Maggie Groat, portal, found paper, 2023

Visit scotiabankcontactphoto.com for information on 170+ exhibitions and programs in this year’s Festival, taking place from May 1-31. The 2023 Festival Catalogue and Guide will be available the last week of April.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the 27th annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival! Emphasizing the festive in festival, we are excited to gather as a community to celebrate the myriad poetic and surprising ways that lens-based media is used by artists. The continuous growth and evolution of the festival is fueled by the artists we work with, whose photographic practices we seek to share and nurture through CONTACT’s expansive reach and community support.

2023 marks 20 years of CONTACT’s public art program—an initiative that we are proud to continuously cultivate. We are excited to share that this year includes over 20 outdoor projects that bring the work of local and international artists and curators into dialogue with the public, outside of the confines of the white cube gallery. These projects are part of the vast array of exhibitions that together make up the festival’s Core Program, which extends throughout the GTA. The Core Program is built through the work of the organizations that we are fortunate to partner and build community with; the dynamism and important programming produced by these museums, galleries, and artist-run centres steeps the city in a conceptually rich and diverse ecosystem of lens-based art for the duration of the festival and beyond.

Alongside the Core Program, the Open Call Exhibitions extend this wide net of connectivity throughout the city, foregrounding the infinite ways that camera technology can be employed and exhibited. These programs foster important nodes of connection for the festival through grassroots initiatives that continue to grow and strengthen the CONTACT community.

Please join us at the Festival Launch Party on Friday, April 28, at The Image Centre (33 Gould St) from 7-10pm. Free and open to the public!

All of the Festival’s exhibitions and programs are free of charge and open to the public (with some exceptions at major museums). CONTACT endeavours to make the Festival inclusive and accessible to all, however, due to the community-generated nature of some elements of the Festival, not all venues are able to accommodate specific accessibility needs. Contact us or specific venues for any enquiries. Please respect and plan for continuing COVID precautions at participating venues.

CONTACT is made possible by the generous support of title sponsor Scotia Wealth Management and the Festival’s many funders, donors, and partners. We thank them for their participation in the Festival’s 27th edition.

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
80 Spadina Ave, Suite 205
Toronto, Ontario M5V 2J4
416 539 9595
info@scotiabankcontactphoto.com
scotiabankcontactphoto.com
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CONTACT is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to celebrating and fostering the art and profession of photography with an annual Festival in May and year-round programming in the CONTACT Gallery. CONTACT embraces an inclusive and accessible approach to the medium, and cultivates collaborations with and among artists, curators, institutions, and organizations.

CONTACT is generously supported by Scotia Wealth Management, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso, Toronto Image Works, The Gilder, Transcontinental PLM, 3M Canada, Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers, Four By Eight Signs, Beyond Digital Imaging, Saman Design, The Globe and Mail, CBC Toronto, British Journal of Photography, Hyperallergic, Aperture, Contemporary And, Momus, Art Papers, and NOW Magazine.

CONTACT gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and all of our funders, donors, and programming partners.