After she was memorialized in a Heritage Minute last year, a fundraising campaign has been launched to commemorate the legacy of late American-Canadian transgender soul singer Jackie Shane with a commemorative plaque in downtown Toronto.
The JustGiving.com fundraiser was started by Amanda Burt, a producer on the forthcoming Crave Original documentary Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. Currently in production, the Michael Mabbott & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee-directed feature is anticipated for release in 2024.
"It's been a gift getting to know Jackie and her history as we work on the documentary," Burt said in a press release. "She considered Toronto her home, and while she was here she changed the very sound of the music that came out of this city. We should all know her story."
Through its donor-supported plaque program, Heritage Toronto commemorates events, places and people that coloured the city's history. Shane's career exploded in Toronto when she escaped the "Chitlin' Circuit" of the American south, relocating from her birthplace of Nashville, TN, in the 1960s.
She scored a hit single in 1962 with "Any Other Way" despite the music industry's reluctance to support a trans artist, and a mythic residency at Toronto's Saphire Tavern birthed Shane's classic Jackie Shane Live! album. Burt and her fellow organizers are thusly proposing the plaque's location at the corner of Richmond Street East and Victoria Street, where the Saphire once stood.
Donations can be made publicly or privately, online or by cheque, with gifts $20 and over receiving a Heritage Toronto charitable donation tax receipt. Those who donate $200 or more will be recognized on the Our Supporters page of the Heritage Toronto website and in the charity's annual report. The campaign goal is $10,000, and any donations beyond this amount will go directly toward Heritage Toronto's Curated Plaques Fund.
Donors will be invited to the unveiling of the plaque, which is planned to take place in June 2023 during Pride Toronto. Shane's living relatives will also be in attendance.
You can donate to the campaign here.
The JustGiving.com fundraiser was started by Amanda Burt, a producer on the forthcoming Crave Original documentary Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. Currently in production, the Michael Mabbott & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee-directed feature is anticipated for release in 2024.
"It's been a gift getting to know Jackie and her history as we work on the documentary," Burt said in a press release. "She considered Toronto her home, and while she was here she changed the very sound of the music that came out of this city. We should all know her story."
Through its donor-supported plaque program, Heritage Toronto commemorates events, places and people that coloured the city's history. Shane's career exploded in Toronto when she escaped the "Chitlin' Circuit" of the American south, relocating from her birthplace of Nashville, TN, in the 1960s.
She scored a hit single in 1962 with "Any Other Way" despite the music industry's reluctance to support a trans artist, and a mythic residency at Toronto's Saphire Tavern birthed Shane's classic Jackie Shane Live! album. Burt and her fellow organizers are thusly proposing the plaque's location at the corner of Richmond Street East and Victoria Street, where the Saphire once stood.
Donations can be made publicly or privately, online or by cheque, with gifts $20 and over receiving a Heritage Toronto charitable donation tax receipt. Those who donate $200 or more will be recognized on the Our Supporters page of the Heritage Toronto website and in the charity's annual report. The campaign goal is $10,000, and any donations beyond this amount will go directly toward Heritage Toronto's Curated Plaques Fund.
Donors will be invited to the unveiling of the plaque, which is planned to take place in June 2023 during Pride Toronto. Shane's living relatives will also be in attendance.
You can donate to the campaign here.
