was remodelled in 1982 in an effort to revitalize Harbourfront Centre. The Government of Canada faced mounting criticism from the
City of Toronto government due to the amount of money being spent for
Montreal on both
Expo 67 and the
1976 Summer Olympics. Hence, the Government of Canada decided that it would build Harbourfront Centre and the
Government of Ontario would build nearby
Ontario Place in order to revitalize Toronto's industrial harbour and increase tourism to the city. As a result, the Government of Canada committed to buying 100 hectares of land to be appropriated for public use. In 1972 "Harbourfront Corporation" was established as a federal Crown Corporation. In 1975, the top portion of the
CN Tower was housed at Harbourfront Centre, and schoolchildren were asked to sign it before it was installed. In the following decades, the area saw a number of uses, hosting children's summer day camps in 1978, and hosting the
Cirque du Soleil which performed in the area in 1985. The first
WOMAD festival in Canada was held at Harbourfront Centre in 1988. Harbourfront Centre was formed on January 1, 1991, as a non-profit charitable organization with a mandate to organize and present public events and to operate a site encompassing York Quay and John Quay (south of Queens Quay West). In 1982,
Queen's Quay Terminal was remodelled by
Zeidler Partnership Architects (the same firm that designed the
Toronto Eaton Centre). The project transformed the industrial space into a mixed-use building that included shops, restaurants, offices, and exclusive residential condos (it once was the home for Premier
Mike Harris). Since its inception, Harbourfront Centre has been introducing Toronto audiences to artists and art forms that would not normally be seen in commercial venues. Artists who have performed at Harbourfront Centre:
Celine Dion,
Oscar Peterson,
Robert Lepage,
STOMP,
Julio Iglesias,
Spalding Gray,
Philip Glass,
Ann Murray,
k.d. lang,
Jim Carrey,
Feist,
Lillian Allen, and
Gordon Lightfoot. In 2001, Harbourfront Centre organized "World Leaders: A Festival of Creative Genius," to pay homage to 14 renowned global cultural leaders. The participating artists included
Issey Miyake,
Guy Laliberté,
Philippe Starck,
Frank Gehry,
Lily Tomlin,
Stephen Sondheim,
Bernardo Bertolucci,
Robert Rauschenberg,
Harold Pinter,
Joni Mitchell,
Robert Lepage,
Peter Gabriel,
Quincy Jones, and
Pina Bausch. Each artist had a dedicated night where they received an award and delivered a talk. In 2004, Harbourfront Centre has hosted the Planet IndigenUS Festival, a multi-day celebration and global exploration of contemporary Indigenous civilizations. ==Programming==