- The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto
The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto (usually just called The Arts and Letters Club) is a private
club inToronto ,Ontario which brings together writers, architects, musicians, painters, graphic artists, actors, and others working in or with a love of the arts.History and background
The club was founded in 1908 by, among others, journalist
Augustus Bridle . In 1920 it moved to its present quarters at 14 Elm Street in downtown Toronto. This building, an officially designated heritage structure called St. George's Hall, contains a lounge, meeting rooms, a library, and a two-story Great Hall.The club has been an important part of Canadian cultural life since its founding. The Group of Seven were all members and regularly met for lunch at the Club, as did composers
Healey Willan and Sir Ernest MacMillan. The annual Boar's Head Dinner is believed to be the oldest event of its kind in North America, and the Club's constitution is unique in that every year it is sung at the annual general meeting to music specially composed by Willan.The club is interested in what it calls the LAMPS disciplines:
Literature ,Architecture ,Music ,Painting , and Stage. These are broadly defined and includesculpture ,screenwriting ,urban planning , and other related fields. Members are classified into one of the disciplines when they join.Members
Aside from the Group of Seven, Willan, and MacMillan, some other well-known members of the club were
Hector Charlesworth ,Robertson Davies ,M. O. Hammond ,George Locke , andMavor Moore .Since its founding, two club members have become Nobel laureates (
Frederick Banting and John Macleod), six have been knighted (including Banting and MacMillan) and, since 1967, more than 150 have been named to theOrder of Canada .Archives
The club's archives contains a wide variety of original material documenting membership and activities since its founding. The archives are open to scholars, historians, and other researchers.
References
A history of club will be published in November 2007.
External links
* [http://www.artsandlettersclub.ca/ Official web site of The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto]
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