There's a perk (if you see it as one) that comes with living in Canada, but more specifically, Toronto. That is, all the "instagrammable" locations and events that happen all year round, and Nuit Blanche is definitely one of the bigger events I've attended since living here.
Nuit Blanche, (A French term that translates literally to 'white night') is a free, annual artistic event where the city of Toronto and numerous public spaces (and other areas, such as Scarborough) are transformed into one giant art exhibition with 50+ installations and live performances based on a yearly theme.
The coolest part, is that the event runs literally all night long, sunrise to sunset, from 7pm to 7am.
You could be chilling at home, bored, can't sleep look at the time, it's midnight, then you remember, Nuit Blanche is tonight! Call up a friend or two and go wander around Toronto looking at art installations. It's that easy.
Nuit Blanche usually happens around mid-late September/early October, so around the time of year where Toronto temperatures are beginning to drop a bit, but you can still feel comfortable in a light jacket and a scarf. No need to pull out the winter jacket just yet.
Be prepared for a lot of walking though, but once you have a pair of comfy shoes, and a friend or two to go along with you, you’re all good.
I'd say it's pretty fun being out all after 3am in the morning looking at the different pieces of artwork.
Going to this event was just one of those moments for me that reminded me I'm actually here in Toronto, making my own decisions, living in my main character moment, because back home, if I'm not at a party at 3am (which is around the time it'd be ending off if it wasn't a breakfast party) I'd be snuggled up at home.
Come to Toronto now and I'm here "parading" through the streets in the wee hours of the morning. It's a wild, but exciting experience to say the least.
No matter where you start when you set out to go participate in Nuit Blanche, make sure you pick up one of the free, very helpful printed guides/maps to all the exhibits. They can be found at locations called the "event centres."
In Toronto, there are three locations: Yonge & Dundas Square, Nathan Phillips Square and Fort York Visitor Centre, and there is one in Scarborough, which is the Scarborough Civic Centre.
At these event centres you can also find bathrooms, food vendors and more, and it's a great rendez-vous location in case you or anyone else you came with gets lost.
Even if you don’t get one of the outlined maps, there are big blown up maps that can be found at these event centres also, so you can set the closest centre to you as a starting point, and then you're good to go. I believe the maps can also be found online.
(I mainly just wanted a map/guide for myself as a souvenir, my first (and second) time attending Nuit Blanche.)
You don’t need to start in order of the line up on the guides/maps, but note that not every single art installation runs all night long - so if there are any exhibits that peak your interest, my advice would be to check those out first, just in case they're not an all night exhibit.
Keep in mind that there are more exhibits open and available to see or interact with at earlier times, but there are also installations that don't open till later in the night.
I would say 8pm-11pm is a sweet spot. This is the timeframe I'd usually start within and never had a problem seeing the installations I was interested in, but I'm unsure of how it is for all the other installations I may not have gotten around to, especially in Scarborough.
The exhibits and installations vary from being indoors or outdoors. Just note that ones that are indoors are likely to have line ups, depending on where and what the installation is.
One of the biggest upsides to this event, is that public transportation, or the TTC, tends to run all night, notably on the Subway lines 1, 2 and 3. For a breakdown of the Toronto Public transportation (TTC) tap here for my blog post!
The TTC tends to stop running around 1am on a typical day, however on the night of Nuit Blanche, TTC service, mainly the subways run all night long, usually until 6am (if I remember correctly)
So you can really experience that sunset to sunrise Nuit Blanche slogan, knowing that you don't have to rush home too soon if you've ventured out in the early morning to unleash your inner art fanatic.
In general, some installments return each year (like the Hot Air Balloon was there both years I went in 2017 and 2018) but there tends to be new exhibits each year, so this is an event I'd recommend going to annually, to see the new pieces, and as always, update that Instagram profile if it's been a couple months. (You know, drop a post to remind people you're still on Instagram and then disappear again till like, Christmas or New years.)
Want a sneak peak of Nuit Blanche? Check out my TikTok Video - "Nuit Blanche in 60 seconds."
Have you ever been to Nuit Blanche? Share what your favourite exhibit(s) is/are in the comments below!
THINGS TO NOTE:
🎨 Price/Entry fee: FREE!
🎨 Time of year: Late September - Early October
🎨 Average amount of time expected to spend here: 3-4 hours
(Depending on how many exhibits you try to see/how long the lines are etc.)
🎨 Location: Multiple parts of Downtown Toronto and Scarborough. I recommend staring at one of the event centres (eg. Nathan Phillips Square)
Comments