DEADLINE EXTENDED: IdeasCity Toronto Open Call for Ideas

July 19, 2018

DEADLINE EXTENDED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018

Do you have an idea that will change Toronto? An idea that will foster connections, strengthen neighbourhood exchanges, reshape infrastructure, and diversify the city’s current landscape?

If so, The Bentway and the New Museum invite you to pitch your ideas for the future city. If successful, you will present your pitch to a distinguished panel of judges at IdeasCity Toronto on September 15, 2018 and will have the opportunity to run a coached crowdfunding campaign through Patronicity.

Submit your idea online >>

Download the submission form >>

On Saturday, September 15, 2018 The Bentway and the New Museum present IdeasCity Toronto, the next edition of the New Museum’s IdeasCity high-profile platform exploring the future of cities with art and culture as driving forces. This day-long event will bring together cultural innovators and creative practitioners from Toronto and beyond to reflect on Toronto as a City of Cities – a web of highly individual neighborhoods, united by a singular municipality.

IdeasCity Toronto will feature panel discussions, keynote lectures, workshops, conversations, and performances. The day will also include a pitch session of bold ideas, designs, and strategies for reshaping the future city of Toronto in new and progressive ways.

IDEASCITY TORONTO

Toronto is rightfully designated a City of Cities – a web of highly individual neighbourhoods, united by a singular municipality. Today, twenty years after the city’s amalgamation, how are the neighbourhoods evolving and do they bring energy to the whole? What challenges and opportunities can be found within the cultural, economic, and infrastructural properties of the multi-faceted city? What role do design and culture play in connecting communities and fostering exchange between neighbourhoods?

OPEN CALL FOR IDEAS

The Bentway and the New Museum invite emerging and small cultural organizations, collectives, and practitioners to reflect on Toronto as a City of Cities and pitch their ideas for the future city. Proposals should highlight new or existing projects that foster connections, strengthen neighbourhood exchanges, reshape Toronto’s infrastructure, and diversify the city’s current landscape. Ideas should be bold and inventive, but supported by a strong plan for implementation. Past pitch participants have included interdisciplinary pioneers in sectors such as visual art, education, planning, programming, technology, and environmental design, such as the LowLine, +Pool and New Lab.

At IdeasCity Toronto on September 15, 2018, successful applicants will pitch their project and receive live feedback from a multidisciplinary jury of high-profile art and culture makers. Pitch applications will be reviewed by a selection committee of team members from the Bentway, New Museum and Centre for Social Innovation. The Bentway and the New Museum will work closely with the successful applicants in preparation for the pitch session. In addition, successful applicants will be awarded the opportunity to run a coached crowdfunding campaign through Patronicity, a civic-crowdfunding platform, that includes administrative and technical assistance to build an engaging online fundraising campaign to advance their initiative and expand the project’s audience.

PROPOSAL COMPONENTS

Along with a brief application form, please submit a 10-page illustrated pitch-deck that details the project idea, development of the project to date, any relevant precedents, and the overall project model. The deck should demonstrate how your project addresses the City of Cities theme, the project’s relevance to your organization’s immediate community, and how the project would benefit from participating in IdeasCity Toronto.

Completed project proposals should include the following materials:

  • Illustrated project pitch-deck (no larger than 5gb)
  • Completed project application form
SELECTION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • The perceived strength of the proposed project and its potential for impact
  • The project’s relevance to Toronto at this moment in the city’s evolution
  • A demonstrated plan for the project’s implementation
  • The ability to effectively respond to the festival theme and overarching questions

Submit your idea online >>

Download the submission form >>