INSTITUT 020 | Ukrainian Film Industry at TIFF: The Market
Ukrainian cinema goes underground for one night during TIFF.
The Ukrainian National Stand at TIFF: The Market and INSTITUT SVI bring together Ukrainian filmmakers, producers, international industry professionals, partners and friends of Ukrainian cinema for drinks, snacks, conversation and whatever connections come out of it.
Teams behind films at TIFF connected to Ukraine will be in the room. Come meet the people making, producing and bringing Ukrainian cinema to audiences internationally - in a relaxed setting as opposed to another industry reception.
Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
SEPTEMBER 14 | 7:00 PM
UKRAINIAN FILM INDUSTRY NIGHT
INSTITUT at SVI | 620 SPADINA AVE
Private event.
Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival
North America's largest Ukrainian festival
Celebrating 30 years of amazing Ukrainian culture, join us September 18-20, 2026
The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival welcomes you to come and enjoy everything the Ukrainian culture has to offer. Discover Ukrainian culture in Canada and share the Ukrainian spirit at North America’s largest Ukrainian Street Festival.
Find us at the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival.
Check back for more details.
INSTITUT 021 | concert | GORDIY STARUKH (UA)
Ancient Ukrainian lirnyk tradition through hurdy-gurdy, voice and electronics; ritual sound with a modern pulse.
A special one for us. A special guest, all our friends, one night underground.
GORDIY STARUKH is in Toronto for one night only - Ukrainian lirnyk, luthier and one-man band making a sound nobody else really does. Hurdy-gurdy, voice, synths and percussion. Old Ukrainian songs with enough electronics and rhythm to make the word "folk" slightly misleading.
KRYVA KOSA opens the night with village songs, crooked rhythms and enough folk to get us properly warmed up.
It also happens to be the last night of the Toronto Ukrainian Festival. So yes, this is the unofficial afterparty. Three days of Ukrainian everything and then down into the basement for a hurdy-gurdy and electronic set. Obviously.
This is part of INSTITUT's UKRAINIAN HERITAGE MONTH volume - music, film, art and story, all Ukrainian for this showcase month.
Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
One night in Toronto. Don't overthink it.
TRADITIONAL STAMPING VYBIIKA Workshop with Olha Tkachenko
TRADITIONAL STAMPING VYBIIKA
Workshop with Olha Tkachenko
Discover the traditional Ukrainian art of vybiika block printing and create your own patterned eco-tote using simple potato stamps inspired by folk motifs.
$40/participant • Ages 12+ • All supplies included
Instructor Olha Tkachenko is a Canadian-Ukrainian artist based in Toronto with a formal Fine Arts education from Ukraine. With over 15 years of experience as a freelance illustrator and artist, she has developed a versatile practice that blends classic media with rich Ukrainian folklore techniques.
Register at umcontario.eventbrite.com
Presented by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch
INSTITUT 022: КОЛО ВІКОН | BY THE WINDOW
an immersive ukrainian culinary moment hosted by Mark Marczyk and Yulia Zdobyliak
In the lace curtains by the window of your grandmother’s house, there is another world.
A world of dreams and memories, where children disappear between layers of lace as though flying through clouds, waiting for familiar voices to call them back to the dinner table.
It’s the world of the old Ukrainian lullaby Ой ходить сон коло вікон:
Dream wanders by the window, while Sleep lingers by the gate…
But in Ukrainian folklore, the dream is rarely only sweet.
It’s beautiful and strange. Dark and playful. The ordinary slips easily into the supernatural.
A bowl of soup.
A piece of bread.
A song.
A shadow behind a curtain.
A drawing on the table.
Each can become a window to somewhere else.
КОЛО ВІКОН / BY THE WINDOW is a 30-minute passage through that window.
We begin with a drink at INSTITUT. Then we lead you somewhere else—through lace, projected film, shadow and sound—to a long table set for 20.
The food will already be waiting.
There will be soup.
There will be bread.
There will be music and story.
There will be charcoal and a place to draw your dreams.
You don’t need to know how to draw.
You only need to leave a mark.
COME. SIT. LISTEN. EAT. DRAW. LEAVE… SOMETHING BEHIND.
Yuliia Zdobyliak and her team cook the food of home with a dreamy twist, while Mark Marczyk builds ambient folk symphonies around the room.
Give us 30 minutes.
We’ll feed you.
You get lost in the dream by the window.
And then we send you back.
***
Vegetarian? Write to Anya.institut@gmail.com after purchasing your ticket and we’ll make sure there’s a bowl waiting for you. Unfortunately, we’re unable to accommodate other dietary restrictions.
INSTITUT 023 | Kryva Kosa | Candlelight Poetry Night – SERHII TITOV & KIRILL SAVRANSKY
Intimate evening of poetry and piano melodies, set in a warm glow of candlelight
Love poems in a basement, piano in the dark and probably more candles than we usually allow underground.
Vol 23: KRYVA KOSA starts at 7PM and is PWYC. At 9PM, SERHII TITOV and KIRILL SAVRANSKY take over the room for a ticketed candlelight night of poetry and piano. RSVP for the residency so we know who to expect.
***
7:00 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA BAND (WORKSHOP)
9:00 PM | POETRY + MUSIC | SERHII TITOV x KIRILL SAVRANSKY
***
SERHII TITOV is a Ukrainian poet with a raw, postmodern voice, writing about the things we feel but don't always say out loud. His work has appeared in Dzvin and across Ukrainian literary media, with selected poems published in German translation.
KIRILL SAVRANSKY is a Toronto-based pianist, DJ and composer moving between piano improvisation, electronic sound and cinematic textures.
Dramatic reading: Black Panther and Polar Bear
Dramatic Reading: Black Panther and Polar Bear
VITA ART is a Toronto-based theatre company founded by Ukrainian actor and director Sandrina Nei, bringing Ukrainian dramatic literature to Canadian audiences through contemporary professional productions. Black Panther & Polar Bear, presented in collaboration with Zahrava Theatre, is its debut production and opens in Toronto on September 26.
A staged reading of selected scenes from a Ukrainian psychological drama exploring love, family, responsibility, and difficult choices. A sick child, an unfinished painting and a marriage being pushed to its limits.
VITA ART reads selected scenes from Volodymyr Vynnychenko's 1911 psychological drama Black Panther & Polar Bear ahead of its Toronto premiere later this month. Presented in English, the play follows artist Korniy "Polar Bear" Kanevych and his wife Rita, the "Black Panther," as a disagreement over art turns into a much harder question of love, family, responsibility and what we're willing to sacrifice for any of them.
This is part of INSTITUT's UKRAINIAN HERITAGE MONTH volume - music, film, art and story, all Ukrainian for this showcase month. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
Come early for a panel on Ukrainian libraries, museums and archives at 6 PM. Both are PWYC, but RSVP so we know who to expect.
HISTORY UNDER FIRE: Libraries, Museums and Archives
The Role of Ukrainian Museums, Libraries and Archives in Cultural Preservation
What it means to preserve a culture when its books, archives and museums are being deliberately targeted.
Experts from the SVI Library, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada - Ontario Branch, and the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre get together underground to talk about how librarians, archivists and curators are fighting to preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage - and why that matters more than ever.
Anastasia Baczynskyj holds a Master's Degree from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Ukrainian Canadian History. Served in leadership roles in the Ukrainian community in Toronto for over 20 years. SVI's current librarian and print culture advocate.
Roman Waschuk is a former ambassador to Ukraine from Canada. Recovering lapsed historian and archives enthusiast.
Marta Bozdek has a keen interest in Ukrainian cultural heritage artifacts and museum collections management. Started as a volunteer at UMCO and eventually joined the UMCO board in order to help grow and sustain our Museum’s mission, which is to collect, preserve, celebrate, and share Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Ukrainian Heritage Month in Ontario
Ukrainian Heritage Month in Ontario
Showcasing Ukrainian culinary heritage this September through exhibitions, publications, and INSTITUT programming, St. Volodymyr Institute (SVI) is Toronto's home for Ukrainian culture — library, archive, art, language classes, and more (@institut.to). Home to a student residence and 10+ Ukrainian-Canadian organizations.
Ukrainian Heritage Month in Ontario was officially proclaimed through the Ukrainian Heritage Month Act (Bill 215), which received Royal Assent on December 19, 2024.
Each September, communities across Ontario recognize and celebrate the history, heritage, and contributions of Ukrainian Canadians through educational, cultural, artistic, and community initiatives.
This year's theme, Culinary Heritage of Ukraine, highlights the traditions, regional diversity, and cultural significance of Ukrainian cuisine while recognizing the important role food plays in preserving heritage, strengthening communities, and sharing Ukrainian culture with future generations.
The project is an initiative of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Ontario Provincial Council (UCC-OPC), led by Liliya Gulych, Chair of the Ukrainian Heritage Month in Ontario Committee.
INSTITUT 018 | Kryva Kosa x Tara Moneka (IQ) × Juana Go-Go
This is the closing set of VOLUME 18 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
Come early for KRYVA KOSA at 5PM and Tara Moneka's album release at 7PM. But RSVP even though it's PWYC so we know who to expect.
5 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA
Traditional Balkan, Baltic, and Slavic village folk music for dance in an open acoustic rehearsal. Easy songs for curious musicians. Easy listening for thirsty conversationalists.
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
RSVP
7 PM | CONCERT | Tara Moneka
Black Iraqi artist blending Afro-Sufi, Arabic, Jazz, Soul, Maqam, and Afrobeat into a dialogue of memory, resilience, and exchange
An evening with Black Iraqi artist Tara Moneka, whose music bridges Afro-Sufi, Arabic, and diasporic traditions through jazz, soul, maqam, and Afrobeat. Joined by her all-female Afro-Arab fusion group, she creates a powerful dialogue of memory, resilience, and cultural exchange.
TARA MONEKA is a Black Iraqi singer whose music bridges Afro-Sufi, Arabic, and Swahili traditions with jazz, soul, funk, blues, maqam, and Afrobeat. Born in Baghdad and raised in a Sufi family, she performs in multiple languages and leads Dijlah, an all-female Afro-Arab fusion group exploring music as a space for cultural exchange and women's voices.
RSVP
9 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | JUANA GO-GO
Latin grooves, rare vinyl, and global rhythms carried across borders. Juana Go-Go closes the night with a set connecting memory, diaspora, and movement.
JUANA GO-GO is a Toronto-based DJ, vinyl selector, and cultural curator whose sets explore Latin and global musical traditions through storytelling, rare records, and dance-floor ritual. She is the co-founder of Sonic Sancocho, a platform bringing together live music, DJ culture, and community through collective listening.
RSVP
INSTITUT 017 | UA THEATRE SALON x Banned Ukrainian Poetic Cinema x ADEWOLF × Johny Westcoast (UA)
This is the heart of VOLUME 17 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
Stick around — Legend of Princess Olha screens at 7 PM, Adewolf takes the stage at 9 PM, and Johnny Westcoast closes the night on vintage vinyl at 11PM. But RSVP even though it's PWYC so we know who to expect.
5 PM | UA THEATRE SALON | After the Front: New Short Plays About Veterans
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Directed by Mariya Khomutova, After the Front presents three short plays developed through the Theatre of Playwrights in Kyiv with frontline defenders: A Text for Theatre by Antonina Romanova, Balance by Alina Sarnatska, and New York: 38° by Oleksandr Zhuhan.
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7:00 PM | FILM | Legend of Princess Olha (Yuri Illienko, 1983) — curated by Pylyp Ilienko
History becomes myth. Myth becomes memory. Yuri Illienko's final film in our banned Ukrainian Poetic Cinema series reimagines one of the most enduring figures in Ukrainian history.
PYLYP ILLIENKO is a Kyiv-born filmmaker and the son of director Yuri Illienko. He served as Head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency from 2014–2019, overseeing the support of hundreds of productions. He is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy, the European Film Academy, and the National Union of Filmmakers of Ukraine, and has served as Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Film Academy. He is presenting tonight's film as part of an ongoing effort to bring Ukrainian Poetic Cinema to new audiences.
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9:00 PM | CONCERT | Adewolf (NG)
Lagos and Vancouver. Afrobeats, hip-hop, R&B, and soul. Stories of migration, memory, and belonging through the language of rhythm.
ADEWOLF is a Nigerian-Canadian artist based in Vancouver and the creator of Afrohop—a blend of Afrobeats, hip-hop, R&B, and soul. Raised in Lagos, his songwriting explores identity, migration, and nostalgia through contemporary African sounds.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | JOHNNY WESTCOAST (UA)
Classic Ukrainian recordings, forgotten gems, and dance-floor favourites from across the decades. Johnny Westcoast closes the night with a vintage Ukrainian vinyl party.
Johnny Westcoast spins an all-vinyl selection celebrating the breadth of Ukrainian popular music, from classics and deep cuts to unexpected discoveries.
RSVP
Fantastic Beasts Workshop with Olha Tkachenko
The Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch invites you to discover the vibrant world of Ukrainian naïve artist Maria Prymachenko (1908–1997) and paint your own fantastic beast inspired by her imaginative folk art.
$40/participant • Ages 12+ • All supplies included
Instructor Olha Tkachenko is a Canadian-Ukrainian artist based in Toronto with a formal Fine Arts education from Ukraine. With over 15 years of experience as a freelance illustrator and artist, she has developed a versatile practice that blends classic media with rich Ukrainian folklore techniques.
Ukrainian Art Song Project
Join us for an incredible afternoon of Ukrainian Art Songs featuring the participants from the 2026 Ukrainian Art Song Summer Institute held at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
This is a rare opportunity to hear eight extraordinary emerging artists as they interpret the works of Ukrainian composers, including Vasyl Barvinsky, Stanyslav Liudkevych, Mykola Lysenko, Yakiv Stepovy, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Stefania Turkewich and Myroslav Volynsky.
Learn more: https://ukrainianartsong.ca/
Featured artists:
Leah Brooks (Soprano), Juliana Hentosz (Soprano), Sadie Karlsson (Soprano), Quin Lang (Piano),
Tania Mandzy Inala (Mezzo-Soprano), Carter Martin (Tenor), Olivia Smart (Soprano), and Andrew Whiteside (Tenor)
We hope that this performance will move you to support the work of the Ukrainian Art Song Project as we strive to preserve Ukrainian culture during these challenging times.
INSTITUT 016 | KRYVA KOSA x TAMAR ILANA x TAREK FUNK × NASTASIA Y x SHAUNT RAFFI
This is the heart of VOLUME 16 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...
Come early for an open folk session with KRYVA KOSA at 5PM. Stick around — Nastasia Y takes the stage at 9PM, followed by Shaunt Raffi on vintage vinyl at 11PM. But RSVP even though it's PWYC so we know who to expect.
5 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Open Rehearsals: A bi-weekly rehearsal open to everyone who wants to learn folk dance tunes from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures. Learning material available online beforehand. During rehearsals we play, sing and dance to folky tunes without extensive teaching — creating an enjoyable atmosphere and learning environment.
RSVP
7:00 PM | LIVE SCORE | TAMAR ILANA × Blancanieves (Pablo Berger, 2012)
Vocal looping, Sephardic song, flamenco, and Indigenous motifs accompany Pablo Berger's reimagining of Snow White in 1920s Andalusia.
TAMAR ILANA is a Canadian Folk Music Award–nominated singer, flamenco dancer, improviser, and bandleader of Ventanas. Drawing on musical traditions from across the Mediterranean and Balkans, she performs in more than twenty languages. For Blancanieves, she creates a live improvised score using voice, percussion, and a loop station, making each performance unique.
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9:00 PM | CONCERT | Nastasia Y
Ancient songs. Modern grooves. Kyiv and Toronto heard through the same voice.
NASTASIA Y is a Kyiv-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter whose music bridges Ukrainian folk traditions with soul, jazz, and electronic production. Her debut album Kyiv Soul, co-produced with Grammy Award winner Justin Gray, earned two Canadian Folk Music Award nominations and recognition from CBC and World Music Charts Europe.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | SHAUNT RAFF
From Armenian folk to Ethio-jazz, desert blues and beyond. Shaunt Raffi closes the night with a vinyl set built on curiosity, tradition, and deep listening.
SHAUNT RAFFI is a Toronto-based Armenian music curator, DJ, and producer. He curates Tapestry Jam, an improvised music series, and hosts Sonic Salon, exploring experimental and boundary-pushing sounds. Through projects including Antikka, The Oud & the Fuzz, and Tapestry, he creates spaces where music, community, and cultural exchange meet.
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Ukrainian Canadian Folk Medicine: Herbs & Healing Rituals Presention by Dionne Jennings
Let’s talk about Ukrainian folk medicine! Or more specifically: Ukrainian Canadian folk medicine.
How did our early Ukrainian ancestors stay healthy? What were some of their traditional medicines? Some of their health struggles?
What did they bring over with them through the first wave from Bukovyna and Halychyna (plants, knowledge, and more) and what did they learn from other community groups when they arrived here on Turtle Island, the land we call Canada?
Let’s explore all this and more. In a presentation and community conversation hosted and facilitated by Ukrainian Canadian Community Herbalist, Dionne Jennings, we will:
Explore the context in which folk healing and herbal medicine were used by the early settlers in Canada
Discuss folk healing practices like herbal medicine, wax pouring (strakh vylyvaty), egg rolling, bonesetting, and more
Learn about healing practices for physical vs. “non-physical” or psycho-spiritual ailments
Discuss healing and plant-centred rituals that stuck in Canada and those that didn’t
Discuss some culturally significant plants to Ukrainian Canadians (then and now)
Share some community stories related to plants and herbs in Canada
Do you have a memory from your family or community around using or growing herbs, home remedies, plant medicine, wax healing, the evil eye or more? Please bring it–we welcome you to share your stories.
Join us!
INSTITUT 015 | LeWolf x DJ BRIGADIER SHAZBAD x DAVID SAIT x A DAY OFF
VOLUME 15 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5:00 PM | PANEL | Afro-Beat in Ableton with LeWolf
Three tracks. One Ableton session. Congolese-Canadian producer LeWolf opens the project files from his recent Los Angeles recordings, breaking down rhythm, arrangement, and the making of Afrobeat in real time.
LEWOLF is a Congolese-Canadian producer and DJ whose work draws on Afro-house, Afrobeat, and dance music traditions from across the African diaspora. His sets move fluidly between contemporary club sounds and global grooves, guided by rhythm, texture, and movement.
RSVP
7:00 PM | LIVE SCORE | DAVID SAIT × A Day Off (Lee Man-hee, 1968)
A Chinese guzheng. A Korean modernist masterpiece. One of the country's most celebrated lost films, reimagined through live improvisation.
DAVID SAIT is a Canadian composer and improviser whose work centers on the guzheng, a 21-string Chinese zither with more than 2,000 years of history. Through alternative playing techniques, custom tunings, and interdisciplinary collaborations, he has developed a contemporary voice for the instrument across experimental, improvised, and cross-cultural performance.
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9:00 PM | LIVE SCORE | DJ BRIGADIER SHAZBAD × The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1967)
Revolutionary cinema. Classic dub on vinyl. One of the defining films of anti-colonial resistance, reimagined through a live analog soundtrack.
DJ BRIGADIER SHAZBAD is a selector, curator, and organizer whose all-vinyl sets draw from the places he has lived, including Tkaronto, Banjul, Istanbul, Sulaymaniyah, and Kingston. Blending early Jamaican ska, roots, dub, African jazz, Anatolian rock, Arabic funk, and Qawwali, his work explores the intersections of music, place, and resistance through vinyl and cinema..
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | LeWolf
Afro-house, highlife, soukous, disco, and rhythms that refuse to stay in one place. Congolese-Canadian producer LeWolf closes the night with a vinyl set built for movement.
LEWOLF is a Congolese-Canadian producer and DJ whose work draws on Afro-house, Afrobeat, and dance music traditions from across the African diaspora. His sets move fluidly between contemporary club sounds and global grooves, guided by rhythm, texture, and movement.
RSVP
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'
Every first Sat of the month, May through September, 7:30 PM at Tranzac
Mixing 25+ years of experience in Georgian and Ukrainian traditional polyphonic song with jazz and contemporary improvisation, Andrea Kuzmich (voice, guitar) teams up with some of Toronto's finest creative musicians for an elemental, groove-driven experience. In true folk fashion, expect the stage to dissolve — singing, clapping, dancing, joining in.
INSTITUT 014 | KRYVA KOSA x White Bird with a Black Mark x TAREK FUNK × Lawrence of Arabia
VOLUME 14 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Open Rehearsals: A bi-weekly rehearsal open to everyone who wants to learn folk dance tunes from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures. Learning material available online beforehand. During rehearsals we play, sing and dance to folky tunes without extensive teaching — creating an enjoyable atmosphere and learning environment.
RSVP
7:00 PM | BANNED UA POETIC CINEMA | White Bird with a Black Mark
Set in a Carpathian village during World War II, the film follows the fate of four brothers divided by war and love.
Mountains divide a family. War divides four brothers. One of the defining works of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema returns to the screen, where folklore, history, and personal tragedy become inseparable.
PYLYP ILLIENKO is a Kyiv-born filmmaker and the son of director Yuri Illienko. He served as Head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency from 2014–2019, overseeing the support of hundreds of productions. He is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy, the European Film Academy, and the National Union of Filmmakers of Ukraine, and has served as Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Film Academy. He is presenting tonight's film as part of an ongoing effort to bring Ukrainian Poetic Cinema to new audiences.
RSVP
9:00 PM | LIVE SCORE | TAREK FUNK × Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
An epic crossing of the desert. Arabic trip-hop. Live woodwind looping against one of cinema's most enduring landscapes.
TAREK FUNK is a Syrian Palestinian multi-instrumentalist, MC, and bandleader whose work moves between Arabic folk, hip-hop, Afrobeat, funk, cumbia, and experimental jazz. Since 2007, he has toured extensively across Canada, bringing a deeply improvisational approach to stages ranging from DIY venues to major festivals.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | EUGENE PAUL
Ukrainian DJ Eugene Paul closes the night with a deep, hypnotic selection of minimal house and understated rhythms.
Eugene Paul is a Ukrainian DJ and producer based in Toronto. With over a decade behind the decks and a former residency at Echo Bay Club in Chongqing, China, his sound is rooted in minimal, deep techno, and house.
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World Embroidery Day
World Embroidery Day 🌎🧵
Did you know July 30 is World Embroidery Day? Join the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch as we celebrate this global day of stitching, creativity, and connection.
Drop in anytime for all-day embroidery circles in the lobby of 620 Spadina Avenue — bring an unfinished project, start something new, or try your hand at one of our Stitch the Museum patterns (kits will be available in the Boutique!).
Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned stitcher, everyone is welcome to thread a needle and take part in this beautiful tradition.
INSTITUT 013 | UA Theatre Salon x JOSHUA CUZZO x BRANDON MORAN x CUTE x FAIYAZ AND THE WASTED CHANCES x DJ BABS
VOLUME 13 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5 PM | UA THEATRE SALON | Witnessing War
Ukrainian plays since February 2022. Directed by Andrew Kushnir
An assemblage of short works written since the full scale invasion of February 2022 – Ukraine’s leading dramatists reaching out to us, as they make sense of a world shattered and reformed.
LIANNA MAKUCH is a second generation Ukrainian Canadian theatre artist who has traveled several times to Ukraine to research and develop her plays Barvinok and Alina. She received a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction for her directorial debut, First Métis Man of Odesa, which has been seen on stages nationwide. Her work has taken her to the Stratford Festival, the Banff Centre, the Citadel Theatre, and MacEwan University. She has been honoured as one of UDonation International's 50 Canadian Fellows of Ukraine, received Ukrainian Canadian Congress Leadership Awards, and her theatre work has been referenced in the House of Commons.
ANDREW KUSHNIR is a Canadian playwright, director, performer, teacher and community arts worker based in Toronto. He is artistic director of Project: Humanity, a socially-engaged theatre company where much of his documentary theatre work is done. The inaugural recipient of the Shevchenko Foundation REACH artist residency, he was named one of ten Canadian Artists of the Year by the Globe and Mail in 2023. In 2024 he received the Dora Award for Outstanding Direction and the Toronto Theatre Critics' Award for Best Director of a Play.
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7 PM | PANEL/FILM | JOSHUA CUZZO x BRANDON MORAN
Icelandic Punk History. Presented by WAVELENGTH.
A museum inside a former public toilet in Reykjavík. An aging punk. Buffalo filmmakers Brandon Moran and Joshua Cozzo present excerpts from their forthcoming documentary and a conversation on memory, music, and preserving punk against the odds.
BRANDON MORAN is a Buffalo-based cinematographer, director, and founder of Buffalo Above Films. His work spans documentary and commercial filmmaking, with a focus on character-driven stories and community-based projects.
JOSHUA COZZO is a Buffalo-based photographer, filmmaker, and founder of Memento Academy, an organization bringing photography education to students across New York. He has spent the past decade teaching high school in New York City.
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8PM | FILM | NOT DEAD YET (1984)
Toronto's punk underground. DIY venues. Basement shows. A raw portrait of a scene that helped define a generation. Not Dead Yet (1984) returns to the screen, presented by WAVELENGTH.
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9 PM | CONCERT | CUTE
Hamilton hardcore in the dark; presented by WAVELENGTH
Hamilton's industrial edge. Noise pushed to its limits. Hardcore that is as crushing as it is meditative.
CUTE is a Hamilton-based hardcore band shaped by the city's industrial landscape and records once considered unlistenable by their peers. Their music moves between crushing intensity and meditative restraint
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10 PM | CONCERT | FAIYAZ AND THE WASTED CHANCES
Migraine-inducing garage. Vintage guitars. Maximum volume. Toronto trio Faiyaz and the Wasted Chances bring blistering punk energy underground.
FAIYAZ AND THE WASTED CHANCES are a Toronto-based garage punk trio blending vintage guitar tones, proto-punk energy, and a steadfast DIY ethos. Known for explosive live performances, they have become a fixture of Toronto's independent music community through grassroots organizing and relentless shows.
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11 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | DJ BABS
From Blondie to Justice. Blur to The Rapture. Underworld and beyond. DJ Babs closes the night with an all-vinyl journey through decades of underground dance floors.
DJ BABS has been collecting vinyl since childhood and has been DJing in Toronto since the late 1990s. A longtime resident at the Bovine Sex Club and co-host of the all-vinyl monthly Juicebox, her sets move effortlessly between New Wave, Post-Punk, Britpop, Indie Sleaze, Garage, Minimal Synth, and unexpected discoveries.
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INSTITUT 012 | KRYVA KOSA, RUDY RAY x ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, PUULUUP (ES), KILLABEATMAKER (CO), SHAUNT RAFFI
VOLUME 12 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5:30 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Open Rehearsals: A bi-weekly rehearsal open to everyone who wants to learn folk dance tunes from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures. Learning material available online beforehand. During rehearsals we play, sing and dance to folky tunes without extensive teaching — creating an enjoyable atmosphere and learning environment.
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7:30 PM | LIVE SOUNDTRACK | RUDY RAY x ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (LOUIS MALLE, 1958)
A recreation of the iconic pairing of Miles Davis' trumpet to this crime-noir classic in honour of his 100th birthday
RUDY RAY is a Toronto-based actor and trumpet player, and founder of Rudy Ray & Co, an artist collective that runs a program at Union Station every summer. An official recording trumpet player for the Wu-Tang Clan, Rudy trained first as a neuroscientist at the University of Toronto and takes a strong interest in the importance of mental health in the Black community. As an actor he has appeared on Netflix's Self-Made, Ginny and Georgia, Amazon Prime's American Gods, and Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley. His work with Tobi recently won two Juno Awards for Best Rap Song and Rap Album of the Year.
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9 PM | PUULUUP (ES)
Estonian zombie folk looping talharpa and vocals
Elegantly dressed gentlemen with gloriously deadpan sense of humour, playing the ancient Nordic string instrument talharpa — through effects pedals, weird choreography and made-up languages.
PUULUUP are elegantly dressed gentlemen with gloriously deadpan senses of humour, playing the ancient Nordic string instrument talharpa. They direct the vibrations of the talharpa's horsehair strings through effects using alternative bowing and rhythm techniques, pairing mellow sighs with electronically amplified echoes, knocks, creaks and crackles. Their lyrics combine many languages alongside Puuluup's own made-up language — mostly abstract and open to interpretation — seasoned with weird choreography. Puuluup has performed in around 40 countries, received dozens of awards, and made it to the Eurovision Song Contest finals.
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10 PM | KILLABEATMAKER (CO)
The only Toronto performance from Colombia's ethno-electronic trio blending Indigenous traditions, Afrobeat, Amapiano, and cumbia. Colombian ancestral rhythms. Afrobeat, Amapiano, cumbia, and electronics. One Toronto stop between the summer festival circuit.
KILLABEATMAKER is a Colombian ethno-electronic trio blending Afrobeat, Amapiano, cumbia, and Indigenous Colombian musical traditions through percussion, gaita, beatboxing, rap, live vocals, and electronic production. Following appearances at major festivals and showcases across Europe and the Americas, the band arrives at INSTITUT for its only Toronto performance of the tour.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | SHAUNT RAFFI
Armenian folk, desert blues, ethio jazz
Late night vinyl from a Toronto curator rooted in Armenian and South West Asian and North African sounds — expect the unexpected.
SHAUNT RAFFI is an Armenian music curator, DJ and producer based in Toronto. He is the curator of Tapestry Jam, a monthly improvised music series, and the host of Sonic Salon, a program exploring boundary-pushing sounds. As the founder of Antikka, The Oud & the Fuzz, and Tapestry, Raffi has long built environments where artistry and community intertwine — rooted in a commitment to Armenian, South West Asian and North African cultures while fostering collaboration and experimentation.
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“Ukrainian news/my dead father orders me/to pay attention”: українська література Австралії
Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada and Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre present
"Ukrainian news / my dead father orders me / to pay attention": українська література Австралії в роках 1948-2025
Date/location:
14 липня 2026 р. - 7:00 вечора
В приміщенні Українсько-Канадського Дослідчо-Документаційного Центру,
620 Spadina Ave., Toronto
Speaker bio:
Доповідач: Марко Павлишин
– професор-емерит з українознавства в Університеті ім. Монаша (Мельбурн, Австралія). Його наукова спеціалізація — класична й модерна українська література. Серед його публікацій – "Ukrainian Literature: A Wartime Guide for Anglophone Readers" (Cambridge UP, 2025), книги «Ольга Кобилянська: інтерпретації» (Харків, 2008) та «Канон та іконостас» (Київ, 1997), а також багато наукових статей, розділів та редагованих і співредагованих книг. Марко Павлишин є членом Австралійської академії гуманітарних наук та міжнародним членом Національної академії наук України.
INSTITUT 011 | NATALKA HUSAR x OKSANA HAWRYLAK, TOLEDANO (NS), PAJAROS KILTROS (CL), JUANA GO-GÓ
VOLUME 11 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5:30 PM | PANEL | TANGO, FEVER, PAINT — NATALKA HUSAR x OKSANA HAWRYLAK
A conversation between SVI’s creative director and a Ukrainian-Canadian visual artist on distance, the ineffable, and circling the point.
NATALKA HUSAR was born in New Jersey in 1951 to Ukrainian immigrant parents and has been based in Toronto since 1973. Her work is represented in major public collections including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario, where her painting Torn Heart (1994) is currently on display. Her ceramics are on permanent display at the Gardiner Museum. Her practice draws on Ukrainian culture and history, the émigré experience, and femininity. Most recently, It Takes Three to Tango (Rodovid, 2024) compiles over 550 illustrated letters between a young Husar and Lviv artist Ivan Ostafiychuk — a staged romance that evolved into a layered exchange blurring fiction and reality, offering a portrait of an era and the imagination as a bridge across borders.
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OKSANA HAWRYLAK is the Creative Director of St. Volodymyr Institute, responsible for its artistic vision and co-conceiver of INSTITUT together with Mark Marczyk. She led the project from vision to reality — shaping the space, the identity, and the community that makes it possible. As part of the team behind SVI's broader development project, she is building a new Ukrainian Canadian cultural hub in Toronto. INSTITUT is both a chapter of that future and proof that it's already underway.
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7:30 PM | CONCERT | TOLEDANO (NS)
Moroccan-Sephardic cello-looping with intimate voice notes tracking a woman's journey through confusion, lust, grief, birth and death.
TOLEDANO is the immersive solo project of Moroccan-Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist Blanche Israël, known for her award-winning collaborations with Jeremy Dutcher (JUNO Award, NPR Tiny Desk Concert, Polaris Prize). Rooted in Judeo-Spanish languages and songs, the project reimagines ancestral melodies through cello, electronics, and archival voice recordings. Drawing on deeply personal recordings alongside voices from her family — including her 105-year-old grandmother and her young daughter — TOLEDANO unfolds as a meditation on love, autonomy, motherhood, and the quiet labour of breaking cycles without severing lineage.
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9 PM | CONCERT x LIVE PAINTING | Parajos Kiltros x LunaAzul
Patagonian psych-folk duo. Instrumental fusion from the landscapes of Chilean Patagonia — violin, piano and button accordion in an immersive, elegant sound.
PAJAROS KILTROS is an instrumental fusion project inspired by the nature, beings and landscapes of the Chiloé Archipelago in Chilean Patagonia. Through the melodies of violin, piano and button accordion, they tell moving stories with an immersive, powerful and elegant sound that incorporates world music, folk, progressive rock and jazz. With three albums released, they have performed on important stages in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and China.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | JUANA GO-GÓ
Eclectic vinyl-rooted selections of Latin and global sounds connecting memory, diaspora and movement, presented by Sonic Sancocho
Latin funk, soul, cumbia, salsa and global rhythms — sonic journeys that connect memory, diaspora and movement.
JUANA GO-GÓ is a Toronto-based DJ, vinyl selector and cultural curator known for crafting immersive dance floor experiences rooted in Latin and global sounds. Her sets move as travesías sonoras — sonic journeys that connect memory, diaspora and movement — weaving together Latin funk, soul, cumbia, salsa and global rhythms into dynamic, genre-fluid sets. She is the co-founder of Sonic Sancocho, a hybrid platform and radio show that brings together live music, DJ culture and community ritual. Whether behind the decks or on the airwaves, Juana Go-Gó is driven by a belief in music as a tool for connection — bridging cultures, generations and geographies through rhythm and shared experience.
SONIC SANCOCHO is a Toronto-based cultural platform and radio show founded in 2024 by Olasconola & Juana Go-Gó, rooted in the spirit of Sancocho, a rich, shared Latin American stew. Like the dish, it's layered, collective, and made to bring people together — blending vinyl DJ culture, live performance, and global sounds into immersive, ritual-like gatherings.
RSVP
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'
Every first Sat of the month, May through September, 7:30 PM at Tranzac
Mixing 25+ years of experience in Georgian and Ukrainian traditional polyphonic song with jazz and contemporary improvisation, Andrea Kuzmich (voice, guitar) teams up with some of Toronto's finest creative musicians for an elemental, groove-driven experience. In true folk fashion, expect the stage to dissolve — singing, clapping, dancing, joining in.
INSTITUT 010 | KRYVA KOSA, JANINA MARIE
VOLUME 10 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5PM | DANCE SOCIAL | KRYVA KOSA | RSVP
Open acoustic “rehearsal” of Balkan, Baltic & Slavic village folk for dance; simple songs to learn, easy listening for curious crowds.
A dance social of Balkan, Baltic & Slavic village folk hosted by INSTITUT's resident artists KRYVA KOSA .
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Dance Socials: A community event with live music and taught dances for everyone who wishes to participate. A dance teacher will lead and guide you through the steps — no prior experience needed. The goal is to create a village folk dance experience and nurture living traditions. A great opportunity to socialize and engage with a diversity of cultures.
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11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | JANINA MARIE
A smoky, after-hours blend of Polish and Eastern European funk, disco and new wave cuts.
Funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco and 90s-00s house from a Polish-Canadian record collector and underground fixture.
JANINA MARIE is a Polish-Canadian DJ and record collector and a fixture in Toronto's underground music scene. Known for gliding through an eclectic vinyl collection, her sets span funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco and 90s-00s house. She has performed alongside Waajeed, Lefto Early Bird and Xica Soul, toured across Europe and the USA, and appeared on Brooklyn's The Lot Radio and Poland's Czworka Radio. She is also a founding member of Group Benefits, a multi-genre dance party series dedicated to amplifying women, queer and non-binary artists.
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Closed for Canada Day
Holiday Closure Notice
St. Volodymyr Institute will be closed July 1, 2026 for Canada Day.
We hope you have a festive and enjoyable day.
INSTITUT 009 | UA THEATRE SALON, MAJD SUKAR x AL MUMMIA, SONIC MIRAGE (UA), JUANA GO-GO
VOLUME 9 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
5PM | UA THEATRE SALON | BOMB by Natalka Blok
Surreal dark comedy reading: Dasha, a Ukrainian activist with a bomb inside her that could save Ukraine; directed by Lianna Makuch.
A dramatic reading of a surreal dark comedy about Dasha, a Ukrainian activist with a bomb inside her that could save Ukraine. Directed by Lianna Makuch.
LIANNA MAKUCH is a second generation Ukrainian Canadian theatre artist who has traveled several times to Ukraine to research and develop her plays Barvinok and Alina. She received a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction for her directorial debut, First Métis Man of Odesa, which has been seen on stages nationwide. Her work has taken her to the Stratford Festival, the Banff Centre, the Citadel Theatre, and MacEwan University. She has been honoured as one of UDonation International's 50 Canadian Fellows of Ukraine, received Ukrainian Canadian Congress Leadership Awards, and her theatre work has been referenced in the House of Commons.
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ANDREW KUSHNIR is a Canadian playwright, director, performer, teacher and community arts worker based in Toronto. He is artistic director of Project: Humanity, a socially-engaged theatre company where much of his documentary theatre work is done. The inaugural recipient of the Shevchenko Foundation REACH artist residency, he was named one of ten Canadian Artists of the Year by the Globe and Mail in 2023. In 2024 he received the Dora Award for Outstanding Direction and the Toronto Theatre Critics' Award for Best Director of a Play.
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7PM | LIVE SCORE | MAJD SUKAR x AL MUMMIA (SHADI ABDEL SALAM, 1969)
Ambient pedal-soaked clarinet colouring the Egyptian classic also known as The Night of Counting The Years
A live clarinet improvisation laid over one of Egyptian cinema's most haunting and visually arresting masterworks.
MAJD SUKAR is a Syrian-Canadian clarinetist whose fusion of Middle Eastern folk and classical music with jazz has made him a distinctive voice in the Toronto music scene. A soloist and improviser, he has performed with Robi Botos, Drew Jurecka and Andrew Downing, and has toured over 30 Canadian cities with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra since 2016. He is a member of Romani Jazz, Moneka Arabic Jazz, Fethi Nadjem North African Ensemble and Spiral Modes.
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9 PM | CONCERT | SONIC MIRAGE (UA)
Ukrainian folk traditions refracted through improvisation, drone, and electronic psych-groove. A closer look at the flute not as accompaniment, but as pulse, texture, and unstable signal.
SONIC MIRAGE is the solo project of Toronto-based flutist and improviser Artur Safronov (INSOMNIA). Moving between Ukrainian folk music, free improvisation, and contemporary electronic genres, the project blends acoustic performance with trance, psych-groove, and meditative repetition. Drawing from classical and early Baroque traditions as much as from underground electronic music, Safronov approaches the flute as a live, reactive instrument — something capable of carrying rhythm, atmosphere, and raw emotional movement simultaneously. Each set unfolds differently: layered, intuitive, and shaped entirely in the moment.
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11 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | JUANA GO-GO
Eclectic vinyl-rooted selections of Latin and global sounds connecting memory, diaspora and movement, presented by Sonic Sancocho
Latin funk, soul, cumbia, salsa and global rhythms — sonic journeys that connect memory, diaspora and movement.
JUANA GO-GÓ is a Toronto-based DJ, vinyl selector and cultural curator known for crafting immersive dance floor experiences rooted in Latin and global sounds. Her sets move as travesías sonoras — sonic journeys that connect memory, diaspora and movement — weaving together Latin funk, soul, cumbia, salsa and global rhythms into dynamic, genre-fluid sets. She is the co-founder of Sonic Sancocho, a hybrid platform and radio show that brings together live music, DJ culture and community ritual. Whether behind the decks or on the airwaves, Juana Go-Gó is driven by a belief in music as a tool for connection — bridging cultures, generations and geographies through rhythm and shared experience.
SONIC SANCOCHO is a Toronto-based cultural platform and radio show founded in 2024 by Olasconola & Juana Go-Gó, rooted in the spirit of Sancocho, a rich, shared Latin American stew. Like the dish, it's layered, collective, and made to bring people together — blending vinyl DJ culture, live performance, and global sounds into immersive, ritual-like gatherings.
RSVP
Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch presents TESTAMENT • ZAPOVIT
TESTAMENT • ZAPOVIT
IHOR RODION DMYTRUK
June 21 – October 17, 2026
Testament – Zapovit is the first retrospective of Ihor Rodion Dmytruk (1938–2021), a Ukrainian Canadian artist whose life was shaped by war, displacement, and rebuilding. Born near Lviv, Ukraine and forced to flee Soviet persecution as a child, he later settled in Alberta, where he established a long career as both an artist and influential teacher.
This exhibition displays his work alongside many of the objects that inspired him, drawn from the permanent collection of the Ukrainian Museum of Canada – Ontario Branch. Together, these pieces explore post-WW2 Ukrainian immigration to Canada and aspects of Ukrainian culture that have endured despite Russian efforts to erase them.
Organized by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada (National), Testament – Zapovit premiered in 2024 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and is presented in Toronto by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada – Ontario Branch.
Wavelength @ St. Anne's Block Party
Wavelength @ St. Anne's Block Party
Saturday, June 20 | Gates 4 PM | St. Anne's Parking Lot, 270 Gladstone Ave | Free, all ages
A free outdoor block party in the parking lot off Gladstone, featuring live music, food, art, and local vendors. Day One's lineup runs from jazz improv to electronic ambient pop to African and Arabic folk grooves.
Notable for SVI audiences: MMXKLS – a collaboration between Mark Marczyk (Lemon Bucket Orkestra) and Indigenous singer Kristi Lane Sinclair – takes the stage at 7 PM, co-presented by SVI.
ART AT SVI: Oksana Briukhovetska: In the Name of Life
In the Name of Life
Oksana Briukhovetska
June 2026
Join us on Friday, June 19th, for the opening reception of In the Name of Life, a textile art exhibition by Kyiv-based artist Oksana Briukhovetska.
Working in textile collage, stitching together fabric and found cloth by hand, using craft skills passed down from her grandmother, Briukhovetska builds images that hold generations of women's experience. The works move between memory and the present: her grandmother's survival of the Second World War in the Volyn region, and the ongoing reality of Russia's war against Ukraine today.
The exhibition is dedicated to women, living and those who have passed, and to their often invisible but fundamental work in the name of life.
About Oksana Briukhovetska
Oksana Briukhovetska is an artist, curator, and writer whose practice centres on textile collage and critical writing about Ukrainian contemporary art. Her work engages themes of memory, trauma, women's labour, feminism, solidarity, and decolonization.
She served as a co-curator for the Ukrainian chapter of Secondary Archive, the platform for women artists from Central and Eastern Europe (2021–2024), and as curator at the Martin Roth Initiative residency for Ukrainian women artists (2024–2025), which culminated in the publication and exhibition Meaning after Loss (2025). In 2025, Oksana published Voices of Black Lives Matter, based on interviews conducted with Americans during the 2020–2021 protests. She lives and works in Kyiv.
Click the button below to RSVP for the reception:
INSTITUT 008 | Kryva Kosa, Ukrainian Poetic Cinema, Metropolis x Astoria, Shaunt
VOLUME 8 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
Residency: KRYVA KOSA FOLK BAND
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance and communal exchange. They've performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
Open Rehearsals: A bi-weekly rehearsal open to everyone who wants to learn folk dance tunes from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan and Finno-Ugric cultures. Learning material available online beforehand. During rehearsals we play, sing and dance to folky tunes without extensive teaching — creating an enjoyable atmosphere and learning environment.
RSVP
FILM | "EVE ON IVAN KUPALA" (YURI ILLIENKO, 1968) — BANNED UKRAINIAN POETIC CINEMA curated by PYLYP ILLIENKO
A visually stunning metaphoric tale of folklore, surreal imagery and the forces a man unleashes in pursuit of wealth — banned Ukrainian Poetic Cinema curated by Pylyp Illienko.
Vol 8: A poor Cossack makes a pact with the devil and is gradually destroyed by the forces he unleashes. Drawing on folklore and surreal imagery, Yuri Illienko's Eve on Ivan Kupala is a masterwork of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema — banned on release, and presented tonight by the director's son.
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9:30 PM | LIVE SCORE | ASTORIA x METROPOLIS (1927)
A synth-driven, Piazzolla-tinged reimagining of a dystopian sci-fi world split between elite luxury above and a brutal underworld below
Set in a futuristic city divided between industrial labour and elite control, Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) remains one of the defining works of early science fiction cinema.
A mechanized dystopia where bodies become extensions of machines — and resistance emerges through fracture, rhythm, and repetition.
ASTORIA is a Toronto-based, producer-driven project working across tango, synth-driven composition, house, and Latin music.Built around the work of Jonathan Gejtman, the project draws from a background spanning film, television, and advertising — recontextualizing traditional forms through electronic production.Referencing the legacy of Astor Piazzolla while moving into a more synthetic, rhythm-forward language, ASTORIA treats composition as structure — something that can be looped, fractured, and rebuilt in real time.
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11 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | SHAUNT RAFFI
Late night vinyl from a Toronto curator rooted in Armenian and South West Asian and North African sounds — expect the unexpected.
SHAUNT RAFFI is an Armenian music curator, DJ and producer based in Toronto. He is the curator of Tapestry Jam, a monthly improvised music series, and the host of Sonic Salon, a program exploring boundary-pushing sounds. As the founder of Antikka, The Oud & the Fuzz, and Tapestry, Raffi has long built environments where artistry and community intertwine — rooted in a commitment to Armenian, South West Asian and North African cultures while fostering collaboration and experimentation.
RSVP
INSTITUT 007 | Graham Bowley x Alexandra Shkandrij, Les Passagers x La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z, Mira Méla
VOLUME 7 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
Stick around — the night goes deep. Panel at 7PM, live score at 9:30PM, vinyl til close. RSVP even though it's PWYC so we know who to expect.
Panel | Graham Bowley x Alexandra Shkandrij
GRAHAM BOWLEY is an investigative reporter at The New York Times originally from Leicester, UK. He holds a Master's in Economics from the University of Oxford and previously worked at the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune before joining the Times. He is also the author of No Way Down: Life and Death on K2. At the Times, Bowley has become one of the leading journalists covering the art world, with a particular focus on looting, provenance, and the ethics of museum collections. His reporting spans seizures of looted antiquities from major institutions including the Met, the broader shift in how U.S. museums approach repatriation, how money launderers exploit the opacity of art sales, Nazi-era looting claims, and the politics of national museums and cultural institutions.
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Live Score | Les Passagers x La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z
A Christmas Eve snowstorm through a Montreal plow driver's eyes — rescored live. Set over the course of a single winter day in Montreal, La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z follows a snow removal worker caught between routine, responsibility, and quiet personal urgency. A portrait of labour, time, and the city under pressure — reimagined tonight through live score.
LES PASSAGERS is a Montreal-based project working across world music, jazz, electronic, and psychedelic rock. Their sound moves between groove and atmosphere — somewhere between Françoise Hardy, Herbie Hancock, and Tame Impala — grounded in improvisation and collective interplay. On stage, compositions expand, dissolve, and reconfigure in real time. Their work spans multiple releases and international touring, with recent projects focusing on live interpretation and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
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Vintage Vinyl | Mira Méla
Funk, soul, and disco with a touch of hip hop, jazz hop, and neo soul. Deep house, disco, soul and jazz on vinyl from a musician who plays by ear and selects by feel.
MIRA MÉLA is a jazz-trained pianist, singer, producer, arranger and DJ whose selections are informed by over a decade of performing across Canada, the US and Central America. From rocking crowds of thousands at Shambhala, regular appearances at both Toronto and Vancouver Jazz Festivals, to intimate rooftop DJ sets in Toronto's most sought after locations. Méla's selects pay reverence to the musical titans of Deep House, Jazz, Soul and Disco. Her unique sound is a fusion of UK Jazz house, contemporary vibes and classic boogie elements, with a strong emphasis on live instrumentation. She is currently recording her debut album — a neo-soul/jazz/boogie fusion project featuring award-winning musicians and her own original arrangements supported by live quintet horns and strings.
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INSTITUT 006 | GANNA & Mark Marczyk
Catch GANNA from Ukraine live with an epic concert and panel chat that's all about fresh sounds and stories.
Luminato and SVI present GANNA for an intimate evening at INSTITUT (SVI Institute).
The night begins at 6:30 PM with a conversation between GANNA and Mark Marczyk (Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Balaklava Blues, INSTITUT), exploring the intersections of folk, technology, war, and identity. At 7:30 PM, GANNA takes the stage for a solo live set.
"The talent—even magic—in musicology, composition, and vocals that flows through her in so many different ways is extraordinary" – London Jazz News (UK)
GANNA is a Ukrainian singer, composer, and producer based in Berlin. Since 2013 she has been researching and reimagining ancient folklore from her homeland. Today, she is considered "one of the most impressive singers and musicians on the European jazz and world music scene" (Ö1 Radio, Austria).
Her latest album HOME, by her ethno-jazz ensemble, was released in November 2022 on BERTHOLD records and was celebrated by the music press as "Album of the Year" (DLF Kultur radio, DE) and "Jazz Highlight of the Year" (BR radio, DE).
Her solo debut album KUPALA was released by BERTHOLD records in October 2023 and received widespread praise: "These are sounds of enchanting beauty" (BR-Klassik radio, DE). KUPALA was included in the "Best Ukrainian Albums 2023" lists by Slukh.Media and MIXMAG, and was named "New European Sound 2024" by LIVEUROPE.
Later, JOHNNY WESTCOAST takes the room deeper — a late-night journey through Ukrainian and global electronic sounds, moving between deep, melodic, and underground energy.
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN' (Copy)
Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'
Every first Sat of the month, May through September, 7:30 PM at Tranzac
Mixing 25+ years of experience in Georgian and Ukrainian traditional polyphonic song with jazz and contemporary improvisation, Andrea Kuzmich (voice, guitar) teams up with some of Toronto's finest creative musicians for an elemental, groove-driven experience. In true folk fashion, expect the stage to dissolve — singing, clapping, dancing, joining in.
Last Day | Carlos Gárate Where We Sing: Documenting a Folk Revival
Carlos Gárate Where We Sing: Documenting a Folk Revival
May 8 – 29
Since 2011, Carlos Gárate has documented Toronto’s Ukrainian art scene through an ongoing focus on the city’s folk art revival and the informal cultural spaces in which it takes place. Emerging alongside Toronto’s world music and folk revival scenes, the exhibition traces the Kosa Arts community (then Kosa Kolektiv) and the networks that form around it. The photographs move across church basements, cultural centres, house parties, neighbourhood bars, businesses, and public parks. Spanning more than fifteen years, the images foreground folk elements, gestures, and materials, presenting moments of gathering, performance, and shared cultural life as they unfold across the city.
Presented by Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, ART at SVI, CONTACT Photography Festival
The CONTACT Photography Festival is an annual city-wide festival that began in 1997. It encompasses exhibitions, public art installations, and programs that feature the work of local and international lens-based artists every May.
The Festival’s Core Program brings together exhibitions and public programs presented in partnership with museums, galleries, and artist-run centres throughout the GTA and beyond.
The Open Call Exhibitions extend the festival’s community through the inclusion of independently organized modes of publicly presenting lens based work across the city.
INSTITUT 005 | Kryva Kosa, Greek Trio, Tangi Lion, Janina Marie
VOLUME 5 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.
Tonight: an open folk session rooted in village traditions, an evening of Greek taverna music, an intimate solo set from Toronto legend of button accordion , and vinyl til close.
PWYC. RSVP so we know who to expect.
Residency | Kryva Kosa
Open acoustic rehearsal of Balkan, Baltic, and Slavic village folk — simple songs to learn, easy listening for the curious.
KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan, and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance, and communal exchange. They have performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.
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Concert | Greek Trio
From Northern Greece to Thrace to Asia Minor — music meant for folk dancing, celebrations, and quieter moments of song shared around the table. Voices, laouto, saxophone, and percussion in the basement.
DIMITRA KAHRIMANIDIS is a singer, ethnomusicologist, and recent participant on The Voice Greece. Known for her versatility and deep roots in traditional Greek repertoire, she is a familiar presence within Greek communities across the GTA. She performs on voice and laouto.
ARIANE MORIN brings her ongoing research and studies in Greek and Turkish music, cultivated in Thessaloniki and Istanbul, alongside a strong background in Balkan music. She performs on saxophone.
NAGMEH FARAHMAND is an Iranian percussionist from a musical family, trained in Persian classical traditions. Based in Toronto, she is an active performer and teacher across a wide range of ensembles and collaborations.
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Concert | Tangi Lion
Intimate solo set from toronto legend of button accordion
One accordion. A thousand miles of stories.
Button accordion wizard, cultural nomad, and longtime fixture of Toronto’s folk underground, Tangi takes the stage solo for a rare close-up encounter. A veteran of countless dance floors, tavernas, festivals, and late-night sessions, he digs deep into the folk traditions that shaped him, weaving together melodies that feel ancient, restless, and alive.
TANGI LION is a Brittany-born multi-instrumentalist, producer, and dance teacher whose career spans Celtic, Balkan, Klezmer, Brazilian, and world music traditions. Based in Toronto, he has co-founded influential projects including Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Balfolk Toronto, and Moskitto Bar, while championing cultural exchange through performance, production, and community building. Today, he continues to celebrate Toronto’s diversity on local and international stages.
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Vintage Vinyl | Janina Marie
Eclectic vinyl selections that get hearts pumping and blood bubbling — funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco, and 90s-00s house.
JANINA MARIE is a Polish-Canadian DJ, record collector, and fixture in Toronto's underground music scene. Her sets span funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco, and 90s-00s house. She has performed alongside Waajeed, Lefto Early Bird, and Xica Soul, toured across Europe and the USA, and appeared on Brooklyn's The Lot Radio and Poland's Czworka Radio. She is also a founding member of Group Benefits, a multi-genre dance party series dedicated to amplifying the work of women, queer, and non-binary artists.
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