Sip and Scholar<\/a> get a unique experience to learn an interesting topic, taught by an expert in the field, while nursing a complimentary drink.<\/p>\nAttendees will be welcomed with their choice of wine, beer or mocktail once seated, before the 45-minute presentation begins.<\/p>\n
These presentations can range from space, to hip-hop, to the most recent theme Now Toronto attended on May 13, which was psychedelics.<\/p>\n
Founder Raghu Balasa told Now Toronto at the event that he stumbled upon the idea during a trip in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came across a similar concept and I was like, \u2018Wow, this is really interesting. It\u2019s too bad Toronto doesn\u2019t have anything,\u2019 and that too bad, turned into, \u2018Well, why don\u2019t I do something to actually launch it?\u2019\u201d Balasa said.<\/p>\n
A year later, Balasa was seeing his almost bi-weekly events sell out in a matter of a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur first lecture was in a bar just off of Dundas Street West that had 18 people,\u201d he explained. \u201cI had to bring my own equipment because the bar didn\u2019t have anything and now we\u2019re in venues that can host up to about 120 people, always sold out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balasa added that he\u2019s seen the event grow very quickly, with people from all walks of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve grown a really strong community,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026one thing in common is they\u2019re just intellectually curious, and they want to meet other people in the city that are intellectually curious without having that stigma of, \u2018Can I go to a bar alone? Do I know enough about that topic?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said attendees tend to become really engaged with the lecture and with the topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime there\u2019s an opportunity to speak to people, educate people, I always jump at it,\u201d said Ronan Levy, the guest lecturer on Wednesday. \u201cThe reaction was great. It\u2019s a topic that a lot of people are curious about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levy said there\u2019s an importance to continue to learn through life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world is changing so rapidly. When I was younger, we used to just go out and get wasted at bars, and that was our social experience,\u201d he said. \u201cAnytime someone\u2019s doing something new or innovative or interesting, where you\u2019re pairing old fashioned in person connection with people with novel experiences, whether it\u2019s educational or otherwise, I think it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levy noted aspects about psychedelics that are typically not spoken about, like how they can cause improvements in mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders among others. The forty-five minute lecture was packed with educational information on the topic, allowing those in the audience to dive deeper into the world of psychedelic paraphernalia.<\/p>\n
Lecture attendees Jackson and Jessie were spending a date night at the event. They said it\u2019s something they\u2019ve checked out in the past, and felt it was worth it to attend again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love learning, and it\u2019s just a fun way to make it like a date night and learn something new,\u201d Jessie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cool environment, a cool way to learn that isn\u2019t in a classroom,\u201d Jackson added.<\/p>\n
Another guest, Tameka, treated herself to the event, explaining she\u2019s always had a passion to learn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not in school anymore, so I just feel like it\u2019s a great opportunity for me to immerse myself into something different,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really great to immerse yourself into different sectors of life, things that you\u2019re not typically introduced to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balasa is still a one-man show as he continues to host Sip and Scholar. He said he is hoping to recruit more help in the future as the event continues to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually do have some interesting collabs, some that are still under wraps, but we\u2019re going to be releasing them within the next couple of weeks,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also working with a few local Toronto venues to create more unique experiences with them. More to come. We got a lot more exciting stuff to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What to know Toronto event series Sip and Scholar is turning nights out into \u201csmart nights,\u201d offering attendees…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4950,1656,3988,48],"class_list":["post-49713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-bar","tag-event","tag-things-to-do","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}