Education and Culture of Toronto

Toronto is the cultural center of Ontario and of English-speaking Canada.

Three public universities serve the region. The renowned University of Toronto (1827), in the central area, has more than 50,000 students.

The University of Toronto also has two suburban campuses, one to the west in the city of Mississauga and another to the east in Scarborough within the City of Toronto.

Recently, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (1963) joined it.

Near the northern margin of the city is York University (1959), a large research and teaching institution.

In the central area are Ryerson Polytechnic University (1948), and the Ontario College of Art (1876).

Four postsecondary community colleges operate on 29 scattered campuses.

High schools and elementary schools are placed throughout residential areas.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is located near the downtown. It has a large collection of sculptures by British artist Henry Moore and paintings by the Group of Seven, prominent Canadian artists from the 1920s.

The Ontario Science Centre in North York, the region’s principal science museum, and the Royal Ontario Museum on Queen’s Park, one of North America’s finest institutions for art and archaeology, are popular with young people interested in the natural and artificial wonders of the world.

Among other cultural facilities in Toronto are McLaughlin Planetarium; Massey Hall (1894), a concert hall; Roy Thompson Hall, home of the noted Toronto Symphony Orchestra; and Hummingbird Centre (formerly O’Keefe Centre), home of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada.

Toronto is second only to New York City on the North American continent for live theater: Its major theaters include the Prince of Wales and the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in the city center of North York.

Toronto also has many off-Broadway-type small theaters.

Theatergoers from the Great Lakes region, as far east as Syracuse, New York, and west beyond Detroit, Michigan, board buses to see productions in Toronto.

The Toronto International Film Festival, held for two weeks every September, is one of the best-attended film festivals in the world and has become an important source for discovery of new films by motion-picture distribution companies.