About us
Toronto

Located in the heart of the city, the Goethe-Institut Toronto is the meeting point and partner for anyone who is interested in contemporary German art and culture as well as the German language. In 2022, together with the institutes in Montréal and Ottawa, we celebrated our 60th anniversary in Canada.

We offer online language courses and in person examinations for beginners and those with more advanced levels of German. In our fully-equipped, multimedia library, not only do we provide an understanding of the German language, we also place an emphasis on contemporary German culture. Everyone has free access to our Media Lounge, our Library, and is invited to a number of our cultural events.

For those outside of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, we offer special online courses as well as examinations centres with our partners in Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Worldwide, the Goethe-Instituts’ language-learning system is modeled after the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for language acquisition. We also connect adults and youth with courses at our institutions in Germany.

A high quality of standards and topicality in our teaching methods are important to us. As a result, we offer a variety of extensive workshops, teacher training seminars and stipendiums for Canadian teachers of German as a foreign language at schools and universities in five provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Along with the cultural program of the Educational Services, we inspire students to learn German, especially at our partner schools.

Through a spectrum of cultural events, the Goethe-Institut has been leading continuous dialogue and cultural exchanges between German and Canadian artists over more than 60 years, presenting German culture abroad and providing a contemporary look at the country. We work together with artists and experts in film, new media, visual arts, theatre, dance, music, literature, architecture and the environment. In addition to our work for and with German artists and authors, we also organize special tours to Germany for Canadians.

Most of our events take place at our Goethe-Institut Community Space, however, special events such as “Goethe Films” or “Goethe at TIFA” happen at our Canadian partners' venue spaces.

© Goethe-Insitut Toronto/ Calvin Thomas The Media Lounge at the Goethe-Institut Toronto is not just a library but a dynamic space open to everyone. It blends traditional library resources with diverse audio-visual tools and other media. This space serves as a resource hub for German language learning and teaching, as well as offering up-to-date information on social, political, and cultural life in Germany.

Our Media Lounge is equipped with iPads, magazines, a smartboard, and various other media. We host various workshops and events, making it a vibrant community space. Access to our media collection, which focuses on special themes such as German art, architecture, and film, is completely free of charge.

Members of our Onleihe (eLibrary), even if they are not located in Toronto, are able to borrow eBooks and other electronic documents.

The work of the Goethe-Institut Toronto is integrated into the North American region with seven US Goethe-Instituts in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington (regional head office), together with its three Canadian institutes in Montréal, Ottawa and Toronto as well as in Mexico City and a liaison office in Havana.

The Goethe-Institut is the official cultural institution of the Republic of Germany. With 158 institutes in 98 countries, we share information about German culture and language with Canadians. In 2022, the “Goethe-Institut e.V.” celebrated its 70th anniversary. The Canadian institutes were founded in 1962.