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culture

2012 Hero Nominees: Culture and Sports

The people and places who bring our city to life.

By

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

The Nominees: Culture and Sports
CLICK ON EACH NOMINEE to learn more about them.


Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
 

A rare home for first-run documentaries.		   Academy of the Impossible

Making education accessible, and breaking down barriers.		   Sarah Polley
 

Staying true to an uncompromising path.


G 98.7

Making commercial radio worth listening to again.		   The Beguiling

Supporting independent graphic arts for 25 years.		   Alex Anthopoulos

Building the Jays into a team to be reckoned with.


Voting has now closed on this category. The final round of voting begins Wednesday, December 19.

Comments

  • billybob

    Poor Argos. Their attempt to rejuvenate the CFL has failed.

    • Anonymous

      Only among the hipsters who can’t grasp that the Argonauts are to the Blue Jays as indie is to corporate rock. And only the most curmudgeonly would deny that the Argos brought a couple of weeks of sports happiness to a town starved for it. Where can I put my write-in vote?

      • Sam

        Hipsters like baseball? That’s news to me! I thought they were into TFC, the worst team in the history of Toronto pro sports (shhh, don’t let them know that soccer is a sport and not a signifier of urbane indie cred).

  • Sam

    AA is the only entity worthy of being on this list. There’s no reason the Bloor can’t play a lot of docs while also playing a healthy amount of classics and second run films. Sarah Polley…what? Sure, she’s a pretty hipster from Toronto, but who gives a shit about her family or her filmed justification for infidelity? G 98.7 is a terrible station. The Academy has no profile and a negligible impact on the city.

    AA represents the whole city and has quietly been building a great team over the last three years – not that anyone has been paying attention. Nothing brings a city together like sports (see Canadian men’s hockey golds, any Leafs playoff win, Jays World Series wins).

    • Anonymous

      You neglected to mention why The Beguiling doesn’t belong on the list.

      • Sam

        It’s a comic store (and I love comics), and they support “independent graphic arts,” which is great, but it has no real impact on the city. It supports a small subculture, and I don’t think that’s enough to be considered a hero for the city. If it was located at Yonge and Yonge Blvd I doubt that it would be on the list.

        There’s a nerdy nominee in the Annex. There’s a Parkdale centric thing that nobody knows about. There’s the token ‘urban’ candidate. There’s a celebrity. There’s a powerful local festival with niche appeal…and then there’s a sports team with broad appeal that represents the whole city.

        • Iana

          TCAF was co-founded by two guys from the Beguiling and the manager is still the festival director. Why the case for it doesn’t mention that, I don’t know, but TCAF is an impressive event for the city.

          Also, the Academy is in Bloordale, not Parkdale, and it’s not a location-centric thing. If you are trying to be dismissive about it, it is probably best described as an urbanist-centric thing.

          But more importantly, can you name some better candidates in this area? It hasn’t exactly been a heroic year for the city. If the Mirvish collection gallery wasn’t tied to a controversial, may never be built condo, he might make it, but who knows what will happen there. The ROM probably deserves a shout-out for Friday Night Live?

          I’m with you on Sarah Polley though.

    • Canadianskeezix

      I disagree of your assessment of what constitutes an “impact on the city” (I have no strong opinion on the actual contenders either way). To have an important impact, something need not have a city-wide impact, or be huge. Sometimes it’s the small things that constitute a hero.

  • Anonymous

    All too frequently Sometimes, Torontoist is an exercise in solipsism. This is one of those times.

    • Canadianskeezix

      All too often, people leave snarky comments without explanation.

      • Anonymous
        • Canadianskeezix

          I understand the word you’re using, but thanks for the condescending reply nonetheless. It’s just completely unclear what motivated your original post, since you didn’t bother to explain what it was that merited your scorn.

  • Anonymous

    I’m going to jump in the pool of whine collecting under this year-end series (make room, iPad users): the E-S kerning in Heroes is killing me.

    • Steve in TO

      Apparently the ‘O’ really likes its space.

    • Anonymous

      It’s probably the default, overlooked in the ‘let’s fill this headline with an image!!!’ zeal.