Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Monkeys take over Harbourfront Centre for Lunar New Year celebrations, February 20-21, 2016


TORONTO, ON (January 25, 2016) Returning to Harbourfront Centre to celebrate the Year of the Monkey, LunarFest will welcome the Lunar New Year with an exciting and diverse weekend of events.
 
From February 20–21, this free family-friendly festival will feature a wide range of activities, including musical performances, craft activities and delectable Asian cuisine. Two major interactive installations will feature hundreds of life-sized monkey figurines on site to greet visitors. The entire festival will be free to attend, and food and souvenirs, including monkey figurines, will be available for purchase.

A time of celebration, the Lunar New Year is particularly special given this year’s representative animal. “2016 is the Year of the Monkey – the species closest to the human being,” says Charlie Wu, Managing Director of the Asian Canadian Special Events Association, which is partnering with Harbourfront Centre to co-produce LunarFest. “Monkeys, too, are emotional creatures who are intelligent, crafty, curious and naughty at times. Are there lessons humans can learn from monkeys?”LunarFest – Highlights at a Glance:

Theatre: The traditional lion dance, a staple of Lunar New Year celebrations, takes on a new form and is performed by a string puppet theatre troupe at World’s Smallest Lion Dancers.
Music: Enjoy six types of drum dances from various traditions at The Drumming Dance – Heritage Beats.
Art: With leading artists from Taiwan and Canada, Reflections – What Do We See in Monkeys? is a visual arts exhibition that examines the relationship between humans and monkeys.
Family: Old and young alike can decorate crowns in the style of Monkey King at The Crown of Monkey King.
Food: In between activities, visit the Lunar Café and try some delicious ginger tea, sushi and other Korean and Japanese cuisine.

For more information and full event listings, please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/lunarfest or call Harbourfront Centre at 416-973-4000.

Now that the Queens Quay revitalization is complete, please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/gettinghere for updates on how to access the site.

ABOUT ASIAN CANADIAN SPECIAL EVENTS ASSOCIATION
ACSEA continues to create sustainable projects in the areas of arts and culture following three key objectives: stimulating community engagement, fostering new artistic and cultural expression and providing a platform to learn and share. LunarFest started in 2009 and was built to be a Vancouver Winter Olympics legacy event.

ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE
Harbourfront Centre is a Canadian charity operating the 10 prime acres of Toronto’s central waterfront as a free and open public site. We celebrate the multiplicities of cultures that comprise Canada and enliven the city through the creative imaginations of artists from across the country and around the globe.
 
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