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Plan Your Visit to the Museum

Our visitors and community are at the heart of what we do. The Textile Museum of Canada is located in downtown Toronto.

Our permanent collection is showcased in special exhibitions and available in full for reference online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We support intergenerational learning with monthly Sustainable Textile Teach-ins, and an innovative series of lectures, workshops, seminars, and tours – all currently offered virtually. We will be transitioning into hybrid online and in-person programming in October of 2021, as permitted by provincial COVID-19 guidelines.

Looking to delve a little deeper? Our Learning page has education guides for all our exhibitions with activities and further reading! 

The Museum will be reopening on September 15, 2021

We encourage you to buy local, support local artists, and visit our new Online Shop.  

 

Holiday Schedule

Open: Family Day, August Civic Holiday
Closed: Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Easter Weekend (including Good Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Easter Monday), Victoria Day, Canada Day.

Please note that the Museum closes at 2:00 pm on December 24 and December 31.

01. Admission

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021. Online advanced reservations are still highly encouraged. See our blog for more information on our reopening policies.

Ticket Type
Price
General Admission
FREE
Youth (6-18 years)
FREE
Student (with valid Post-Secondary ID)
FREE
Seniors (65 years+)
FREE
Children (5 years and under)
FREE
Members
FREE
Book TicketsBuy Membership

02. Getting Here

The Textile Museum of Canada is located in the heart of downtown Toronto just steps away from City Hall, Chinatown, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. We are one block east of University Avenue, south of Dundas Street. Visit Accessing Our Space for detailed information and maps to help you prepare for getting here.

55 Centre Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2H5
Tel: (416) 599-5321
Email: info@textilemuseum.com

View On Google Maps

The Textile Museum of Canada is located one block east of St Patrick subway station, which is on Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina). 

Dundas 505 streetcar Westbound: get off at University Avenue and walk one block east and then one block south to Centre Avenue.

Dundas 505 streetcar Eastbound: get off at Chestnut Avenue and walk one block west and then one block south to Centre Avenue.

For additional public transit Information, contact the Toronto Transit Commission at 416-393-4636 or visit the TTC Website: ttc.ca

For transit planning in Greater Toronto Area, check out triplinx.ca

The Museum does not have a parking lot. However, there are several commercial parking lots within walking distance:

63 Centre Avenue (Northeast corner of Dundas Street and Centre Avenue) Surface lot – Impark lot #39 | Hourly: $7.50

393 University Avenue (Entrance on Centre Avenue) Underground garage – University Centre – Impark Lot #227 | Hourly: $12.00

180 Dundas Street West  (Southwest corner of Dundas Street and Centre Avenue – Additional entrance at 65 Centre Ave.) | Hourly: $9

110 Queen Street West (Nathan Phillips Square) Underground Garage – GreenP Carpark 36 | Hourly: $7

Please note: There is limited street parking available near the Museum; however there is ongoing construction taking place on Dundas Street and on Centre Avenue.

Community Access

03. Community Access

The Textile Museum of Canada is committed to providing access to everyone. The Museum recognizes that accessibility is a living project, attentive to the many changing needs of our diverse audiences.

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021

The Textile Museum of Canada’s Indigenous Access Admissions Policy provides free admission to the Museum to First Nations, Inuit and Métis visitors. Identification is not required. This policy is in response to the calls to the action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report which encourages the development of “museum policies and best practices to determine the level of compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021

The Textile Museum of Canada is proud to participate in the Canoo program from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Canoo is a mobile app that helps new Canadians celebrate their citizenship by providing free admission to over 1,400 sites across Canada. Please see their website for more information on how to use Canoo.

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021

The Textile Museum of Canada is proud to participate in the Toronto Public Library’s Museum + Arts Pass program. Available at libraries across the city, the MAP program provides free access to cultural institutions across the city, free with your library card. Please see their website for more information on how to get a free pass to the Textile Museum of Canada.

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021

As we welcome our members and visitors back to the Museum, we are delighted to offer FREE admission until December 31, 2021

Support persons accompanying a visitor with a disability receive free admission. The Textile Museum is a participating partner in Easter Seals Canada’s Access 2 Entertainment Program. Visit our Membership page for more information about this program.

04. Accessibility

We are committed to engaging all visitors in inclusive Museum experiences. Maintaining the accessibility of our exhibitions and events, as well as our educational and creative programs is paramount to our cherished connections with our communities.

Entrance

Entrance

The Museum shares the ground level of 55 Centre Avenue with the Chestnut Park Condominium. The Museum’s entrance is to the south of the building. Entry doorways into our small ground level lobby are equipped with automatic openers.
Our Space

Our Space

The Museum’s public spaces are located on the first 4 levels of the building, with our shop and galleries located on levels 2 and 3. All levels are accessible by elevator. Accessible washrooms are located on level 2, for more information about our space during our reopening visit our Guidelines for Visitors
Guidelines for Visitors
Accessing the Museum

Accessing the Museum

The Museum is located in a densely populated downtown area, close to public transit, parking facilities and local amenities. The closest subway station is St. Patrick Station which is fully accessible. There is limited accessible street parking available on Centre Ave.
Services

Services

Large print guides and video transcripts are available in the Museum galleries. We have one manual wheelchair available free of charge at the admission desk, please contact mdavies@textilemuseum.ca to book in advance.
Support

Support

Support persons accompanying a visitor with a disability receive free admission at the Textile Museum of Canada. Identification is not required. Service animals are welcome at the Museum. Learn about our various community access above.

Attending Events

We encourage visitors of all abilities to participate in our events. If you are looking for detailed information about an upcoming event, please consult the individual event page on our site. If you have further questions, please contact us at mdavies@textilemuseum.ca.
VISIT TOURS

05. Tour

Book a Group TourBook a School Visit

We offer personalized tours and programs for organizations, schools and informal groups.

All School Visits and Group Tours are currently being offered virtually. These offerings are available to be tailored to the particular needs and interests of your group, including the addition of hands-on textile activities. There is something for every group to take advantage of! 

While the Museum is open Wednesday – Saturday for General Admission with timed-entry ticketing as of September 15, 2021, we will not be hosting in-person School Visits and Group Tours at this time, in accordance with the capacity limits in our galleries.  

If you have an idea about how we can connect, or wish to consult about the particular accessibility needs or focused interests of your group, please reach out to our Education Coordinator, Yahn Nemirovsky at ynemirovsky@textilemuseum.ca.

Have questions about our tours, or anything else? See our FAQ section below.

2021 – 2022 School Year

Our Virtual School Visits provide students with experiences and activities directly linked to provincial curriculum standards and cater to students of all ages. Arts, science, history, language, and culture are all woven into the fabric of hand-made textiles.  

Programs include a 60-minute interactive presentation from one of the Museum’s educators, with the option of highlighting one exhibition or a selection of exhibitions, and with opportunity to include a hands-on textile activity.

School Visit Offerings

Exhibition Tours

ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios 

CURATORIAL LEAD: Roxane Shaughnessy – Senior Curator & Collection Manager, Textile Museum of Canada | PROJECT PARTNER: West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative (Dec 7, 2019 – Jan 1, 2022)

ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios shares the little-known story of Inuit artists and printmakers who produced a collection of graphic textiles in Kinngait, Nunavut in the 1950s and 60s. This virtual tour features historic textiles and garments by contemporary fashion designers, demonstrating the creativity and resourcefulness of Inuit art, craft, and design across generations.

Jagdeep Raina: Chase

CURATOR: Shauna McCabe – Executive Director, Art Gallery of Guelph (Sep 15, 2021 – Mar 15, 2022)

Jagdeep Raina: Chase is a poetic exploration of the interplay of memory and migration, and of how both are mapped onto everyday landscapes. Raised and currently based in Guelph, Raina shares stories of the Sikh diaspora, drawing upon personal records and those of his family who were among the migration to southern Ontario in the 1960s. This virtual tour features Raina‘s embroidered tapestries and works on paper, evoking the textured local and transnational geographies of longing and belonging that emerge in the quest to establish home in terrain that is unsettlingly remote. 

And other monuments

CURATOR: Mitra Fakhrashrafi – Curator-in-Residence, Creatives-in-Residence Program (Sep 14, 2021 – Nov 14, 2021)

And other monuments is an exhibition tracing the movement of the ‘Oriental rug’ and other orientalia in relation to colonial trade, imperial bordering, and power. Featuring works by contemporary artists alongside West Asian and Middle Eastern pieces from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, this virtual tour invites a reading of textiles as maps or guides which are capable of tracing broader relationships to how transnational, globalized mobilities of goods have always relied on ‘immobilizations’ of people. 

Permanent Collection Tour

Behind the Scenes

Ongoing

Behind the Scenes provides a glimpse into the Museum’s Collection of textiles from around the world. Students will learn about the people who made, used, and donated objects in our Permanent Collection that come from a range of making traditions and feature a variety of techniques and textures. The selection of objects to be featured in this Tour may be tailored to suit your Group’s interests. 

Craft Kits

We’ll send you the materials to explore new techniques and creative expression. Craft kits contain an instruction sheet and supplementary educational materials. Choose from kits that explore weaving, sewing, and other crafts. They can be purchased as part of one of our programs or independently.

$10 + HST per student, + Shipping

School Visit Pricing

$200 + HST per Virtual School Visit, with an additional cost of $50 for groups of over 25 students.
$100 + HST per Virtual School Visit for Institutional Members,* with an additional cost of $50 for groups of over 25 students.

*Institutional Memberships – Schools

We offer Institutional Memberships to give our School partners access to Free Admission for students as well as discounted School Visit programming.   

Contact our Membership & Marketing Coordinator Caitlin Donnelly at cdonnelly@textilemuseum.ca for more information about Institutional Memberships and how to register or renew. 

Our Virtual Group Tours provide community groups with a closer look into our exhibitions, permanent collections, and other projects. They include a 1-Hour interactive presentation from one of the Museum’s educators and will be available both virtually and in person as of the Museum’s reopening in the Fall of 2021.

Take a look at our current offerings—Virtual Group Tours may encompass one or multiple of the options listed below.

Group Tour Offerings

Exhibition Tours

ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios 

CURATORIAL LEAD: Roxane Shaughnessy – Senior Curator & Collection Manager, Textile Museum of Canada | PROJECT PARTNER: West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative (Dec 7, 2019 – Jan 1, 2022)

ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios shares the little-known story of Inuit artists and printmakers who produced a collection of graphic textiles in Kinngait, Nunavut in the 1950s and 60s. This virtual tour features historic textiles and garments by contemporary fashion designers, demonstrating the creativity and resourcefulness of Inuit art, craft, and design across generations. 

Jagdeep Raina: Chase

CURATOR: Shauna McCabe – Executive Director, Art Gallery of Guelph (Sep 15, 2021 – Mar 15, 2022)

Jagdeep Raina: Chase is a poetic exploration of the interplay of memory and migration, and of how both are mapped onto everyday landscapes. Raised and currently based in Guelph, Raina shares stories of the Sikh diaspora, drawing upon personal records and those of his family who were among the migration to southern Ontario in the 1960s. This virtual tour features Raina‘s embroidered tapestries and works on paper, evoking the textured local and transnational geographies of longing and belonging that emerge in the quest to establish home in terrain that is unsettlingly remote. 

And other monuments

CURATOR: Mitra Fakhrashrafi – Curator-in-Residence, Creatives-in-Residence Program (Sep 14, 2021 – Nov 14, 2021)

And other monuments is an exhibition tracing the movement of the ‘Oriental rug’ and other orientalia in relation to colonial trade, imperial bordering, and power. Featuring works by contemporary artists alongside West Asian and Middle Eastern pieces from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, this virtual tour invites a reading of textiles as maps or guides which are capable of tracing broader relationships to how transnational, globalized mobilities of goods have always relied on ‘immobilizations’ of people. 

Permanent Collection Tour

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes provides a glimpse into the Museum’s Collection of textiles from around the world. Students will learn about the people who made, used, and donated objects in our Permanent Collection that come from a range of making traditions and feature a variety of techniques and textures. The selection of objects to be featured in this Tour may be tailored to suit your Group’s interests. 

Group Tour Pricing

$200 + HST per Virtual Group Tour, with an additional cost of $50 for groups of over 25 people.
$100 + HST per Virtual Group Tour for Institutional Members,* with an additional cost of $50 for groups of over 25 people.

*Institutional Memberships – Groups

We offer Institutional Memberships to give our Group partners access to discounted Admission as well as discounted Group Tour programming.   

Contact our Membership & Marketing Coordinator Caitlin Donnelly at cdonnelly@textilemuseum.ca for more information about Institutional Memberships and how to register or renew. 

06. Frequently Asked Questions

Can I take pictures? Why is it so dark in here? I have this textile…

Reopening Period

To see our COVID visit policies please visit:

To see our reopening related FAQ, please visit:

Photography and Video Recording

Photography (without flash) and video recording is allowed everywhere in the Museum, for personal use only. Please tag us on Instagram (@textilemuseumofcanada) and Facebook! For media requests, please contact Caitlin Donnelly, Membership & Marketing Coordinator, at cdonnelly@textilemuseum.ca or 416-599-5321 x 2245.

Food and Drink

No food or drink is allowed in the galleries. Parents are welcome to breastfeed anywhere in the Museum.

No Touching

Please DO NOT TOUCH the objects on display in the galleries. Most objects in our exhibitions are not in cases, which allows you to look closely at the details of each piece; however, touching is not allowed.

Coat, Bag Check and Permitted Items

Our coat room is currently closed and there is no storage for large bags or suitcases at this time – they will not be allowed into the Museum. Backpacks and purses must be worn on your front. 

 

Drawing and Sketching

No pens or markers are allowed in the galleries. Pencils and pencil crayons may be used.

Scents

We ask for your cooperation in keeping the Museum scent-free in order to maintain a safe and enjoyable visit for everyone. Visitors are encouraged to avoid or reduce the use of heavily fragranced products, which may include perfumes/colognes and scented lotions.

Video Surveillance

For the protection of visitors, staff and our exhibitions, the Textile Museum of Canada is monitored by video surveillance.

Animals

Pets are not permitted in the Museum; however, service animals are allowed.

US Tender

We accept American cash at par. Please note that we do not accept US debit cards.

Wheelchairs

A wheelchair is available for visitors to use and may be reserved in advance by phone (416-819-4056) or email (admission@textilemuseum.ca).

You come into contact with them every day!

Textiles are objects that protect the body, furnish the home, and express personal and cultural identity.

Made from a wide range of natural and synthetic materials, they demonstrate the ingenuity of their makers, who transform wool, cotton, silk, animal skins, bark, polyester, or grass into cloth that perfectly suits its purpose.

Our permanent collection represents historic techniques that continue to be practiced today. It includes woven textile fragments from 11th century Egypt, an Inuit seal skin appliquéd hanging, a Malaysian cowrie shell war vest made around 1910, an early 20th century camel headdress from Afghanistan, Indigenous beadwork, a child’s suit made from salmon skin from China, hooked rugs and quilts from across Canada, a collection of Chinese children’s festival hats, William Morris curtain fragments, prayer rugs from Iran, indigo-dyed women’s wrappers from Nigeria, and woven alpaca ponchos from Bolivia.

Our contemporary exhibitions celebrate textiles as personal and cultural expressions, technical innovation, cultural continuity, and new materials.

The Textile Museum of Canada is relevant to anyone who has clothes on right now, or who stepped out from between the sheets this morning to open the curtains and put their feet on the rug. These are just a few of the basic encounters we have with textiles and fibre, but it’s a global human experience that runs deep and rich.

We have digitized our entire collection of over 15,000 objects, and incorporate objects from our collection into our exhibitions whenever possible. However, due to the size constraints of our gallery space there is not a dedicated exhibition of our permanent collection at this time. We are working towards re-establishing a permanent collection gallery by late 2021.

During our reopening period, we will be unable to accommodate visits to our collection. Please contact Roxane Shaughnessy for inquiries about our collection.

Textiles are one of the most light-sensitive materials that you will find on display at a museum. Exposure to light causes weakness of fibres and fading, which can result in severe damage to textiles if left unchecked. All forms of light can cause damage but light sources with high UV content, such as daylight, are the most destructive. Light damage to textiles is cumulative and irreversible, so it’s important for us to reduce the amount and intensity of light exposure to our collection whenever possible.

The Museum uses a dimming LED lighting system in our galleries, as it contains low levels of the UV spectrum and can be adjusted for the needs of individual pieces. We also have motion detectors that dim the lights when no one is in a gallery to reduce the amount of light exposure a textile receives. Placing a light source father away from an object reduces the intensity of light exposure that an object receives while on display. For this reason, we do not place spotlights within our cases.

We strive to make our galleries accessible for our visitors but sometimes the needs of the textiles on display require low lighting levels for their care. If you are finding that the lighting in a gallery is making it difficult to read the labels, a clear print exhibition guide is available at the front desk. Tours for visitors with low vision are also available through our education department.

Please don’t. Our museum is special because there is no glass separating you from the artifacts on display, and you can get up close. But we ask you not to touch, and here’s why:

Our skin contains oils, salts, and residues. When people touch an object, these things build up and result in chemical reactions that cause deterioration. Damage caused to textiles is a slow, gradual process and the immediate effect of poor handling is not apparent. Although the damage isn’t as easy to see as a ceramic vase breaking when you drop it, it’s still happening! This also means that a textile, especially an old one, is probably much more fragile than it looks at first glance. Dyes, chemicals, and a variety of natural but slightly gross substances are often used to make textiles. These can remain on the surface and touching them means they will get on your hands and clothing.

In short, we ask you not to touch because it keeps you and the textiles safe. The longer we keep an object in good condition, the more people will get to see it. Please help us preserve our collection for generations to come.

Our Museum Shop is available online 24/7 at shop.textilemuseum.ca. 

We welcome visitors to our Museum Shop in person; however, we ask that you book an advanced ticket reservation through our website (free admission will be available between September 15 and December 31). Tickets will also be available to book onsite, although space at the time of arrival is not guaranteed. 

You can place an order for curbside pick-up via our online shop. If you are interested in an item that you don’t see online, please email shop@textilemuseum.ca and we’d be happy to facilitate your order. 

 

 

The Museum is grateful for the donation of objects to the collection. However, please note that we have currently placed a moratorium on new acquisitions as we undergo an in-depth review of our policies.

For more information about donating to the Museum’s collection, click here.

At this time, we are unable to accommodate donations to our textile sales and textiles sales are currently on hold . Please stay tuned for updates as we work to revive these sales  

Our conservator Hillary Anderson has put together a list of resources for textile enthusiasts and owners including local independent appraisers and conservators. Due to the overwhelming number of requests we receive, we are not able to respond to inquiries relating to artifacts which are not in our collection.

Yes! Check out our Get Involved page to learn more about volunteering at the Museum and find out if there are currently any job openings.