The Nova Music Festival Exhibition, a tribute to the unifying power of music, the lives lost, and the survivors of the brutal October 7, 2023, attack, is coming to Toronto in April 2025 for six weeks, April 23 through June 8. This is the first time the exhibition will be shown in Canada.
"The Lawfare Project Canada is proud to bring the Nova Music Festival Exhibition to Toronto. While the Exhibition honors the victims and survivors of the terrorist attack at the Nova Music Festival, it also fosters allyship as it educates and highlights the importance of defending human rights and reaffirming our democratic values," stated Brooke Goldstein, Director of The Lawfare Project Canada.
On Friday, October 6, 2023, thousands of music and arts fans gathered for a celebration of life, peace, and music in Re'im Israel for the Nova Music Festival. At 6:29 AM on Saturday, October 7, the peaceful festival was cut short when thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people, including 370 from the Nova Music Festival, four of whom were Canadian, and abducting more than 250, including 44 innocent civilians attending the festival.
"The story of the Nova Music Festival is one of strength, survival, love, and community," said Jesse Brown, Lead Canadian Representative, Nova Exhibition. "This exhibit is to honor and remember the victims while also hearing the heart-wrenching stories of survivors who remind the world that we will dance again."
The Lawfare Project stated, "The exhibit is interactive, experiential, immersive, and educational. Visitors will embark on a full sensory journey through the timeline of the Nova Music Festival, reliving the harrowing events of that fateful day. Moving through the re-created festival grounds with real artifacts and evidence on display and to interact with, attendees will witness first-hand footage from the attack and hear powerful, emotional testimonies from festival survivors and bereaved family members who will be onsite daily at the exhibit. Surrounded by the actual artifacts from the festival—charred vehicles, bullet-ridden bathroom stalls, abandoned merchandise stands, and scattered personal belongings left behind in the aftermath—visitors will experience the raw, lingering impact of the attack."
"The exhibition honors more than the tragic events of October 7, 2023, it celebrates the resilient spirit of the Tribe of Nova community in the immediate aftermath of that day, transforming profound loss into purposeful action," it said.
"The Nova community is centered around light, and now more than ever we need to continue to spread that message," said Ofir Amir, Founder and Producer of The Nova Music Festival. "It is important, as part of our core values, that we take care of our community, help lead in the rehabilitation of the Nova survivors, and make our voices heard to the whole world."
"This is not a political statement. It is a reflection of what happened at a festival dedicated to love and peace. It could have happened to you, your son or daughter or friend. Come meet the survivors, meet the bereaved families, and hear about the moment music stood still," said Evan Zelikovitz, Canadian Representative, Nova Exhibition.
The Nova Music Festival Exhibition was created, curated, and directed by Reut Feingold. Since its opening in Tel Aviv in 2024 and runs in New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Miami, the exhibit has attracted over 300,000 visitors, including thousands of students, educators, political, faith-based and community leaders and members like the mayors of New York, Los Angeles and Miami, and the Archbishop of New York. Members of the music, sports and entertainment industry also attended the exhibit including Diplo, SIA, Usher, Jessica Alba, Will Ferrell, Kristen Bell, David Schwimmer and Cindy Crawford, to name only a few.
The exhibit will be held in Toronto at a venue to be announced at a later date, utilizing 60,000+ square feet of space, making it one of the largest exhibitions in Canadian history.