MUSIC | 10th Annual Small World Music Festival 2011
World music will be pouring out onto the streets of Toronto tonight with the opening of the 10th annual Small World Music Festival. Beginning this evening with a kick-off party that features performances by The Lemon Bucket Orchestra and Prince Enoki's Insect Orchestra at Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas Street West), this "small" festival serves to unite cultures in song and to help boost independent musicians in alternative genres. Festivities continue this weekend with a day full of free music from Quantic, Boogat, Autorickshaw and more at Dundas Square and events will be held at various locations across the city until October 29th.
Various locations across Toronto 8:30PM Free-$150

FESTIVAL | 2nd Annual Harvest Festival
Nature lovers will be pleased to see the return of the Harvest Festival, where the environmental community joins to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the upcoming harvest with orchard tours and the chance to sample fresh (and free) fruits from community orchards. Beginning tonight at the Ben Nobleman orchards, founded by eco-gardening group Growing for Green, the Harvest Festival will be open to the public with free children's activities, live music and a Loonie Raffle this one-day only. Learn about Toronto's harvest with workshops and enjoy nature in the city by feasting on its organic produce.
Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard (Eglinton Avenue West and Everden Road) 4PM Free

THEATRE | The Odd Couple
Everyone can relate to having a bad roommate but why stay home with one when you can be entertained by sparring roomies onstage? Tonight, screenwriter and playwright Neil Simon's 1965 Broadway play The Odd Couple will be revived with Diego Matamoros and Albert Schultz as Felix and Oscar, a comedic duo who share an apartment despite a clash of personalities. Opening tonight with special early bird prices, The Odd Couple details the friendship and disagreements of two men who seem more like an old married couple than buddies. The play runs until November 19th.
Young Centre for the Performing Arts (55 Mill Street, Building 49) 7:30PM $50.86 adult, $31.65 student

ART | Singer Opening Reception
Artist Nahed Mansour observes the ties between the sweatshop and the entertainment industry, where the works of the underpaid and enslaved are most visible, in Singer, an exhibit that centers a Singer sewing machine in a gallery. The installation piece is black lit at night to illuminate the materials and patterns that surround the machine with a soundtrack of Mansour humming tunes by Michael Jackson--the pinnacle of celebrity and public visibility. The opening reception happens this evening at Whippersnapper Gallery with the installation remaining in store until October 16th.
Whippersnapper Gallery (594B Dundas West) 7PM Free

POLITICS | Liberty and the Arab Spring
Tonight at the George Ignatieff Theatre, the Honourable Michael Ignatieff and Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo join in discussion on the works of Isaiah Berlin and how they pertain to the Arab Spring, a current string of revolutionary protests in Arab countries around the world. Examining the political philosopher's works and concepts of liberty, this talk will attempt to work theory into the context of the current political climate in the Arab world. Moderated by Professor Mark Kingwell, the proceeds from this evening will go to PEN Canada, an association that defends freedom of expression around the world.
George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place) 7PM $20

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• Yo Gabba Gabba
• Toronto's Fall Home Show 2011
• Spin Off: Contemporary Art Circling the Mandala
• L'Âme des Fossiles by AmĂŠlie Desjardins
• Craig Thompson Launches Habibi

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Photo by Martinho in the blogTO Flickr pool