The Power Plant

A virtual fundraiser to benefit The Power Plant

For 21 years, Power Ball has been the engine that drives everything we do at The Power Plant: the funds raised from ticket sales are invested directly into supporting artists, public programs and outreach initiatives. We rely on these funds to serve a wide variety of constituencies in Toronto, across Canada and around the globe. Without these funds, it is difficult to imagine how we will continue the important work we do.

Despite the current challenges, we would like to look forward with optimism.

In that spirit, we announce Power Up, a summer-long campaign to ensure that we meet our fundraising goals and can continue building and serving communities through the power of art.

We encourage you to consider the value of a Power Ball ticket: it extends beyond the party to support contemporary artists, to connect youth in priority neighbourhoods with creative programming and to allow us to be better prepared to serve you when we can meet again.

The lights are still on at The Power Plant, but we need your help to strengthen this vital connection to the arts. Your support of Power Up is needed and will be greatly appreciated. As a thank you, Power Up will include a series of exceptional art experiences on 4 June, the day we were meant to gather and celebrate Power Ball.

Follow along at @ThePowerPlantTO and #PowerUpTO for announcements and to hear from The Power Plant community.

Power Up on 4 June!

We're thrilled to invite you to an evening of virtual arts and cultural experiences on the day we were meant to gather for Power Ball!

Support Power Up to join us on 4 June for an unforgettable program, hosted by artist Alex McLeod. Donors at the Power Patron level will receive a special dinner box from Eataly Toronto with wine pairing by Dandurand.

**7:00 PM | Welcome remarks from Gaëtane Verna, Director of The Power Plant

**7:15 PM | Spoken Word Performance with Joshua Watkis

A lifetime immersed in the performing arts has made Joshua “Scribe” Watkis entirely devoted to the gift of storytelling. Through Spoken Word Poetry and Hip-Hop, he has taken thousands into his world to experience it as he does. The Toronto born poet has performed on stages across Canada, appeared on CBC and has opened for the legendary Hip-Hop band ‘The Roots’ with ‘The Uncharted’ collective. As a competitor he has attended the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in 2014, 2015 and 2017, never having missed a finals stage, winning the championship in 2019. Scribe, owner and facilitator of Word is Bond, is an Arts Educator and event organizer, as well as a member of the Up From The Roots collective. His goal is not only to bring his audiences through his story, but to gift them with the courage to do what he calls the “bravest act on Earth.”. To share their own stories, in their words, out loud.

Joshua "Scribe" Watkis

**7:30 PM | Pizza Making with Rob Wing, Executive Chef of Eataly Toronto

Pizza al padellino, or "pan pizza," is a type of pizza that's baked in small, round pans. Think of it like Italian-style "deep dish." Typically served in Torino, pizza al padellino has a thick soft crust, that gets slightly browned on the outside when baking. It can be topped with a variety of ingredients, from prosciutto to mozzarella. Open your dinner box and make two 9” pizzas, guided virtually by Executive Chef Rob Wing!

The dinner box also includes a wine pairing by Dandurand. With over 130 employees and 50 years of experience, Dandurand is the largest family-run wine importation business in Canada. Dandurand represents 35 exclusive wine producers—all leaders in their category—for a total volume approximating 4 million cases.

**8:15 PM | Special performance by Fall 2020 exhibiting artist Howie Tsui

Vancouver-based artist Howie Tsui (Tsui Ho Yan / 徐浩恩) was born in Hong Kong and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and Thunder Bay. He works in a variety of media to construct tense, fictive environments that subvert canonized art forms and narrative genres, often from the traditional Chinese literati class. Tsui synthesizes diverging socio-cultural anxieties around superstition, trauma, acculturation, and otherness through a distinctly outsider lens to advocate for liminal and diasporic experiences. The Power Plant will present a solo exhibition by Tsui in Fall 2020.

Howie Tsui, Retainers of Anarchy, 2017. Algorithmic animation sequence. 5-channel projection, 6-channel audio. Courtesy of the artist.

9:00 PM - 11:00 PM

OPEN TO ALL! Put on your favourite Power Ball-inspired look and get ready to dance with DJ Gabe Almeida!