For the first time since 1995, Toronto’s Ashkenaz Festival has moved away from Harbourfront Centre, its longtime home and a defining part of the festival’s identity. This year, the festival is spreading across Toronto, with a major program in Kensington Market alongside events in North York and downtown venues.  

The move is more than a change of location. It reflects how Ashkenaz itself has evolved. Once strongly associated with Eastern European Jewish traditions and klezmer, the festival has increasingly embraced Jewish music from around the world, including North African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, jazz, reggae, and other musical traditions shaped by the Jewish Diaspora.  

Kensington Market is an especially meaningful setting. Historically a centre of Toronto’s Jewish community, the neighbourhood was once the starting point for Ashkenaz’s Labour Day parade. Bringing the festival back to the area reconnects it with that history, while placing Jewish music and culture in one of Toronto’s most diverse public spaces. 

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