Mission
Supporting, Inspiring, and Championing Women Living in the Arts.
Vision
The not-for-profit Heliconian Club brings together women living and working in the arts, plays an active role in wider community initiatives, and maintains an outreach program. It was founded in 1909 as a place for women working in the arts to meet, exchange ideas, and develop as artists. The Club owns the Heliconian Hall, a National Heritage Site located in the Yorkville neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. The Hall has been the home of the Heliconian Club since 1923, and is regularly used as a performance venue and art gallery. It continues to be a welcoming space for creative women in the literary world and in a wide range of artistic disciplines.
CLUB LIFE
Founded in 1909 to give women in the arts and letters an opportunity to meet socially and intellectually, the Club holds to its original purpose while responding to the changes of contemporary life. Members range in age and experience from women who have earned great distinction to those in the early stages of their careers.
The Club offers many activities for its members, their guests and the public: art exhibitions, workshops, weekly sketch groups, literary lectures, concerts, luncheons celebrating the professional lives of members and dinners addressed by distinguished guests. Various outreach activities engage the broader Toronto community, contributing to the city's cultural history and to women's history in Canada.
The Club offers many activities for its members, their guests and the public: art exhibitions, workshops, weekly sketch groups, literary lectures, concerts, luncheons celebrating the professional lives of members and dinners addressed by distinguished guests. Various outreach activities engage the broader Toronto community, contributing to the city's cultural history and to women's history in Canada.
CLUB HISTORY
Club founder Mary Hewitt Smart (later Shenstone); portrait painted by fellow member Dorothy Stevens
The Club was founded by the inspiring Mary Hewitt Smart (later Shenstone), a vocal teacher at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. She brought together a number of like-minded women in 1909 to exchange ideas and enjoy social occasions together. Each embodied an artistic focus: it was recorded that Mary represented “music”, while others represented “art” and “literature”. Ever since then, the Club has been structured into five sections: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Drama & Dance, and the Humanities. At the founding meeting, the members also decided on the name “Heliconian Club”, which derives from Mount Helicon, the mythical abode of Classical mythology's nine Muses.
Heliconian Hall
The Club meets in the downtown Yorkville neighbourhood, in a charming building at 35 Hazelton Avenue. The Hall dates from 1876 when Yorkville was a rural village on the outskirts of Toronto. Originally a church, and then the headquarters of a painters’ union, the building was bought by the club in 1923 for $8,000 and named Heliconian Hall. Its beautiful acoustics continue to make it one of Toronto's most cherished small concert halls.
The building is an excellent example of the rare Carpenter’s Gothic architectural style, with a simple board and batten exterior, Victorian rose window, and carved rafters in a high vaulted ceiling. The Heliconian Hall is one of the few buildings of this style remaining in southern Ontario. It was designated a Toronto historic site in 1990 and a National Historic Site in 2008; a plaque was erected outside the building in 2011. Restoration of the Hall is financially supported by the Heliconian Hall Foundation.
The building is an excellent example of the rare Carpenter’s Gothic architectural style, with a simple board and batten exterior, Victorian rose window, and carved rafters in a high vaulted ceiling. The Heliconian Hall is one of the few buildings of this style remaining in southern Ontario. It was designated a Toronto historic site in 1990 and a National Historic Site in 2008; a plaque was erected outside the building in 2011. Restoration of the Hall is financially supported by the Heliconian Hall Foundation.
