Toronto's City Hall Live music series goes virtual

Hour-long weekday performance program now being live-streamed on Facebook

Toronto.com
April 17, 2020
Joanna Lavoie

The City of Toronto is taking its City Hall Live music series online.

With public events on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis, the City wanted to continue supporting Toronto artists, while lifting the spirits of Torontoians during the coronavirus outbreak, so it recently partnered with Unison Benevolent Fund to continue this popular performance program -- albeit virtually on Facebook live.

The first live-streamed event happened today and featured The Weather Station. Concerts will take place Monday to Friday from noon to 1 p.m., with two shows per day until the end of June. More than 100 local artists are set to grace the virtual stage for 30-minute sets.

During each performance, viewers are invited to make a donation, 100 per cent of which will support Unison's work to help musicians and music industry workers.

For the last five years, local artists have been hired to perform at Nathan Phillips Square as part of City Hall Live’s music series.

The decision to re-imagine this program is part of Mayor John Tory’s Economic Support and Recovery Task Force's short-term economic support and recovery plan for Toronto's cultural sector.

"As we face the challenges of this pandemic together, this is one more way that the municipal government continues to support Toronto's cultural sector. These performances will help raise donations to support Unison Benevolent Fund's work to help musicians and music industry workers,” Tory said in a release.

“This project is an early result of consultations by the Economic Support and Recovery Task Force -- that work focused on protecting and restarting all sectors of Toronto's economy continues."