Toronto’s annual Nuit Blanche is back and with it come road closures.
The all-night art event will begin at 7 p.m. and run until 7 a.m. on Sunday.
There will be more than 80 works of art created by local, national and international artists on display all over the city. This year’s theme is “Bridging Distance.”
“This is an opportunity for recalibration and to reconnect with our city, our world and each other, in public space,” a release about the event notes.
“Each piece will pose a question: How does the impact of distance manifest in our bodies, the city, and beyond? How might art physicalize and magnify different distances? How can art bring us closer to the thoughts, feelings and experiences of others outside of our immediate geographic, social and political realms? How might art play with distance to provide different perspectives and invite reconnection?”
According to The City of Toronto, the 2024 Nuit Blanche program will also include three exhibitions and a series of talks, tours and workshops.
Here is what you need to know:
Road closures
There are a number of road closures beginning as early as Saturday morning tied to the event.
· The eastbound lanes of Queens Quay West will be closed from Bathurst Street to Lower Spadina Avenue
· The eastbound lanes of Queens Quay East will be closed from Younge Street to Lower Sherbourne Street
· Dockside Drive will be closed between Knapp Lane west and Richardson Street
By 6 p.m. Saturday evening, the following road closures will also be in effect:
· Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive loop between Colonel Sam Smith Park Road and Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
All roads will re-open by noon Sunday.
TTC route changes
The TTC will be offering all-night service on Lines 1 and 2 over the Nuit Blanche weekend.
The trains will run every 15 minutes from 1:30 a.m., with regular service resuming on Sunday at 8 a.m.
In addition, some busses and streetcars will be operating on extended hours, including:
· 903 Kennedy Station-Scarborough Express buses – these buses will be operating all night, with additional buses along the route
· 100 Flemingdon Park route will be adding buses for overnight service to the Agha Khan Museum art installation
· 944 Kipling South Express buses, from Kipling Station to Humber College Lake Shore Campus, will be operating all night
· 511 Bathurst streetcar will be in operation all night
· Additional streetcars will be in operation on routes such as the 501 Queen, 301 Queen Night, 503 Kingston Road, 303 Kingston Road Night, 504 King, 304 King Night, 511 Bathurst
The following routes will be diverted due to road closures, beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday until 8 a.m. on Sunday:
· 65 Parliament
· 365 Parliament Night
· 114 Queens Quay East
· 202 Cherry Beach
· 509 Harbourfront
· 510 Spadina
Weather
Temperatures are expected to drop to as low as nine degrees overnight before warming up again early tomorrow morning.
The government of Canada’s weather network is forecasting temperatures to slowly drop from 16 degrees by 7 p.m., when the sun begins to set. Each hour up until 2 a.m. will drop by one degree, making for a chilly but not unbearable night for Nuit Blanche.