In this six-week program, Blank Canvas will equip youth with necessary skills to help navigate creative industries, build community and themselves to find their unique voice. The program aims to introduce youth to movers and shakers in Toronto's creative scene where budding artists can find new inspiration, mentors and collaboration while being exposed to new methods of artistic expression and practices.

This past spring, the AGO announced a major acquisition – The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs – which has transformed the Gallery’s holdings and will fundamentally change our exhibitions and public programming.

Featuring more than 3,500 photographs from the Circum-Caribbean, in every photographic format available between 1840 and 1940 – including prints, postcards, daguerreotypes, lantern slides, albums and stereographs – The Montgomery Collection adds to the Gallery’s holdings a vivid representation of Caribbean history, culture and people. It preserves for posterity the visual histories of the Wider Caribbean Region, including Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.

One of the world’s most significant collections of its kind, The Montgomery Collection brings to life the changing economies, environments and communities that emerged following the abolishment of slavery, and also highlights the work of many regional and international photographers and studios who documented the lands, people, and cultures.

Notably, the acquisition was made possible with the support of individuals from Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities. This collective effort, unprecedented in the history of the AGO, underscores the ambition for our holdings and public programming to reflect the character of our city, and its diverse and growing audiences

Blank Canvas is an art collective that continues to build a vibrant art community that drives culture forward and creates platforms for marginalized artists through events, panels, workshops and content creation. Blank Canvas seeks to reimagine spaces that allow emerging artists to explore their intersectional identities, where the ability to share narratives and raise awareness of culturally critical issues facing our communities is fostered. Using varying forms of artistic and cultural expression, Blank Canvas focuses on what’s best for our community – spreading positive energy, showcasing new artists, taking up space unapologetically and being a cultural conduit for creatives.