Did you know that the Naturescapes Ribbon Cutting ceremony was featured in
The North York Mirror?

If you didn’t get the chance celebrate with us on June 27th at Earl Bales Park, you can read up on the festivities here.

J oin us on September 17th for our next public unveiling at East Don Parkland. Invitations will be sent out closer to the date!

Naturescapes is a signature project of the Cultural Hotspot initiative and Animating Toronto Parks,produced by Art Starts in partnership with the City of Toronto. Additional support was received from Councillor James Pasternak, Councillor Jon Burnside, The Toronto Region and Conservation Authority and StART.  

 For the past nine years, Art Starts has been collaborating with the residents of the Villaways community in the Leslie & Sheppard neighbourhood to animate their community space - lovingly known as The Rec - with engaging arts programming. In this time, we’ve worked on a lot of cool arts projects - larger than life portraits wheat–pasted onto the sides of townhouses, mosaic installations, go-karts, neighbourhood dioramas and hip-hop CDs to name a few.

On July 20th we said goodbye to arts programming in The Rec as we knew it. 61 residents came out to celebrate this legacy with a community BBQ and performance under the guidance of lead artist Krystle Chance.

Villaways is one of several revitalization projects that Toronto Community Housing is undertaking and, as a result, residents there are being relocated across North York and Scarborough while a new mixed income neighborhood is being built. Art Starts has been supporting residents through this difficult transition through the Up & Rooted project, where we are continuing to gather residents in a series of arts-based reunions during this period of displacement. The goal is to keep these community connections alive throughout the transition. We’ll miss programming at The Rec but are excited for the opportunity to continue collaborating on arts projects with Villaways residents through Up & Rooted.

Have a sneak peak at the Farewell BBQ and performance in this video created by our fabulous summer students, Elena Hudgins Lyle and Shahaab Sheikh.

We are grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for funding the Up & Rooted project. 

This summer, we had the pleasure of working with two awesome students!
As Event Documentation Associates, Elena Hudgins-Lyle and Shahaab Sheikh 
brought their high-energy and creative spirits to Art Starts. They did an incredible job visiting programs, interviewing participants, founders and Program Managers. They went through piles of Art Starts archives, pictures and videos, created PSAs and commercials, and captured the Villaways Farewell BBQ and performance all on film!

A huge thanks to Elena and Shahaab for their amazing dedication and hard work. We wish you continued success and hope that you have left Art Starts with as much inspiration as you brought to us!

Click here to watch Elena and Shahaab’s “About Me” video.

Special Thanks to Julian Carvajal (Special Projects Coordinator) and Carol Clarke (Fundraising Coordinator) for their mentorship and management of the EDAs.  

Thanks also to Employment and Social Development Canada / Government of Canada from whom we received funding support to make these positions possible.