LRC magazine partners on Spur, a new national festival of politics, art and ideas

The magazine Literary Review of Canada (LRC), in collaboration with Diaspora Dialogues, has today launched a national festival of politics, art and ideas called Spur. The festival takes place in parts, across Canada and it promises to present town halls, readings, performances, walking tours and funky late-night music, all designed to encourage engagement with pressing issues. It describes itself as "multi-partisan, forward-looking and solutions-oriented -- spurring ideas into action". 

More Spurs are intended to roll out in 2014, but the first three are:

• Spur Toronto: The Bottom Line (April 11-14) -- the intersection of cash, civics and culture;
• Spur Winnipeg: Unnatural Histories (April 26-28) -- The past, present and future of our human-made world;
• Spur Vancouver: Global Power Play (June 17 - 19) -- The rise, fall and reimagination of societies

Presenters include 

• New Yorker senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg on vested interests in politics; 
• Playwrights Hannah Moscovitch and Michael Healy;
• Political operatives Chima Nkemdirim,Jaime Watt and David Herle on electoral alchemy;
• First-time author Ayelet Tsabari; and 
• Ins Choi's (Kim's Convenience) brand new theatrical walking piece

Tickets are on sale now and cover all events, including a private reception. The organizers are also launching the RBC Emerging Scholars program and the Spur Public Fellow to capture ideas generated through the festival and which will guide programming for the coming year.