Here Comes the Circus ft. Isabelle's Crystal Ball

Come one, come all -- Clown House Arts Collective is officially launching.

With our site published, and social pages flowing, here is our official welcome! We want to thank everyone for the outpour of support we have received so far and we are so excited to keep this ball rolling.

We are hosting our first event on August 5th and plan to keep the interviews, poetry, and short stories coming (and so much more).

Our event will be for local vendors and artists to put forth some of their best work, backed by the Clown House. Artists of all kinds are welcome and can come to meet and support their fellow artists. We plan on having snacks, drinks, live music, and a fun time. All are welcome so follow our social media to stay updated on when and where.

We will be featuring a few surprise headliners at this event and will be announcing the talent as the time draws closer.

Events and arts aside, I'd like to take a moment to share our origin story.

It starts with our founder, Kat (read her first post here). Kat came to us with a vision -- a beautiful evening full of music, art and community. There'd be jewellery for sale, paintings, clothing, stories. Music, and bands, and short films, and -- everything under the sun, hosted by us. Artists of all kinds from across the GTA would come together in one spot to share and connect.

We (the rest of the Clown House team) knew we could make Kat's vision come true. Putting things together, we landed on our name after a decent amount of trial and error. Clown House. Clown House represents how we embrace joy in our lives and in our art. Art should be fun! We want to have fun expressing our creative sides and support other artists who love to do the same.

Fundamentally, Clown House is about joy and connection. We have a team of hyper-talented folks who want to help make the Toronto arts scene a friendlier and well-connected place, all while supporting the city through local charity initiatives and giving back.

Clown House is just getting started and the future is spot-light bright.

Speaking of the future, our resident fortune teller (me, Isabelle) is here with a tarot spread. The crystal ball is reserved for individual fortunes. After blessing the deck with a kiss, embued with our collective Clown House power, the following cards were brought forth:

Three of Pentacles represents the past. Eight of Swords, to represent the present. Finally, the Sun card represents the future.

To those not well versed in tarot, an explanation and interpretation.

Three of Pentacles is all about collaboration and hard work, which is what Clown House has been doing for the past few months leading to our launch. Arts collectives value each individual contributor and what the individual can bring to the table, with no one voice triumphing over the others. We have been here to listen, share, and make this collective the best version of itself -- as we will continue to do.

Our present is the Eight of Swords. This card represents circumstances which leave you feeling trapped and limited. Clown House, for some of the team, is our first foray into the public eye. Presenting our innermost selves and intimate writing for the world wide web is a daunting task and seems connected to the Sun card, representing Clown House's future.

The Sun card is the bright and shining sun, all optimism and positivity. It represents being connected with the inner self, and by being connected to the inner self, the outer world as well. The Sun card calls for self-expression, confidence and enthusiasm -- which we folks at Clown House are bringing to you by the bucket full.

Thank you for reading!

Keep checking back for more content and updates.