The Bentway
250 Fort York Boulevard M5V 3K9 Toronto, ON, Canada

Join us on Tuesday, December 1 at noon for a virtual conversation with Jane Hall of Assemble Studio, Darnel Harris of the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, Amowi Phillips of the Mmofra Foundation and Romel Pascual of CicLAvia. The Bentway’s second online talk will focus on the ways in which stewardship and governance impact experiences of safety. Participants will showcase a diverse set of public spaces and governance models in case studies that explain their approaches t...o participatory planning, community investment, resource allocation and representation. Free to attend. Registration is required. Register here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com//stewardship-governance-

In this week’s Steward’s piece, we connect with Taboo Health founder, Maria Cheung, and collaborators, Chieng Luphuyong and Fran Quintero Rawlings, to understand the roles of art, co-creation, and continued learning in creating physically, mentally, and culturally safe spaces. Read the piece here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com//stewards-facilitating-h... #safeinpublicspace

Taking inspiration from mail distribution systems, Winnie Truong’s animation reveals the paralleled complexity in seed dispersion among local urban flora, touching on two essential connections she has had during the pandemic: sending real tangible mail to friends and family as a way of keeping tactile connection, and seeking meditative respite among the nature of local parks. Catch Winnie’s animation, the third and final projection from The Essential Series beginning this Wednesday, November 18 through to Saturday, November 21 from 6-9pm at Canada Post’s South-Central Letter Processing Plant. More information on the project here: https://www.thebentway.ca/e/the-essentials-winnie-truong-2/

Join Nadha Hassen, PhD candidate and Vanier Scholar at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University, via audio tour as she explores public space in the city through a public health lens. Put on your headphones and follow the stops along her route, or read along with the transcript here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com/content/tour-2

Tonight is the last night to catch the final projection from The Essential series. If you’re in the area, stop by Canada Post’s South-Central Letter Processing Plant from 6-9PM to see Interchanges by Winnie Truong. Dress warm and don’t forget your mask! For those who don’t live close by and want to watch from a distance, check out Winnie’s animation on our site: ... https://www.thebentway.ca/eve/the-essentials-winnie-truong/ Photo by Jack Landau.

In this week’s #SafeinPublicSpace Snapshot, we highlight the different ways movements can engage in protest and why public space acts as the ideal platform.

New Monuments for New Cities was a 2019 collaboration between five members of the High Line Network, who each invited five local artists to create proposals for new monuments for a 21st-century city. A year later, New Monuments for New Cities still reflects the ongoing social and political circumstances of this moment by confronting controversial public monuments and the safety risks they pose. Read about the project here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com//new-monuments-fo...r-new-c #SafeinPublicSpace

In July, The Bentway issued a call for Public Space Fellows to support the Safe in Public Space initiative. The Fellowship program aims to broaden the public space field to amplify marginalized perspectives, allowing The Bentway to learn from the next generation of diverse leaders that will steward the future of public space, ensuring resiliency, inclusion and equitable access. The Fellows, Gelila Mekonnen and Nahomi Amberber, will use their three-month fellowship to interrogate the meaning of public safety during a global pandemic and heightened focus on anti-Black racism. Get to know them, as they get to know each other, in this first conversation: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com/content/meet-the-fellows

Ebti Nabag’s photos of the week examine monuments in Toronto that have historically contributed to the oppression of BIPOC communities within Canada and the artful responses of protesters who demand they be taken down. Take a look at her photo essay here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com/ebti-nabag #SafeinPublicSpace

This week we reconnect with Monument Lab co-founders Paul Farber and Ken Lum to explore the need to engage Othered voices in reimagining symbols and systems of representation in public space. Read the new #SafeinPublicSpace Stewards piece here: https://www.safeinpublicspace.com//stewards-paul-farber-an

Join us on Monday, November 2 at noon for a conversation with Immony Men of Public Visualization Studio, Syrus Marcus Ware (Artist), Ravyn Wngz (Activist) and Justine Abigail Yu (Living Hyphen). Contributors will reflect on their works’ exploration of the concept of visibility and hypervisibility in public space, the importance of documenting and displaying the lived experiences of BIPOC individuals, and how the notion of ‘proof’ is relevant to validating and legitimizing e...xperiences in public spaces. Free to attend. Registration is required. Register here: https://safeinpublicspace.squarespace.com/talks/nov-2

This Saturday Nov 14 from 10AM-2PM, bring your new, gently used and previously loved winter clothing to our amphitheater in support of Project Comfort!

Graffiti has been used to express the voice of city residents outside of traditional exhibition spaces. While street art contributing to the Black Lives Matter movement has been viewed by some as vandalism, it allows communities to reclaim their narratives and be heard. As part of her weekly photo essay, Ebti captures the silent work that has had an enormous visual impact on the movement. Take a look at her photos here: ... https://www.safeinpublicspace.com/ebti-nabag

As monuments and place names are confronted, there is an opportunity to reflect shifting values by reimagining the symbols we use to signal whose legacies and presence we choose to protect in the public realm. In this week’s #SafeinPublicSpace Snapshot, we highlight some recent efforts to take stock of and reimagine existing monuments, alongside approaches to introduce completely new forms of symbols in public spaces. Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3eQvGUr

Many thanks to Talia Ricci for visiting last week! Visit The Bentway before November 11 to see works by Syrus Marcus Ware and Public Visualization Studio. For more, visit safeinpublicspace.com.

In this week's #SafeinPublicSpace photo essay entry, Ebti Nabag explores how ideas of safety are being communicated and conveyed in Trinity Bellwoods park. Find out more & view the other images submitted to date, right here: https://safeinpublicspace.com/ebti-nabag

Interchanges by Winnie Truong, the third and final projection in The Essentials series curated by The Bentway as part of BigArtTO, starts tonight! If you live in the local neighbourhood, swing by Canada Post’s South-Central Letter Processing Plant tonight through Saturday from 6-9pm. Don’t forget your mask! For those who don’t live close by and want to watch from a distance, check out Winnie’s animation on our site: https://www.thebentway.ca/eve/the-essentials-winnie-truong/

Our friends at Waterfront Toronto want your input on the future of #Quayside! Weigh in on the future of the waterfront community by providing your feedback. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/quaysidesurvey

In our inaugural Stewards piece, we take a deep dive into unpacking & unlearning colonial relationships to the land, as well as their implications for public safety, with Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook (Evergreen/Future Cities Canada). Read it below! #SafeInPublicSpace

Mohawk architect Matthew Hickey argues that designing safer public spaces starts with broadening our definition of inclusivity. Read the feature he wrote for our #SafeInPublicSpace initiative, co-published with Azure Magazine, now! https://www.safeinpublicspace.com//inclusivity-through-dec

Beginning this Wednesday October 21st at 7pm, Alvin Luong will illuminate the outside of the Donald D. Summerville Olympic Pool for four nights, as the second participating artist in #TheEssentials project. Learn more about his work & the project here: https://bit.ly/3dv2SjZ RSVP on Facebook: The Essentials | Alvin Luong #bigartTO #showloveTO #thebentway

In times of uncertainty, what do we deem essential for our urban future? On October 21st, join us for a virtual panel discussion highlighting the work of the artists and the organizers behind The Essentials project. Featuring panelists Erika DeFreitas (Artist); Alvin Luong (Artist) and Joe Sellors (Project Lead, ShowLoveTO + ArtworxTO, City of Toronto), and moderated by Ilana Altman (The Bentway's Co-Executive Director). RSVP here! https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-essentials-art-and-urban-re

Today, we launch #SafeinPublicSpace - a deep, critical exploration of safety & equity in public spaces. Join us at www.safeinpublicspace.com as creators, artists, activists & researchers work together to develop practices & strategies to ensure safe public spaces for all. In our first feature essay, co-published with Azure Magazine, Mohawk architect Matthew Hickey makes the case for universal inclusivity.

Join us for a virtual panel discussion with the artists & organizers of The Essentials project to learn about their creation process, the challenges of producing work in the public realm during the pandemic & art’s own essential role in our urban recovery. Panelists will include Erika DeFreitas (Artist); Alvin Luong (Artist) and Joe Sellors (Project Lead, ShowLoveTO + ArtworxTO, City of Toronto), and will be moderated by The Bentway's Co-Executive Director, Ilana Altman. See... you there! #BigArtTO #ShowLoveTO

ICYMI: Watch Erika DeFreitas' a composition for an elegy to what once was and all that remains; or, a score for the past, the present, the future tenses (2020). As the first projection in a series of three entitled The Essentials, DeFreitas' work was projected on the west side of the Canada Malting Co. silos last week. Watch the piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0zcBcGT9i0 Learn more about Erika and her work here: https://www.thebentway.ca/e/the-essentials-erika-defreitas/ #BigArtTO #ShowLoveTO #TheEssentials