The Koffler Centre of the Arts has kept its contractual financial obligations to the project , '' each hand as they are called '' , which was planned to be associated with Toronto 's Luminato festival . Katz ' show was to be a non-political celebration of Jewish history in Kensington Market , which the '' Toronto Star '' described as " a gentle exploration of the layers of multi-ethnic immigrant history in Kensington Market , played out on the market 's streets in performance and , in one notably warm-fuzzy intervention , a game of mah jongg between members of a Jewish seniors ' centre and a class of Grade 8 students at a nearby school . " The Centre 's objection was not to the planned installation itself , which they had heartily approved of every step of the way , but to Katz ' anti-Zionist views and activism ( which was seen as undermining Israel as a Jewish state ) , prompting Koffler 's action to be described as blacklisting by critics . The Centre 's response was " Just as every individual has a right to freedom of expression , any organization is free to choose with whom it partners . " Katz and independent curator Kim Simon , hired by the Koffler Center to curate the project , had been working on it for well over a year , and claim that from the beginning they had made Katz 's critical activism concerning Israel clear to the Centre 's own curator , Mona Filip ( their link to the Centre ) who in turn must have told executive director Starr about it . Katz herself describes the effect of having only a single one-hour meeting with Starr on May 8 , who then immediately issued the Koffler 's press statement nationally , as a " stonewalling of internal dissent and debate ... At no point along the way was I asked to represent myself , my ideas , or the mandates of the groups I belong to , despite amicable , almost daily contacts with Filip for many months . " As a result of the Centre 's actions , 4 of the 34 artists pulled out of Koffler 's summer art party and fundraiser '' The Wrecking Ball '' as a protest . One artist , Gwen MacGregor , stated " It really speaks to fundamental issues about freedom of expression and freedom of association . It 's the thin edge of the wedge , in terms of censorship , and that 's a slippery slope . " Another artist , Yvonne Singer , the only professional artist on the Koffler Board and an associate professor at York University , where she was in charge of the graduate program in visual art , resigned from the Board . She said , concerning a meeting of the Board 's Arts Advisory Committee on May 1 where Starr had raised the issues , " Several of us objected . The exhibition had nothing to do with Katz 's political views , and in any case , she had a right to them as a citizen . " Singer again objected at the May 4 meeting of the full Board , but a majority agreed with Starr . In addition dozens of faculty from OCAD and York Universities signed a letter to the Koffler Centre stating that the latter 's " decision is a highly political act that serves to discredit Katz , her work and the validity of the political views and opinions she may hold as a Jew , an artist , and a social citizen . " In its FAQ ( undated and not posted until well after the controversy began ) , the Koffler Centre of the Arts denies censorship since it did not cancel the exhibition and continued to fund it . They claim that the decision as to whether the exhibition continues remains in the hands of the artist and curator . This point of view was not accepted by journalists such as Murray Whyte , visual arts reporter at the Toronto Star , or Susan G. Cole , senior entertainment editor at Toronto 's '' Now '' weekly magazine , nor was it the view of then Board member Yvonne Singer who told Whyte she " knew right away it would scuttle the whole thing . You ca n't dissociate like that , and reasonably expect it to survive . " Cole noted the domino effect that the Koffler 's quickly issued press release had on others involved in the project , in effect virtually terminating it 12 days before it was to open
Luminato
Luminato
Koffler Centre of the Arts