Photo Credit: Tse Daniel
Earlier this summer, Toronto served as the host city for the 2015 Pan Am/ParaPanAm Games. Although our athletes pulled off an incredible month of golden wins, the biggest news story to come out of the games was the controversy surrounding American rapper Kanye West’s performance at the closing ceremony.
Shortly after the announcement was made, a petition to have Yeezy replaced was initiated by a group of irritable people, whose beliefs varied from “he’s American,” “he’s a jerk” and “his wife (Kim Kardashian) is annoying.” Needless to say, reasons for the petition were hardly of value. In all, it could be said that the buildup leading to the closing event was even bigger than the event itself. The petition was massive, reaching over 50,000 signatures in the few weeks it was live. Whether you signed the petition or not, everyone had an opinion about the American artist performing on the Pan Am stage.
The people who signed the petition appeared to be partial to one of two mindsets; either you hated Kanye West, or you wanted a Canadian artist to represent Toronto in the closing ceremony. After all, the games were hosted by the city of Toronto. Unfortunately, one could hardly find a pro-Canadian talent opinion that wasn’t laced in vitriol toward Yeezy. However, there was a solid, very loud message from the whole affair: many Torontonians are proud of our artists, and want to see more of them.
Message received.
Manifesto has always strived to represent local talent. Every year of our annual Festival of Arts & Culture, we’ve maintained our mission to showcase talented Canadian artists, and we’ve had local headliners at every festival since Manifesto’s conception – Maestro, K’naan, Michie Mee and Shad to name a few. The Manifesto mission statement has, and always will be, to unite, inspire and empower youth, local artists and communities – and as we enter our 9th year, we will be pushing this message harder than ever. This year, we’ve decided to change things up. Our Canadian arts and culture landscape continues to make leaps in terms of success, and quite frankly, has never shined brighter. This year, we’re bringing together all of Toronto – all six boroughs and associated neighborhoods under a united front – the notion that we are, and always will be, One City. Our City.
– AJ McDowell
Watch the video below and get excited, as MNFSTO9 is just around the corner!
