U of T’s Hart House celebrates Pride with 3,000 rainbow-coloured paper cranes

Cranes in the colours of the rainbow hang from a window at Hart House's reading room (photo by Romi Levine)

Published: June 5, 2018

The Hart House halls are a little brighter this week with the addition of 3,000 origami paper cranes, hanging in the shape of two rainbow flags, in celebration of Pride month.

It took around 50 people almost two weeks to fold the cranes – including staff, faculty and students – all from the Faculty of Arts & Science. Even Dean David Cameron pitched in some arts and crafts time.

rainbow cranes
(Photo by Romi Levine)

The idea for the colourful displays came from Lucy Chung, director of infrastructure planning for the Faculty of Arts & Science, inspired by senbazuru, a Japanese tradition of stringing together 1,000 paper cranes in order to make a wish come true.

“A folded crane has also become a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times,” Sean Bettam, communications officer for the Faculty of Arts & Science, told The Toronto Star.

The rainbow cranes can also be seen behind the Hart House Information Hub desk (photo by Romi Levine)

The cranes were originally on display in Sidney Smith Hall in 2017, but were given to Hart House for this year’s Pride festivities.

A new, large-scale Pride installation is currently being assembled, says Chung, and will be on display on the Sidney Smith patio in a week. It will consist of hundreds of pinwheels of different colours creating a giant Pride flag.

Hart House will be hosting its annual Pride Pub on June 8.