ABOUT
Located in Toronto’s West End, the Terrarium cooperative studio responds to change and scarcity in our local art infrastructure. We are home to a visual arts fabrication studio, a healing arts studio, DIY music studio and host programs run by Cue Arts Projects, Capsules and TQMC.
Together, we are exploring models that create organic meeting places between community-driven ideas and initiatives, that prioritize communal health, cooperation and interconnected artist-led efforts for sustainable practices.
As a cooperative studio rooted in DIY ethics, we support low income, racialized and gender diverse artists by providing affordable workspace and opportunities in an intergenerational setting. Our partnerships are centred around advocating for the integrity for creative people in Toronto.
Learn about each of Terrarium’s partners on their websites
Zanette Singh (CUE) - Eli Howey (TQMC) - Rajni Perera (Capsules)
OUR HISTORY
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’s 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. Collaborative affordable studio models allow artists to continue to make art and ensure interdependent queer/trans* communities can grow and sustain.
Terrarium would not be possible without our funders, partners and donors
- Why Not Theatre Group’s Space Pilot Program 2024
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Toronto Arts Council supporting our 2024 Artist in Residence program