as excited. The moderator for the affair is Misha Glouberman.

Here are the details:

Panel Discussion - Diversity: Our Strength?

At the panel discussion for the launch of Coach House Books' The State of the Arts: Living with Culture in Toronto (uTOpia vol. II), moderator Misha Glouberman made a provocative suggestion regarding Toronto's cultural identity. He suggested that the two things that people are most excited about when they talk about Toronto – our multiculturalism and our vibrant arts scene -- rarely cross over, at least in public perception. Indeed, the independent arts community of which Wavelength is a part, is primarily composed of white downtowners. There are other arts and cultural scenes in the city we're barely aware of. Why are we "indie kids" unwilling or unable to engage in a dialogue with the rest of the city? Rather than debate this question or point fingers, at this panel we seek proactive solutions, and posit that an intercultural exchange between communities may not only strengthen Toronto's social fabric, but may also result in some exciting and uniquely Torontonian art. How can we work to make this happen?

Solutions... well, we'll see about that.... We all got together last Tuesday though, and I guarantee an interesting discussion.

Here's the Stillepost thread about the panel and, oh yeah, the MUSIC involved in the festival.

Hope to see you there!