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FYI

Ontario Place Refresh To Include Expanded Role For Live Nation

Three companies, including a Quebec outdoor recreation firm and a European spa and water park provider, have been chosen to revitalize Ontario Place after a closed-door bid process that has dragged

Ontario Place Refresh To Include Expanded Role For Live Nation

By David Farrell

Three companies, including a Quebec outdoor recreation firm and a European spa and water park provider, have been chosen to revitalize Ontario Place after a closed-door bid process that has dragged on for years, sources have told The Globe and Mail.


The Ontario government plans to give Quebec’s Écorécréo the reins for part of the 63-hectare site on Toronto’s waterfront, along with Austrian company Therme, the sources tell the newspaper. Live Nation, which runs the performance venue at Ontario Place, will have an expanded role.

Provincial Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, who in recent months has promised big news soon on Ontario Place, offered no comment.

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Ontario Place, opened in May 1971 and sits on three artificial islands south of Exhibition Place. The 155-acre park is operated as an agency of the Government of Ontario and through 2019 has consistently posted deficits, leading to In an announcement that year from the Government of Ontario, calling for proposals to redevelop the park with a set of restrictions that any future development must not include residential units, a casino and must not require a specific monetary outlay or subsidy by the Government of Ontario,  and must preserve the existing amount of parkland included in the Trillium Park, and preserve the existing 16K-capacity Budweiser Stage amphitheatre.

Assets affiliated with the park beyond the Budweiser Stage include the 600-person capacity IMAX and IMAX3D Cinesphere, the 5K-capacity Echo Beach concert venue, a marina with 240 boat slips, and the 7.5-acre Trillium Park that connects to the 56-kl Martin Goodman multi-use Trail.

Entire story here.

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Panos A. Panay
Raphaële Sohier

Panos A. Panay

Features

Recording Academy President Panos A. Panay on Canada, Diljit Dosanjh and the Grammys’ Global Future

The influential music executive returned to a place he has called home at NXNE for the Billboard Global Summit. Here's why it was particularly meaningful for him.

The music landscape is changing quickly, and Panos A. Panay, the President of the Recording Academy and the Grammys, is right in the middle of it.
This week (June 11), Panay interviewed Punjabi superstar Diljit Dosanjh as part of the Billboard Summit at NXNE. For him, it represented a global shift in music where sounds carrying different cultures and languages are pushing against the "Anglo-American" mainstream. Celebrating the universality of music in the diverse city of Toronto holds special meaning for him.
Panay spent some formative years in Canada, and says in some ways he considers it as much like home as Cyprus, where he was born. It shaped how he sees the world and his career, and it's been important in his work at the Grammys, which is also going through changes. Since he started his job in 2021, along with CEO Harvey Mason Jr., Panay has been helping the Academy adapt to a new generation of artists, represent diversity and navigate the changing music scene.

Before he was at the Recording Academy, Panay founded the online platform Sonicbids, which brought him to NXNE many times. Again, it feels like coming home.

In this exclusive interview with Billboard Canada, Panos discusses Dosanjh, how the Grammys are changing and the future of Canadian music.

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