Bruce Hutchison is the Director of Marketing and Media Relations at Harbourfront. On October 13, 2011, he came to speak to CEMA members about Harbourfront.
In 1991 Harbourfront became a cultural institution with ten acres of land, the Radisson Hotel and Queen’s Quay on their site. Since that time, the City of Toronto has come to own the land and negotiated a 99 year lease with Harbourfront. It is an investment that has been good for the city, generating 135 million dollars to the economy each year.
Harbourfront is unique. It has a multidisciplinary, multilingual and multicultural approach and often, all at the same time, as their programming schedule indicates. They work with 450 cultural groups throughout the year, with international dance theatre, cooking schools, authors’ festival, HarbourKids, and so much more.
On December 10, 2011, CEMA will hold their annual Awards Gala at Harbourfront. We hope you can join us.
Bruce Huthcinson Bio:
Bruce Hutchinson has been active in arts and cultural marketing and communications for over 30 years. After graduating with a Masters degree he worked for the University of Western Ontario before he began in marketing and publicity for the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. While there he was fortunate to work with artistic directors William Hutt, Bernard Hopkins and Robin Phillips. After leaving the Grand he returned some seven years later as Director of Communications to work with artistic director Martha Henry. Bruce has also worked with Orchestra London, London Historical Museums Association, the National Ballet of Canada and the original Ballet Opera House Corporation. Since 1994 he has worked at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto where he currently is Director, Marketing and Media Relations. He is responsible for the marketing, media relations and publicity, promotions, box office and information services for this busy 10-acre site which presents over 4,000 events each year and attracts in excess of 13 million visits annually. While with Harbourfront Centre he has worked on many major projects, including such international expositions as Today’s Japan and SUPERDANISH, as well as World Leaders the ground-breaking celebration of international artists who have had a transformational impact on culture. Signature Harbourfront Centre programmes include the World Stage international presentations of theatre, dance and performance art; the series of weekend summer festivals which bring hundreds of thousands of people to the waterfront to experience contemporary world culture in all its dimensions; countless cultural community festivals; HarbourKIDS series of family festivals which celebrate the contributions and impact of children and youth within society; NextSteps contemporary dance season spanning the incredible range of local dance presentations; School Visits educational programmes which attract over 40 thousand students to the waterfront to explore arts, craft and cultural explorations; multiple visual arts exhibition spaces and craft studios with resident artists working in full view of the public; a 10-acre waterfront site with dozens of activities ranging from canoeing, kayaking and sailing, harbour boat tours, shopping and dining experiences, boardwalks and marinas.
