Bird Creatives Helps Expand An Iconic Toronto Festival to Western Canada

November 3, 2022 | CALGARY, EVENTS, Music, WHAT'S HAPPENING

Play the Parks Expands Across Canada

Play the Parks is an annual music concert program that began in Toronto’s Downtown Yonge community with the hope of supporting local musicians. After 10 years of successful concerts in Toronto, this year, Play the Parks blossomed into a full-on, multi-series accessible event that arrived in 13 cities across Canada. Presented by the TD Music Connected Series and curated by Canada’s Music Incubator (CMI) and Bird Creatives, the concert series gave a platform to over 100 artists from Black, Indigenous, Asian, 2SLGBTQ+, and other diverse groups. 

This year, Bird Creatives had the opportunity to program Play the Parks’ pop-up concerts in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, New Westminster, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg – cities where Play the Parks arrived for the first time. We were further able to assist with marketing and communication for these shows and got Play the Parks in each city’s local news outlets, allowing artists to share their stories through interviews and features.

True to its name, Play the Parks delivered free concerts in parks and plazas across the country. In each of the cities, Bird Creatives curated a handful of artists representing a diverse array of musical genres performed to live audiences, adding vibrancy to each city’s core throughout the summer.

Play the Parks is just one example of a unique initiative aimed at supporting local artists and encouraging vibrancy in the city centre. For another project Bird Creatives has worked on to support local artists, check out RISE UP Calgary.