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Quest for the Fest
Interview with Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF What’s it like to be the head honcho of Toronto’s biggest, most glamorous, and most highly anticipated arts festival of the year? Holding this position for nearly twenty years now, Piers Handling oversees TIFF’s programming and multi-million-dollar operating budget. He travels far and wide to select films for both the festival and for the TIFF Bell Lightbox year-round. I was fortunate enough to speak with him about both his job and the fall festival—and he threw in an interesting little tidbit: he lives just off the Danforth, and he says it’s a wonderful neighbourhood! How do the staff at TIFF spend…
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People Love El Pipil!
25 Years of Spectacular Style, Sales, and Smiles By Kaavya Sivakumaran The arrival of spring means two important things: sunshine and toasty temperatures are creeping up on us, and it’s the perfect excuse to make some fashionable additions to our warm-weather wardrobes. “Yellow will be in during the fall season,” says Betsy Papachristou, owner of El Pipil, a chic and charming women’s boutique at Danforth and Broadview. The Danforth became home to El Pipil when a relative of a relative of Betsy’s opened the store 25 years ago. After 18 years of owning it herself and developing a relationship with the area and its residents, she says, “we have a…
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Making the East Danforth Pop
The Renew East Danforth Initiative Brings Pop-up Shops to the Danforth By Kaavya Sivakumaran ‘Tis the season for last-minute budget shopping, and the Danforth East Community Association (DECA) has—for a limited time only—transformed their side of our renowned avenue into the perfect little shopping village equipped with a variety of activities and pop-up retail. The goal of the Renew East Danforth initiative is to eventually rent out the storefronts on a permanent basis in order to increase foot traffic and bring vibrancy, fun, and safety to the East Danforth neighbourhood. “Everyone refers to the place by the Carrot Common…as the Danforth. If you say you’re going to the Danforth, that’s…
