About

About "Filipinos Making Waves"

We chose Filipinos Making Waves as the appropriate title of the arts and heritage festival for three main reasons: first and foremost, to represent the outstanding achievements and exemplary artistic expressions of individual Filipino artists and groups invited to the Festival; secondly, the hand motion of a Wave reflects a friendly greeting and an ambassadorial welcome from a visiting royalty: composed, personal, and classy - a clear reflection of MWF as a world-class festival; lastly, the Philippines is an archipelago encompassing 7007 islands surrounded by water of the Pacific Ocean (and China Sea). The metaphors on water, tides and earth’s vital nature have great impact and definition in our community lives. Making Waves means, “to create a ripple and stand out”. In a word, it is pride about our community’s contributions to our society (both our ancestral homeland, the Philippines, and now our adopted country, Canada) and a warm welcome into the cultural life of the Filipino community.

About Yonge-Dundas Square

Who uses the Square? (Demographics)
* Yonge-Dundas Square is located at one of Canada’s busiest intersections.
* The Square is adjacent to the Toronto Eaton Centre, Canada’s busiest shopping centre
    and top tourist destination with over 52 million visitors annually.
* The Square is minutes from several major attractions including the Tower, Skydome,
    the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Elgin Theatre, the Canon
    Theatre, the Air Canada Centre, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Royal Alexandra
    Theatre, the Hummingbird Centre, the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Metro Toronto
    Convention Centre.
* The Square is connected to the PATH, the world’s largest underground shopping
     complex with 27 km (16 miles) of shopping arcades.
* The Square has a direct entrance to Dundas Subway Station, is located on the Dundas
     Streetcar line and all night Yonge Street bus line. The Square is also situated atop a 250
   spot parking garage.
* The Yonge-Dundas Square influence area contains the highest concentration of hotels
    within the GTA with a total of more than 10,000 rooms.
* Two major Universities are within the influence area – Ryerson and the University of
    Toronto with a combined full-time attendance of 56,000 students
* The Yonge-Dundas Square influence area contains over 21, 000 residents. Each day over
    860,000 people enter the influence area to work.
* Retailers employ over 14,000 people in over 3,800 retail outlets within the influence area.
* There are over 500 restaurants within walking distance.
* Daily Intersection traffic (source: City of Toronto, 2002)
            62,100 pedestrians
            55, 500 vehicles
* Dundas Station Platform Usage Count (source TTC, 2005)
           59,280 daily
* Event Specific Attendance, 2009
            1,050, 675
* Total Annual Venue Circulation (source: Clear Channel Outdoor, 2003)
            28,506,500 visitors
* Demographics (source: Cadillac Fairview 2001 Intercept study – Toronto Eaton Centre)
            60% female - 40 % male
       Average age: 33
       Average household income: $57, 500
            Occupation: majority are professional, white collar workers
            Expenditures in Eaton Centre each visit: $80