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Toronto will be home to a new expansive arts and culture centre next year that offers the community hope, amid a bleak year of pandemic-shuttered arts programs.

The new Clark Centre for the Arts is nestled on 88 acres on the scenic Scarborough Bluffs with a view to forests, shoreline and a collection of sculptures.

“The cultural programming is going to be serving large populations, outside the downtown core,” said Julie Frost. She manages  Toronto’s Art Services, which will run the centre. “Many of these community groups that will be our future clients are from under represented communities.”

Named after Scarborough arts patrons Spencer and Rosa Clark, the centre features a public gallery, arts studios, event space, and community led programs.

“And we’ll also be offering a gallery, where we’ll be featuring visual artists in monthly exhibitions once the gallery of course is open and will feature professionals, emerging and under represented artists,” added Frost.

“You feel for the physical environment almost like an archaeologist, you go there and are open to what the site tells you,” explains architect Charles Hazell. His firm added modern features with a nod to the historic roots and the showstopping floor to ceiling windows offer a breathtaking view of the surrounding forest.

“We added the third floor but did it by shifting and rotating it into the forest, that was a pretty interesting move to make and it presented its own challenges and opportunities.”

The Clark Centre for the Arts in Scarborough is set to open in January 2022.