TERRARIUM

Located in Toronto’s West End, Terrarium studio responds to inequity in the local art infrastructure through collective artist-led initiatives and programs. Founded by artist initiative Cue Art Projects, Terrarium’s community-driven projects provide resources and opportunities for two-spirit, trans, queer and BIPOC artists, to support communal connection and creative learning opportunities. 

Rooted in DIY ethics, Terrarium provides workspace and opportunities in an intergenerational, mult-use studio setting to facilitate organic knowledge sharing, collaboration and group exhibitions. Residency programs provide artists and musicians with access to shared fabrication space, tools, supplies and equipment as well as a DIY music studio.

Terrarium carries forward the creative community fostered by Cue Art Projects. Since 2008 CUE has supported hundreds of marginalized artists across the GTA, most notably through high access funding model known as The CUE Grant and multidisciplinary art space Margin of Eras Gallery. CUE provided discipline specific programs such as Cue’s Literary Bursary program - Story Reno Studio + Sandbox Sessions (led by Whitney French), Music Residency Habitat (led by Matthew Progress). CUE continues to invest in working one-on-one with artists through visual arts and curatorial residencies. 

In partnership with Capsules, CUE launched their first studio based residency at Terrarium Sept 2024, providing artist with free studio space, technical support and studio visits with local established artists.

Co-Founder of Cue Art Projects Zanette Singh and artist Eli Howey, at the helm of Terrarium, see the studio as an integral cultural space, one which often gets overlooked when discussing the loss of artist space in Toronto. The studio provides opportunities to bring artists together and build vital pathways of support outside of colonial institutions. It preserves studio based practices and mentorship models rooted in intergenerational knowledge sharing and the legacy of artist apprenticeships as a cornerstone learning model. Collaborative affordable studio models allow artists to continue to make art and ensure interdependent queer/trans* communities can grow and sustain.

• Why Not Theatre Group’s Space Pilot Program 2024  
  
• Toronto Arts Council supporting our 2024 Artist in Residence program
  
• Ontario Arts Council supporting Earth Punk artists through the exhibition assistance program