MARKHAM, ON – Visit the Unionville Festival and enjoy the Carnival of the Arts – a culturally diverse and inspired series of performances on Sunday, June 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Varley Art Gallery and along historic Unionville Main Street. Experience the mix of song, poetry, theatre and recreation, in partnership with the Blue Bridge Festival.

The day-long celebrations are themed to focus on the current Varley exhibition - Carnival: The Spirit and the Soul. This multi-media exhibition, which is open free to the public, uses theatrical narrative and the mask as an element of storytelling, common to virtually every world culture. Admission is free for this exhibition during the Carnival of the Arts.

As part of the celebrations, there will be a special groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Varley Art Gallery, approved earlier this year by Markham Council.

WHO: Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Michael Chan, MPP Markham
Members of the Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham
Members of Markham Council
Markham Director of Culture John Ryerson
WHAT: Official Launch of Varley Art Gallery Expansion
WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 7
WHERE: Varley Art Gallery, 216 Main Street, Unionville Front courtyard

About the June 7 Carnival of the Arts and Concert
Along with mask-building workshops and performances at the Varley Gallery, there will be special events involving guitarists, poetry, storytelling, pantomime, a mask parade and a canoe opera and ballet in Toogood Pond Park. The carnival ends with a special matinee concert at the Varley Art Gallery – at 3 p.m. The Yellow River Ensemble is a professional Chinese music troupe that performs traditional and contemporary Chinese music. These instrumentalists will weave their music with Ardeleana and their western instruments. The concert is inspired by and connected to the Carnival exhibition at the Varley Art Gallery.
 
About The Varley Art Gallery The Varley Art Gallery, located in historic Unionville, explores Canadian art themes with a particular focus on portraiture. It also operates the McKay Arts Centre for community artists and studio classes in Fred Varley's studio. The Gallery is a 20-minute drive northeast of Toronto. It is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and daily in July and August. Free parking. For related programming and summer family event days, visit www.varleygallery.ca

About the Gallery Expansion
The $2.56 million expansion, which was approved by Markham Council earlier this year, will give the Varley Gallery an additional 1500 square feet of space to use for a continuous exhibit of Fred Varley artwork, thereby allowing more options for exhibitions in the main gallery. The expansion project is possible thanks to a major contribution from Mr. Wallace Joyce, who donated $1.4 million to the Varley-McKay Art Foundation in 2007. The balance of funding for the expansion will come from infrastructure grants received by Markham through the Government of Ontario’s “Investing in Ontario 2008 Act”, and from the Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham