Friendly Entertainment & Promotion Company had its beginning in 1979, when engineer John Quarterly first arrived in Canada and started doing volunteer work for the Canadian Opera Company, as a clown at Toronto's Harbourfront, while adding magic and juggling to routines that developed into The Amazing Dickens, an original and successful magic, mindreading, and clown act, later followed by Friendly the Clown, who specializes in performing for children's parties, parties for grownups, and walkabouts for corporate and retail events.
AGO is Toronto-born Frank Gehry's first building in Canada and marks the very place where he made the initial connection between art and architecture. Hallmarks of his AGO design connect the city and the Gallery in provocative new ways including,dramatic sculptural staircases, the warmth of Douglas fir, and the extensive use of glass which infuses the galleries with natural light. As you will discover, it is an extraordinary new home for extraordinary new art.