Family Programs
Bring the whole family to TOAF65 for hands-on art activities that inspire creativity and connection. Create fibre-based artworks with MOCA Toronto or discover the joy of collecting through the Budding Art Buyers Program with the Art Dealers Association of Canada—there’s something for artists and art lovers of all ages.
Threading Together
Presented by Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto
Date: July 11-12, 2026, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Location: Plaza, Centre of Zone A
String Friendship Bracelets
Learn how a simple thread can be tied and transformed into unique and colourful patterns. Responding to the fibre artworks in the current exhibition at MOCA, Dimensions of a Needle by contemporary artist Kimsooja, this activity considers how we carry, wear, and share art, emphasizing its ability to connect people across various identities and communities. When you gift a friendship bracelet to someone, consider the wish you have for your friend. People say that when the bracelet falls off, that wish will come true!
Colourful Columns
This activity is inspired by the architectural columns on each floor of MOCA, which frame our current exhibitions: Kimsooja: Dimensions of a Needle and Sara Cwynar: Baby Blue Benzo Beta, as well as our new audiovisual project by Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi: Suspension (2020).
First, you’ll learn to create your own pompom through a meditative technique of wrapping, cutting and transforming yarn into a bundle, evoking both Kimsooja’s bottaris and cheerleader poms, connecting to themes in MOCA’s current exhibitions this summer including slow making and the spectacle of sport. Participants choose their colours and transform their bundles into artworks using a plastic tapestry needle and stringing them together to create a column of handmade pom poms. Play with pattern, shape, repetition and create a hanging artwork. Lacing these together is a pre-sewing project, demonstrating the skills of threading a needle, sewing, tying off and confidently using a needle and thread.
Budding Art Buyers
Present by the Art Dealers Association of Canada
Friday, July 10 & Saturday, July 11, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Sunday, July 12, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Zone A, Booth 17-18
The Budding Art Buyers Program is a special booth curated with artworks from participating TOAF artists priced for a budding art buyer. For its third year in a row, the Budding Art Buyers Program is being presented and curated by the Art Dealers Association of Canada. The booth has an emphasis on best buying practices, as the ADAC encourages young buyers to purchase what they love, but understand provenance and the history of an artist and their work.
Budding art buyers are 14 years and younger, who want to experience the wonder of discovering and collecting a precious work of art. Purchase original artworks for $10, $15, or $20 (cash only & no adults allowed!). Every artwork is accompanied with an ADAC Provenance & Invoice.
The ADAC strives to raise the profile of Canadian Visual Art and Artists, exploring and expanding markets for Canadian Art Dealers and their artists both in Canada and Internationally.
Check out this sneak peek of artworks for sale at the Budding Art Buyers booth!
