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Follow us on TwitterLast month, the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto honoured Brian Iler of Iler Campbell LLP as an Honorary Lifetime Member in recognition of his years of service providing legal advice to co-ops and non-profits in Ontario. You can watch his acceptance speech here. Celia Chandler, of CHFT, also wrote this piece in recognition of Brian’s achievement. We are so proud of all of Brian’s work in the sector, and extend our congratulations to him!
Arts
Harnessing the power of community for live music
March 31st, 2022 by Brian IlerArtists don’t play Massey Hall’s stage without first building their career in smaller venues with supportive audiences. That’s what Hugh’s Room is trying to build in Toronto’s east end.
Downtown Toronto’s Massey Hall. Credit: Ryan Raz / Flickr
The pandemic hit the live music industry extremely hard in Canada. Many live music venues, without income for two years, permanently closed. But even before the pandemic, many venues were struggling with increasingly unaffordable rents.
Continue reading “Harnessing the power of community for live music”
Client Profile: St. Clare’s celebrates opening 22 new deeply affordable housing units
September 16th, 2020 by Iler Campbell
The new building with its cut-steel artwork adorning the balconies.
St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society is a charitable organization that provides affordable mixed-income housing in downtown Toronto. St. Clare’s was formed in 1998 by people who knew that the only way to end homelessness was to build affordable housing. This summer, St. Clare’s celebrated the opening of 22 new deeply affordable units in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood.
A shattered supply chain and unprecedented online demand; how Coach House Books has weathered the pandemic
July 28th, 2020 by Iler Campbell
Coach House Books’ Heidelberg printing press
Having some time at home — okay, a lot of time at home — during the pandemic has reminded many Canadians how edifying, relaxing, and downright satisfying it is to read a good book. The pandemic also reminded a lot of us how important it is to support smaller and local businesses. So, as people settled into lock-down, demand for Coach House books was high. But with a shattered supply chain, it was difficult for them to meet that demand.
Coach House Books publishes literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, and is one of only three publishers in Canada to print their own books; they have a Heidelberg press in their office, an old coach house in an alley at Bloor and Spadina in downtown Toronto. But the shut-down order issued by the province in mid-March meant that they had to close down the printing shop — at a time when only half of their Spring 2020 books had been printed. Those titles have now been rescheduled for times throughout the rest of the year.
Free event: the Future of Live Music in Toronto – with Brian Iler
June 11th, 2020 by Iler CampbellUPDATE: video of this event is now online. Watch it below:
Brian Iler will be taking part in a virtual panel discussion on Tuesday, June 16 at noon.
Broadcaster Garvia Bailey will host a discussion on the future of live music in Toronto with panelists Molly Johnson providing the artist perspective; Andrew Burashko, Art of Time Artistic Director on producing live music; Aida Aydinyan, GM at Koerner Hall; Mike Tanner Music Sector Development Officer, City of Toronto; and Brian Iler, in his role as Chair of Hugh’s Room Live. The event is hosted by the Empire Club of Canada.
From the event description:
The live music industry in Toronto has been decimated by the forced shutdown of public gatherings in the city. Many venues where musicians perform were already under pressure due to rising real estate costs. Many were forced to close and some will never re-open. But even for those that will, who knows when performers will be able to share their work in front of a large audience again? Live performance has been key in the career development of so many artists. Who knows what the live music scene will look like as we begin to emerge from shutdown.
Our panel will speak to the future of venues that feature our artists and several artists will talk about how important live performance has been in their careers.
