The main objective of The BIG Festival is to strengthen community by vitalizing the parameters of the “at risk” neighbourhood through positive civic engagement while inviting Toronto to explore the small things that make community BIG.

Connecting people with place, and with one other, The BIG Festival:

1. Celebrates the local heritage of the Toronto neighbourhoods in the BIG region comprised of the Bloordale and Bloorcourt Village BIAs
2. Creates opportunities for artists to engage with community through exhibitions, events and performances
3. Builds on the current unique identity of the community by celebrating the diverse population and groups
4. Increases local participation by working on a positive common goal as a community
5. Identifies Bloor Street West as a unique and vitalized Toronto neighbourhood like the WQW Art & Design District, The Danforth, China Town, and other great local communities in Toronto.

The BIG Festival is an opportunity for positive civic engagement in a neighbourhood that is coming together to define itself while overcoming a range of difficult social issues. The Big Festival was conceived in February 2007 at the first BIG meeting. Attended by 63 community organizations, the community voted to unite the smaller organizations on Bloor to form one BIG coalition. The BIG Festival is a BIG positive goal to engage and built community, unify a struggling neighbourhood and discover its uniqueness by celebrating its assets. Five smaller annual festivals amalgamated to make one BIG Festival including DIG-IN Community Festival, Christie-Ossington Neighbourhood Centre’s annual festival in Christie Pits Park, the team that created The Taste of Africa, and the Bloordale BIA and The Bloorcourt Heritage Festival. The strategy by uniting smaller festivals to make one BIG Bloor is that small steps together can make BIG improvement.

BIG Website