BaTo Festival 2026 - A Place to Breathe

Presented by BaTo Cultural Organization

BaTo Cultural Organization is a Richmond Hill-based non-profit dedicated to celebrating diversity through arts, music, and community engagement. Through festivals, performances, and educational programming, BaTo creates opportunities for artists and audiences to connect across cultures while preserving and sharing artistic traditions.

A Place to Breathe

A Place to Breathe is an intimate live experience of storytelling, music, sound, and reflection; an interdisciplinary collaboration featuring Raha Etemadi, Ehsan Motouri, and Greg Ellis.

This is not a traditional concert. It is a shared space for pause, listening, release, and reconnection, a place where audiences can step away from the noise and pressures of everyday life and reconnect with memory, grief, hope, and the simple act of breathing.

The inspiration for this project comes from the ancient qanats of Iran, hidden underground channels that carry water and life from the depths of the earth to the surface. Here, the qanat becomes a metaphor for the unseen pathways that connect us through memory, struggle, love, hope, and breath.

In A Place to Breathe, Raha Etemadi’s storytelling intertwines with the music of Ehsan Motouri and the healing, evocative percussion of Greg Ellis, creating a deeply human and contemplative atmosphere.

It is an invitation to listen, to feel, and to breathe together.

*Please Note: All tickets are final sale and non-refundable. Thank you for your understanding and support of arts and cultural programming