About
The Textile Museum of Canada will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025! With your support, we want to ensure the Textile Museum of Canada serves to the future generation for another 50 years.
Located in downtown Toronto, we are the only museum in Canada dedicated to exploring the human experience through textiles.
The Textile Museum of Canada ignites creativity, inspires wonder, and sparks conversation through the stories held within our global collection of textiles, and active engagement with contemporary art practices.
The Museum’s exhibitions present the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists and often draw from our collection. The Museum is an internationally renowned educational institution, recognized for the relevance and diversity of its exhibitions, innovative approaches to educational programs, and the significance and digital accessibility of its collection.
On March 29, 2023, we opened a gallery to permanently showcase, on a rotating basis, selections from our collection of 15,000 objects from 200 regions around the globe.
“My mom’s love of textiles infused many areas of her life. As an enthusiastic weaver, knitter, seamstress, embroiderer, and needle pointer, she always had several projects “on the go.” She cherished the artistry and cultural significance of textiles, and, as an adventurous traveler, she explored textile traditions across the globe. She found a lifelong, close-knit community by sharing her love of textiles with friends and family. She served as a docent and volunteer at The Textile Museum of Canada for many years to ensure everyone could share the community, learning, and joy fostered by the textile arts. She hoped that her donation to the museum would allow future generations to continue to find beauty and understanding of other cultures through textiles.” – Margaret Anne Wylie Light’s daughter.
Our Impact
Since September 2021, the Museum has diverted over 12,000 pounds of textiles from the landfill through our Textile Reuse Program. Located in our new Textile Learning Hub, the Hub helps foster awareness of textile sustainability and explores contemporary issues ranging from upcycling and environmental consciousness to personal expression and well-being.
Our programs also offer chances for deeper engagement with audiences by introducing participants to the Museum’s Reuse Program, whose focus will be to divert textile donations from landfills, provide accessible and affordable options for a wide variety of makers, artists, and designers, and act as a venue for workshops and other programs that promote upcycling and sustainability.
