About Us

Luminato Festival Toronto is an international arts festival dedicated to performance, media and visual arts, and programming that cuts across traditional artform boundaries. Luminato works closely with Canadian artists to support the development and creation of distinctive new work as well as presenting today’s most exciting artists from around the world.

Luminato acknowledges this land, known as Tkaronto, and honours the stewardship, past, present and future of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the New Credit. Tkaronto is in the Dish With One Spoon Territory. The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community on this territory.

Luminato gratefully acknowledges the generosity of its Founding Government Partner the Province of Ontario, its Major Partner the Government of Canada and its Presenting Partner the City of Toronto.

Luminato est le festival international d’arts de Toronto dédié au spectacle, aux arts visuels et médiatiques et á une programmation qui traverse les frontières d’arts traditionnels. En étroite collaboration avec les artistes canadiens, Luminato soutient le développement et la création des œuvres nouveaux et distincts, aussi que la présentation des artistes les plus passionnants du monde. L’édition 2020 se déroule du 11 au 28 juin.

Luminato reconnait ce territoire, connu sous le nom de Tkaronto, et fait l’honneur à l’administration passée, présente et future des Wendat, des Haudenosaunee, des Anishinaabe, et plus récemment, des Mississaugas of the New Credit. Tkaronto se situe au territoire du Dish With One Spoon. Le Dish With One Spoon est une entente entre les Anishinaabe, les Mississaugas et les Haudenosaunee, laquelle les lie à partager le territoire et protéger le terrain. Les Premières nations et peuples autochtones successifs, les européens et tous les nouveaux arrivés sont invités à joindre cette entente dans l’esprit de la paix, l’amitié et le respect. Nous sommes reconnaissants d’avoir l’opportunité à travailler dans la communauté sur ce territoire.

Luminato reconnait avec gratitude la bonté de son partenaire fondateur du gouvernement la Province de l’Ontario, son partenaire majeur le gouvernement du Canada, et son partenaire-présentateur, la Ville de Toronto.

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History

Founded in 2007 by David Pecaut and Tony Gagliano, Luminato was conceived to shine a spotlight on Toronto as a culturally vibrant and globally connected city rich in creativity. In its first decade, Luminato became one of the preeminent international arts festivals in North America, with more than 3,600 performances featuring 15,000+ artists from over 40 countries. As Luminato enters its second decade, its vision is to be a locally rooted, globally connected festival with a distinctly Toronto personality.

Luminato Festival Toronto showcases Canadian artists to the world and, through the presentation of outstanding international artists, connects those local voices with global conversations. The festival has also become one of Canada’s most active commissioning bodies, having commissioned close to 100 new works covering all art forms. People numbering into the millions have experienced an extraordinary array of events at the festival, featuring some of the most exciting artists from Canada and abroad.

Read our 2020 Annual Report

Read our 2019 Annual Report >

Fondé en 2007 par David Pecaut et Tony Gagliano, Luminato a été conçu à faire briller Toronto, une ville riche en culture et créativité, connectée au monde. À la fin de ses premières dix années, Luminato était devenue un des festivals internationaux d’arts majeurs en Amérique du Nord, avec plus de 3 600 spectacles, mettant en vedette 15 000+ artistes de plus de 40 pays. Maintenant, au début de sa deuxième décennie, Luminato vise à être une organisation de racines locales, connectée au monde entier, et du caractère unique de Toronto.

Luminato présente les artistes canadiens au monde et les artistes internationaux de renom, lequel permet le festival de connecter les voix locales aux discussions globales. Également, le festival est devenu une des organisations commanditaires les plus actives au Canada, ayant commandé plus de 100 nouveaux œuvres multidisciplinaires. Des milliers ont expérimenté une gamme extraordinaire d’événements au Luminato, qui comprend des artistes les plus passionnants du Canada et de l’étranger.

Luminato Leadership

Led by CEO Celia Smith and Artistic Director Naomi Campbell, Luminato Festival Toronto is a charitable, not-for-profit, globally connected cultural organization proudly based in Toronto.

Dirigé par son directeur général, Celia Smith, et Naomi Campbell, directrice artistique, Luminato est une organisation culturelle caritative, de buts non lucratifs, fière d’être basée à Toronto, avec des connections globales.

CELIA SMITH

CEO / directeur général

A leader in the Toronto arts and culture community, Celia has proven expertise in directing significant organizational growth, social enterprise and charitable expansion. Career highlights include the recent co-founding of LEAN (Leadership Emergency Arts Network) in response to the COVID-19; developing community hubs and affordable housing as President of Artscape; overseeing The Canadian Stage Company as General Manager; and serving on the boards of TAPA (Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts), Work in Culture, Luminato, Musical Stage Company and Creative Trust.

NAOMI CAMPBELL

Artistic Director / directrice artistique

An award-winning producer, director, stage manager and curator, Naomi Campbell has over 30 years of experience working across all performing arts disciplines and has staged over sixty new Canadian performance pieces with companies including Nightswimming, Mammalian Diving Reflex (the international hit Haircuts by Children), DVxT Theatre, the late Paul Bettis' Civilized Theatre, VideoCabaret and numerous independent artists.

Réalisatrice, metteur-en-scène, régisseuse et programmatrice récompensée, Naomi Campbell a travaillé dans toutes les disciplines d’arts sur scène pendant plus de 30 années et a monté plus de 60 nouveaux spectacles canadiens avec les compagnies qui incluent Nightswimming, Mammalian Diving Reflex (le succès international Haircuts by Children), Théâtre DVxT, Théâtre Civilized de l’ancien Paul Bettis, VideoCabaret, et avec de nombreux artistes indépendants.

Learn more about the leaders

History & The Founders of Luminato

David Pecaut (1955-2009)
^Co-Founder
An accomplished civic leader and humanitarian, David worked tirelessly on initiatives designed to make our city and country a better place.

Tony Gagliano
^{Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus}
Tony Gagliano presently serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Communications.

Lucille Joseph
^{Vice Chair}
Lucille was the founding Executive Director of Luminato and currently serves as Vice Chair of Luminato’s Board of Directors.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

Luminato Values

Integrity: we encourage the fairness, trust, and transparency that are essential for rewarding interactions internally, within our communities, and with our artists and audiences.

Collaboration: we embrace the diverse thoughts and voices of our communities and work together to create an open and safe environment.

Creativity: we empower and welcome the innovation that will shape our bold visions for the future.

Excellence: we embody an unwavering commitment to greatness across our programming, staff, and collaborators.

Above all, we Respect each other.

Through consistently upholding these values, together we seek to build a positive, ambitious culture at Luminato that is professionally rewarding and personally enjoyable.

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