From expropriated rail and shipping land to 4,000 events a year
Harbourfront Centre
In 1972, the federal government expropriated 40 hectares of industrial waterfront land and handed it to a Crown corporation with an open-ended mandate: turn it into public cultural space.
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Harbourfront Centre traces to 1972, when the federal government expropriated roughly 40 hectares of industrial waterfront land — former rail- and ship-served trucking and warehouse land — and created the Harbourfront Corporation, a Crown corporation, to redevelop it into public cultural and recreational space. Programming began in 1974, with early offerings including literary readings, contemporary dance performances and public craft studios. In 1991, the organization transitioned from a Crown corporation into a non-profit organization, the structure under which it still operates today.
A multidisciplinary hub
Harbourfront Centre today works with more than 450 partner community organizations and hosts more than 4,000 events annually spanning theatre, dance, literature, music, film, visual arts and craft. The site is home to the Toronto International Festival of Authors, one of the world's longest-running literary festivals, and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, housed in a former 1920s waterfront power station on the site.
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