Grade Scool is happy to be helping with the presentation of one of this year’s featured exhibits for the CONTACT photography festival. Partnering with the folks from Hermann & Audrey we have collectively built what will be a must see piece of the 2010 version of North America’s largest photography festival. The show runs from May 5th through 29th and we will be sharing a plenty about what is happening between now and then. To start, we thought we’d share one of the most notable collaborations happening for the exhibit from Steve Carty and Skam.

Check out this dope preview video of their creations for CONTACT and have a read below to learn about the direction and inspiration Carty lined up with arguably Toronto’s most famous graffiti artist.

I’ve been collaborating with graffiti artists, painters and a flashlight for nearly 5 years. This year i decided to bring it to the Contact festival with my series, Lightworkers.

By choosing to collaborate with a most accomplished graffiti artist, Skam as well as painters Jon Todd and Kwame Delfish, I put the flashlights in capable hands. The result is a body of photographs shot both in studio and on location that have the depth of a still as well as a feeling of motion as you follow the light trails through the image.

I took a unique approach with my session with Skam. Graffiti art has always been seen as vandalism, and although Skam never paints anywhere he isn’t hired to paint anymore, the roots of graffiti still lay in the underground, painting clean walls with murals and tags, often leading to arrests and neighbourhood cleanups.

On the other hand, the graffiti Skam creates with a flashlight only exist within my photograph. The entire experience is captured in a single frame. Light trails. Removed from all things except light itself, drawn once, in space over time, and saved forever. A perfect collaboration between artist and photographer.

Choosing a cross section of downtown locations, i tried to give Skam the room to work with the flashlight in ways that he was comfortable as well as forcing him to be in an overall situation that he has never been, not being able to see what he was painting.

Our favourite Toronto pop punk noir trio hits the stage Wednesday night to kick off Toronto’s Canadian Music Week. This will be the dawn of a big year for Josh McGuirk and Alexander The, the two founding members of the group. Rumour has it that Daniel Lee of Hooded Fang will be holding down the set on drums and guest performances by Sarah Shafey and Tanika Charles will make this a must see of the entire festival. Don’t miss out. 9pm tomorrow at The Roosevelt Room.

This is best live dance party on the market today. You hear that Woodhands! I said it. You guys are good too though.

Simon says get the fuck up.

Toronto’s The REMIX Project has put together an awesome Valentine’s Day fundraising campaign that you should jump on for that last minute gift idea. Drake’s DJ, Future The Prince and Styrofoam Ones’ Josh McGuirk (aka J Charles) have donated exclusive mixtapes and paired up with photographer Yasmine James to offer donors an awesome package to tell someone you care. For a $20 donation to REMIX you can have a mixtape and photo card of your choice delivered by email to your sweetheart Sunday morning. Visit the site, be a digital hero/romantic & jump on this very cool project for a very cool cause.

To be fair, here is an actual video for Little Dragon’s Twice.

Came across this amazing video showcasing Tagtool, a performance art instrument that projects live illustration and animation onto walls with a laptop, drawing tablet, and gamepad.

The Wall of Light was a ten day event in York, UK, showcasing Tagtool performances by a number of various artists and free-for-all sessions.

It is a rare and special thing when a physical space can be offered to multiple creators to promote their ideas, wares, efforts in a place where the art comes first and the venue comes second. Rolly’s Garage was an auto-mechanic garage for over 2 decades but this past year the space has undergone quite the transformation. Becoming home to emerging and established artists of all sorts, Rolly’s Garage is an art venue free of pretentious vibes and chalk full of good ones. Rolly’s daughter {Robin Orbeta-Lacambra} and her partner in good vibes {Tiffany Naval} are dedicated to celebrating the arts in whatever form they come, making it accessible and proving to aspiring artists that it is possible to make a career out of their craft. Rolly’s has hosted such a wide array of creative events, ranging from art exhibitions to plays and crazy parties, giving artists of all kinds a safe space to realize their dreams, adding to the diverse cultural fabric of Toronto.

But as with all great things, some hard work lays ahead to make the future as bright as possible. The space needs some renovations, it needs to meet code and it needs to be rebuilt to officially become the space it has already inspired so many to see it as. Rolly’s Garage has become a hub for a phenomenal Toronto community, a group of inspirational artists that are constantly growing and collaborating and working to better the arts and culture in this city.

Grade Scool very much supports Rolly’s Garage for the Aviva Community Fund. The task at hand is simple. We need to rally the troops and VOTE ONLINE everyday for two weeks. A tiresome task we know for you web weary surfers, but if you can see the value in the project as we do, sign up and vote for Rolly’s Garage for hte Aviva Community Fund at http://bit.ly/t8ayJ

Even better would be to tell your friends on Twitter and Facebook to do the same.

Download the Official Manifesto Festival Mixtape Here (right click, save as)

Our friend DJ Mensa has been hard at work to bring you yet another classic mixtape to help work that kink out of your neck. The mixtape features key artists that will be performing at this years Manifesto, a festival that celebrates the vibrant community and culture of hip hop music. The event started yesterday and will go until the 20th with events going all week that include a 3 floor art show, b-boy battles, a film festival and a free concert in Nathan Phillips Square with Talib Kweli and Hi Tek. Check out the poster below for more details.