Aerial shot of Harbourfront Centre site
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Established | January 1, 1991 |
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Location | 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Coordinates | 43°38′20″N 79°22′55″W / 43.638834°N 79.3818785°WCoordinates: 43°38′20″N 79°22′55″W / 43.638834°N 79.3818785°W |
Visitors | 12 million/year |
Director | Marah Braye |
Public transit access | 509 Exhibition or 510 Spadina streetcar from Union Station |
Website | harbourfrontcentre |
Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario's, situated at 235 Queen's Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the federal government to create a waterfront park, it became a non-profit organization in 1991. Funding comes from corporate sponsors, government grants, individual donors and entrepreneurial activities. Harbourfront Centre has a seating capacity of 2,000.
Harbourfront Centre works with over 450 community organizations, and hosts more than 4,000 events a year in many disciplines such as theatre, dance, literature, music, film, visual arts and craft.
The federal government faced mounting criticism from the City of Toronto due to the amount of money being spent for Montreal on both Expo 67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics. Hence, the city decided that it would build Harbourfront Centre and the province would build nearby Ontario Place in order to revitalize Toronto's industrial harbour and increase tourism to the city with help from the federal government. As a result, the federal government committed to buying 100 hectares of land to be appropriated for public use. In 1972 "Harbourfront Corporation" was established as a federal Crown Corporation.
Harbourfront Centre was formed on January 1, 1991 as a non-profit charitable organization with a mandate to organize and present public events and to operate a 10-acre (40,000 m2) site encompassing York Quay and John Quay (south of Queens Quay West).
In 1982, Queen's Quay Terminal was remodelled by Zeidler Partnership Architects (the same firm that designed the Toronto Eaton Centre). The project transformed the industrial space into a mixed-use building that included shops, restaurants, offices, and exclusive residential condos (it once was the home for Premier Mike Harris).