The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) unveils the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures located on Level 2 of the Weston Family Wing on December 20, 2008. Composed of the Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals, the Gallery of Gems and Gold and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery, the galleries occupy a combined total of 6,900 square feet and showcase over 2,300 of the ROM’s exceptional specimens of minerals, gems, meteorites and rocks, a collection among the finest in North America. The fascinating displays are contextualized by over 40 interactive touch-screen stations, compelling video exhibits and engrossing information on Canada’s mining industry.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. West)

'Art’ is a witty, razor-sharp, international sensation which won the Molière Award for Best Author, the Olivier Award for Best Comedy and the Tony Award for Best Play. The London Times wrote “A remarkably wise, witty and intelligent comedy. Art has touched a universal nerve.” Yasmina Reza’s play explores the nature of friendship while examining the definition of art. The play revolves around the purchase of a very expensive, white-on-white painting which pushes the boundaries of art and ignites a passionate debate among three friends. Gruff battleaxe Marc, highly-strung appeaser Yvan and burgeoning art aficionado Serge come to a head over artistic merit, modernism and the value of friendship, testing the men’s relationship and ultimately offering reconciliation. ‘Art’ runs March 15 to April 10, 2010 (media night: March 18) at The Canadian Stage Company’s Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. East. Box office: 416-368-3110.

Location: Bluma Appel Theatre -- 27 Front St. East.

Opening at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) on May 16, 2009, the Schad Gallery of Biodiversity is devoted to exploring our world’s biodiversity and the numerous factors affecting its conservation and survival. This innovative and interactive gallery combines seven ecosystem experiences, approximately 2,500 specimens and the Earth Rangers Studio featuring live animal ambassadors to convey an important message about the stunning variety of life on Earth, the interconnectedness of nature’s amazing web, and the ability that each of us has to care for the environment.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Bloor and Avenue Rd.)

North America’s longest running and most popular dinner attraction is preparing to take guests to the 11th Century all over again. Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Toronto today announced the rollout of a completely new show – the company’s first since 2002 – blending a two-hour live performance with a utensil-free meal served in a castle-inspired 1,000-seat arena. More than 30 months in the making, the new Medieval Times production includes audience favorites such as live jousting, swordplay, horsemanship, romance and falconry. Guests are taken back in time and encouraged to cheer for one of six “Knights of the Realm” named after historic regions of medieval Spain. In addition to a new script, the production includes new lighting, choreography and battle scenes, new horse dressage elements – executed by Medieval Times’ famed Andalusian stallions – and a new soundtrack composed by Daniel May and performed by the Czech Republic-based Czech Film Orchestra. A new theatrical element, Medieval Times’ first ever use of a high-output snow machine, also adds an unexpected magical element to the guest experience. Creators of the new production say non-stop action; will keep first-time visitors and returning fans on the edge of their seats. Box office: 1-888-WE-JOUST (935-6878).

Location: Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament -- Exhibition Place (by the Dufferin Gates)

Florence Foster Jenkins had a passion for singing, but her voice left audiences crying with laughter. Spinning from her bizarre recording sessions, unbelievable recitals and an ultimate triumph at New York's Carnegie Hall. This is a true, heartwarming story about a group of eccentric friends who lived their dreams.

Location: Stage West Dinner Theatre -- 5400 Dixie Rd. (Mississauga)

A diverse series of world-class theatre, dance, multimedia and music. Box office: 416.973.4000.

Location: Fleck Dance and Enwave Theatre (Harbourfront Centre)-- 207 & 231 Queens Quay West

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents East Asian Paintings & Prints: Recent Acquisitions, on display in the Herman Herzog Levy Gallery, part of the Asian Suite of Galleries on Level 1 of the Philosophers’ Walk Wing, from October 24 to July 4, 2010. The more than 40 acquisitions, all important examples of paintings, calligraphies, and prints from Korea, China, and Japan, have been acquired in the past 12 years through carefully considered gifts and purchases. The artworks span a period from the 15th to the early 21st century and demonstrate the generosity of donors and the prudent use of acquisition funds to expand the ROM’s already impressive Far Eastern collections. The Museum’s Chinese collections in particular are ranked among the finest outside China.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue and Bloor)

Monday to Thursday Open: Noon to 6pm Tour Times: Every 30 minutes beginning at 1pm. Last tour at 5pm. Friday and Saturday Open: 11am to 6pm Tour Times: 12:00 and Every 30 minutes beginning at 1pm. Last tour at 5pm. Sunday Open: 11am to 5pm Tour Times: 12:00 and Every 30 minutes beginning at 1pm. Last tour at 4pm. Tour Size: MAXIMUM 15 people Reservations accepted Monday to Thursday, Booked first-come first-served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For group tours, please contact our Retail Manager at 416-362-2337 ext 240 or retail@steamwhistle.ca

Location: STEAM WHISTLE BREWING, The Roundhouse - 255 Bremner Blvd.

Newly re-installed gallery features nearly 600 of the most exquisite gems and jewels from the ROM’s vaults. On December 19, 2009 the Museum proudly opens the Gallery of Gems and Gold, the final stage of the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures, on Level 2 of the Weston Family Wing. Nearly 600 beautiful and rare gems, gem crystals, jewellery and gold specimens will be on display representing the wide diversity and colour of precious stones, and some of the finest gems and jewellery in Canada. Highlighted in the gallery is the famed 900-carat Light of the Desert, the largest faceted cerussite gem in the world.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. West)

Every Saturday, two teams of improvisers duke it out. Box office: 416-491-3115.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

George R. Gardiner Special Exhibition Gallery. From the Melting Pot into the Fire provides fresh and intensely personal perspectives on contemporary life and art in Israel. Featuring 37 works of art that were originally shown in 2007 as part of the Fourth Biennale for Israeli Ceramics at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, the exhibition features work of highly conceptual and address complex issues involving questions of identity and the uncertainty of life in contemporary Israel.

Location: Gardiner Museum -- 111 Queen's Park

Focus Gallery. This exhibition of Italian maiolica (brightly painted, tin-glazed earthenware produced in Renaissance Italy) reveals their significance in gender, family relationships, courtship, marriage and birth rituals in Renaissance Italy.

Location: Gardiner Museum -- 111 Queen's Park

Invitation-only opening night reception – February 4th. 12 – 5 pm daily (FREE). Heritage Toronto is pleased to announce the second edition of its successful photo exhibition, Building Storeys, to be held at the Gladstone Hotel. A collaborative effort by Heritage Toronto and members of Toronto's Shadow Collective and DK Photo Group, Building Storeys is a visual documentation and anecdotal exhibit of our city's historical industrial buildings and sites. Building Storeys changes the perception of industrial heritage in our city, by revealing the hidden beauty of these sites. What: 11 of Toronto’s notable industrial building and sites. Profiles of some the sites will be posted on www.heritagetoronto.org and www.buildingstoreys.com leading up to the event.

Location: The Gladstone Hotel, 3rd and 4th Floors -- 1214 Queen St. West

In celebration of Black History Month, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) proudly presents Stitching Community: African Canadian Quilts from Southern Ontario, an exhibition that uses quilts made from 1848 to 1976 to explore the role of African Canadian women in reinforcing community ties in new and unfamiliar settings. The exhibition runs from January 30 to September 6, 2010, in the Wilson Canadian Heritage Exhibition Room of the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, and addresses the notion of developing social and familial ties through quilts while mainly focusing on the African Canadian community in North Buxton - a community whose foundation owes much to the freed slaves who settled in Canada, 'the land of freedom.' The exhibition is comprised of artifacts loaned from the Buxton Museum and items from the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS), including quilts, photographs, tools of the trade, and a variety of black cloth dolls.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. West)

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to announce the re-opening of the famed Bat Cave on February 27, 2010! Completely renovated and updated, the new Bat Cave is larger and more interactive with animatronic technology as well as audiovisual displays guiding visitors through a multi-sensory journey inside a recreated bat habitat. From the shadowy cave mouth, home to hundreds of roosting bats, to its finale, featuring a dramatization of the nightly exodus of the bat colony taking flight, the new Bat Cave promises a fascinating immersive and educational adventure. The Bat Cave is located on Level 2, Philosophers’ Walk Wing in the ROM’s Heritage Building. First opened in 1988, the gallery realistically portrays the renowned St. Clair Cave in Jamaica. The remodeled 1.700-square-foot gallery features more than 20 bat specimens and over 800 models, some mechanized, to thrill visitors of all ages while teaching them about bat species, navigation and behaviour, as well as the ecology of the cave in which they live.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. West)

The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) announces a series of thought-provoking films and events in conjunction with the art installation, Dan Perjovschi: Late News, opening on February 22, 2010. Distinguished in the world of contemporary art, Dan Perjovschi will draw his brilliant and irreverent cartoons directly onto the dramatic soaring walls of the Roloff Beny Gallery, on Level 4 of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the ROM between February 15 and 22. He will spend this time in residence at the Museum creating his unique site-specific line drawings while interacting with ROM visitors. This original work will remain on display until August 15, 2010.

Location: Royal Ontario Museum -- 100 Queen's Park (Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. West)

Chalmers Design Centre and Teknion Lounge. Free Admission. Curated by Sophie Gironnay, MONOPOLI, Montreal. This exhibition reveals the result of a vast cross-Canada investigation conducted by the team of MONOPOLI, with the help of three researchers dispatched on the scene by chief-curator Sophie Giornnay: Montreal journalist Alain Hochereau, Vancouver critic Adele Weder and in Toronto, Ian Chodikoff, editor-in-chief of Canadian Architect. Together they have interviewed 26 leading architects in many Canadian firms, among the most active and inspirational today. They have selected sketch-models, from the precious jewel to the humble paper folding, from the assemblage to the craftsman’s piece.

Location: Design Exchange -- 234 Bay Street

A free shuttle bus will depart from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street W, Toronto ON) at 7 pm to the reception at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. There will be an informal talk by the artist at 8 pm. The shuttle bus will return by 9 pm. From Grandma's cupcakes to oil drum tapestries. Cal Lane remembers watching her grandmother bake cupcakes, then cover them with paper doilies and sift icing sugar on top to create a decorative lace pattern. The fragility and frivolity of the sugar patterns contrasted with the solidity and substance of the cupcakes is a striking blend of tension and harmony that Lane draws upon for her art. In Sweet Crude, Lane takes industrial objects like oil cans, and incises them with ornate patterns. The term “sweet crude” refers to the most sought-after form of petroleum, a resource that nations have fought to gain and to protect. However, the power struggles associated with crude oil are counter-balanced by the innocence and beauty suggested by the descriptor “sweet.” Lane’s art reflects the surprising harmony within this tension. Her oil cans are still recognizable as strictly functional, industrial objects, yet Lane has transformed them into intricate tapestries of mythology and landscapes. The masculinity of the oil cans is tempered by the femininity of textile-like designs, and the functionality of oil cans is contrasted with the purely aesthetic value of sculptures.

Location: Art Gallery of Mississauga -- 300 City Centre Drive, (Mississauga, Ontario)

Improvisers team up and tackle the most famous improvisational format ever -- the Harold. Phone: 416-491-3115.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

A festival supporting new works. Phone: 416-973-4000.

Location: York Quay Centre (Harbourfront Centre) -- 235 Queens Quay West

(Every Saturday). A new show featuring a variety of improv styles including games, long-form and directed plays. Phone: 416-491-3115.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

Curated by Alon Razgour, Tel Aviv, Israel. “Israeli design is the world’s best-kept secret,” wrote Professor Mel Bayers in his book Improvisation. Israeli culture combines many diverse influences, which offer an often difficult, yet fruitful ground for creativity, resulting in wide ranging and high quality designs. The Israeli culture and history stimulate innovation in design while preserving traditions that embody the society. These traditions include a vivid sense of humour, a rejection of bourgeois ideas of beauty, and a cunning use of new and used materials. This is an exhibition of current Israeli industrial design, examining what makes this country unique on the world stage. The exciting, dramatic, and colourful pieces on display include furniture, lighting, and recreation equipment. Supported by the Consulate General of Israel. The DX is a registered charity with a mission to promote Canadian design.

Location: Design Exchange (Exhibition Hall) -- 234 Bay Street

A weekly pay-what-you-can student showcase where improv up-and-comers strut their stuff. Phone: 416-866-8666.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

A killer comedy about disorganized crime. BigTime Productions. Phone: 416-855-3306.

Location: Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant -- 1 Queens Quay West

Bad Dog Theatre students play with their most experienced improvisers. Phone: 416-491-3115.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

Toronto's first and only completely open improvisation jam session. Phone: 416-491-3115.

Location: The Bad Dog Theatre Company -- 138 Danforth Ave.

The dramatic conclusion to The Mill. Theatrefront. Phone: 416-866-8666.

Location: Young Centre for the Performing Arts -- 55 Mill Street, Building 49

Legendary comedy by The Second City. Phone: 416-343-0011.

Location: The Second City -- 51 Mercer St.

Globally inspired dance from Canada's best. Harbourfront Centre. Phone: 416-973-4000.

Location: Enwave Theatre & Fleck Dance Theatre -- 231/207 Queens Quay West

The Woodland School exhibition examines the vibrant artworks by Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray, Alex Janvier, Blake Debassige, Saul Williams, Martin Panamick, Goyce Kakegamic, and other Woodland School artists. Phone: 1-888-213-1121.

Location: McMichael Canadian Art Collection -- 10365 Islington Ave., Kleinburg

Based exclusively on the McMichael’s permanent collection, Child’s Play is an educational exhibition exploring the theme of children in Canadian art. Curated by the education and programs department at the McMichael, this exhibition is strongly narrative in character. The twenty-five presented works offer a glimpse into the intimate world of childhood and parenthood, where along the usual conveyance of love, joy and dreams, there is a sombre anxiety or a sense of struggle in coping with reality. Child’s Play examines the challenge of growing up in a world infused with the social and political conflicts of adults—a world in which even “child’s play” is not as simple and straightforward as it may appear. Phone: 1-888-213-1121.

Location: McMichael Canadian Art Collection -- 10365 Islington Ave., Kleinburg

Anselm Kiefer ranks among the most important artists to emerge from post-war Europe. Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday) is a monumental installation consisting of a 30-foot-long palm tree cast in fiberglass and resin, its roots clotted with mud, surrounded by a cycle of 44 large paintings encased in glass and framed in lead. Overwhelming in scale and sweeping in content, Palmsonntag conveys the operatic scope of Kiefer’s creative enterprise that crosses through spiritual, religious and mythical cultural territory.

Location: Art Gallery of Ontario -- 317 Dundas St. West (at McCaul St.)