Arts-oriented spirits brand Absolut will make its mark at the Art Gallery of Ontario this fall as its official vodka partner.

The brand will topline the monthly “art party” at the Toronto gallery, becoming the first spirits brand to partner with the event. First Thursdays take place, logically, on the first Thursday of every month and target “young cosmopolitans” in the 20-to-35 age range.

The sponsorship will see an Absolut branded bar in the museum’s atrium beside the night market as well as three integrated activations. The brand had already been a sponsor at the museum’s annual April bash – “Massive Party,” which typically attracts about 1,900 people.

The move to sponsor the series was the next logical step for the museum’s relationship with Absolut, says John Hoolahan, marketing manager, experiential at Corby Pernod Ricard, which distributes the Swedish vodka brand in Canadian markets. “[This partnership] makes a lot of sense given our shared vision around creativity and the arts. We wanted to ensure that we are building culturally relevant partnerships and the AGO really makes a lot of sense.”

Absolut has developed its marketing strategy around maintaining its relevance in the daily lives of millennials, says Hoolahan. “They are a younger community with whom art clearly resonates. We’re continuing our support of the arts and trying to assist the AGO in sending the elevator back down in order to specifically offer some grass roots community support.”

In 2014 the brand launched MakerFest, a campaign aimed at Canada’s maker community and included 27 experiential art events. In 2016 the brand will unveil a revised arts platform under the banner Absolut Nights, and will incorporate three activations (currently being planned) for that platform during some of the First Thursday evening events in 2016.

First Thursdays is in its third year has a capacity for 2,500 people. Organizers say the museum sells about 2,400 tickets on average per event. Programming for the first of its events this year is built alongside the theme of its closing exhibition, “Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Teirra del Fuego to the Arctic.”

The monthly event’s official beer partner is Grolsch Premium Lager.