Initiated in 2003 by Tanya Mars, FADO’s Emerging Artists Series was created to provide an on-going professional venue for emerging artists from Toronto and beyond to develop and present a performance piece, working within a curatorial framework set out by an emerging curator. FADO’s intention with this series is to nurture new work and ideas, provide direction and mentorship to both the artists and the curator, and to showcase the work of the city’s newest perspectives in performance art.
FADO’s Emerging Artists series was initiated in 2002 by Toronto-based artist and educator Tanya Mars, who recognized that the best way to encourage young artists was by offering them a professional exhibition opportunity. Her vision was one of mentorship, targeting an interesting mix of new and emerging artists, many of them former students, whom she commissioned to develop new works responding to a thematic context. The initial evening of ambient, conceptual and cabaret-style performance art gestures curated by Mars later developed into a series designed to highlighting the work of Toronto-based emerging performance artists.
As the series developed, it became clear that this was an opportunity to nurture not only emerging performance artists, but also emerging curators. This strategy allows FADO to encourage new curatorial voices in performance art—an urgent need—and introduces us to new communities of artists. Most recently, the series has further developed to include artists not just from Toronto, but regionally as well. This furthers the series goal to showcase the range of work happening in the emerging performance scene in Canada.
The Emerging Artists series was a staple of FADO’s programming year from 2003 to 2014, and was always one of the most popular events in our performance art calendar.
2003: Gestures | curated by Tanya Mars
2004: Game City | curated by Craig Leonard
2005: Feats, might | curated by Alissa Firth-Eagland
2005: Open Airway | curated by Elle McLaughlin
2007: Enter-gration | curated by Nahed Mansour
2008: Vivência Poética | curated by Erika DeFreitas
2009: Misinformed Informants | curated by Lisa Visser
2011: Extra-Rational | curated by Gale Allen
2013: .sight specific. | curated by Francisco-Fernando Granados
2014: 11:45 P.M. | curated by Kate Barry
