{"id":378876,"date":"2025-12-29T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/378876\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:01:10","slug":"art-in-scarborough-is-art-in-toronto-artists-and-supporters-say-community-needs-more-gallery-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/378876\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Art in Scarborough is art in Toronto’: Artists and supporters say community needs more gallery space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

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Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Framed art pieces practically cover the walls of Peter Marsh\u2019s home in Scarborough \u2014 most from local artists, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these people are from Scarborough in one way or another,\u201d he said, gesturing to the collection around him. <\/p>\n

A watercolour painter of 65 years, and interim president of The Existential Art Gallery of Scarborough, Marsh is proud of his collection. But, he said, he\u2019s concerned about what will happen to it in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho’s going to keep this up if I kick the bucket tomorrow?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Marsh is calling on the city to build a permanent, large-scale art gallery in Scarborough to showcase local talent and host exhibitions of art from around the world. He believes many curators, like himself, would donate their collections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of talented people who should have a dignified place to exhibit their work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the City of Toronto adopted a 10-year culture plan<\/a> to invest in cultural spaces in underserved neighbourhoods. The city aims to increase investments in culture to $35 million by 2025 and support the development of \u201cone million square feet of new cultural space in Toronto,\u201d according to the plan.<\/p>\n

CBC Toronto asked Deputy Mayor of Scarborough, Paul Ainslie, if a dedicated art gallery is part of the city’s culture plan or something that he would bring before council. <\/p>\n

There are two permanent city-run art galleries in the Scarborough community, Cedar Ridge Creative Centre and Clark Centre for the Arts, Ainslie’s office said in a statement replying to the request.<\/p>\n

Fostering local talent<\/p>\n

Though grateful for existing spaces, Beth Helmers with Scarborough Arts said the borough should be considered for something bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a momentum and eagerness for this to happen within Scarborough and [there\u2019s] a lot of people who’ve been doing this work already who are really excited and hungry for more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Artist,Rajni Perera, a multidisciplinary artist, said Scarborough is home to a lot of talent but the arts scene needs more support in order to thrive. (Grant Linton\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Helmers said, with few permanent art spaces, artists are getting creative and hosting galleries in schools, parks and homes, but they deserve more visibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to preserve space for arts and culture because it’s such an important part of what makes the city livable and vibrant and improves quality of life for people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The arts scene in Scarborough is in need of more support and resources in general, according to multidisciplinary and founder of artist resource initiative Capsules Studio, Rajni Perera.<\/p>\n

Without it, she said, talent goes elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not the only artist from Scarborough who felt they had to move downtown because of a lack of dedicated studio space and space to showcase the arts from Scarborough, in Scarborough,\u201d Perera said.<\/p>\n

But the lack of space is a problem across the city, Perera said, as studio spaces are becoming harder to find. She said artists are looking for somewhere to go.<\/p>\n

With the right support in place, like more galleries and access to transit,\u00a0 Perera said Scarborough has the potential to become a hub.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt in Scarborough is art in Toronto,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s something that we need to house here and develop.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-378876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}