In Bloom: A Flower Market + Workshop
Explore offerings from local growers and take part in a drop-in arranging workshop as West Block blooms into a summer flower market. Guided by the new Step-Up Series mural’s floral imagery and striking colour palette, these sessions connect contemporary practice with cultural traditions and invite visitors into a shared moment of creativity.
A Persistent Crossing
May 9, 2026 to Spring 2027
Bentway Staging Grounds hosts the final chapter of its immersive installations, where human silhouettes, native vegetation, and Ontario pollinators invite visitors to reflect on their place within the city. The work blurs boundaries between people, place, and the natural world, revealing the interconnected rhythms of built and living environments.
Opening – Artist Talk and Neighbourhood Walk
Guided by the exhibiting artists, this tour visits two new artworks shaped by CityPlace’s layered histories and rhythms. Experience the inaugural Step-Up Series mural which threads vivid colour and narrative into the architecture of West Block, and celebrate Staging Ground’s final chapter, evoking our place in a collective urban ecology.
Shared Rhythms: Music at West Block
Gather at West Block for a joyful afternoon of live performances as musicians from Small World Music’s Incubator program create a shared listening space that celebrates community and cultural exchange. Set against Anahita Akhavan’s newly unveiled mural مجلس Majles / Sitting Room, the event invites neighbours to linger, listen, and connect.
Social Fabric: A Community Textile Activation
Drawing on the textile traditions reflected in Anahita Akhavan’s new mural, West Block becomes a place for shared making. Working with SHEEEP Studio, visitors of all ages will assemble textiles throughout the afternoon, gathering colour, pattern, and the gestures of many hands.
مجلس Majles / Sitting Room
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Rooted in archival Persian rug work, the inaugural Step-Up Series commission transforms the West Block staircases and courtyard into a vivid cultural tapestry, one that threads migration, memory, and everyday connection through the local architecture to welcome gathering and mark shared urban space.
Concrete to Canvas: The transformative power of urban murals
Much more than neighbourhood beautification, mural-making projects have the power to transform urban landscapes. Join The Bentway, The Creative Communities Commons (CCC) at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, artists, and urbanists at a free public talk on November 20, exploring new models for “painting the urban landscape”.
SOLAR
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A mesmerizing encounter with light transforms the Gardiner into a glowing horizon. Guided by a robotic arm and synchronized beams, SOLAR performs a spectacle of sunset by merging the sun’s rhythms with digital choreography to create an immersive experience of light and motion.
Petal and Stone
October 2025 through to 2027
A 10,000 square-foot mural project inaugurates the Gardiner Wallworks series, transforming this concrete expanse into a poetic tableau of site memory, native flora, and symbolic passage. Inspired by the architecture and ecological communities bridging The Bentway and Exhibition Place, it offers commuters and residents an evocative new lens on their urban landscape.
A Lake Story
Sep 27 & 28, 2025. Procession at 11am & 4pm
A procession of over one hundred canoes moves in unison across Toronto’s eastern Waterfront on September 27/28, each carrying colour field paintings made with pigments sourced from the lake/shoreline and activated by the wind. A Lake Story will articulate Lake Ontario’s colour story across the sky and water, amplifying the lake’s own voices of vibrancy, ecosystem, and community.
Moving Forest @ The Bentway Skate Trail
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See you under our smaller pop up canopy of 10 trees at the Bentway Skate Trail, from July 20 until the end of our summer season! These 10 trees were part of a flock of 50 trees in shopping carts that travelled throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces.
From Milkweed to Monarchs
Did you know that monarch butterflies migrate 4,800km each year from Canada to Mexico? Join us for this hands-on workshop to learn how milkweed plants help support this journey with presented with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority!
Beautiful Native Plants
Why is it so important to re-plant native plants across Toronto? Come find out at this hands-on workshop with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority!
Art Socials: July 9
In this workshop, you will learn some of the basics of creating miniature foods using polymer clay. Together with instructor Kiana Simmons, participants will mix clay to achieve realistic colours, shape the pieces, and add details using clay and clay tools. You will take home a tiny wooden box of miniature food and the skills to continue exploring polymer clay miniatures at home! All supplies will be provided, and you may even have some extra clay to take home.
Art Socials: June 18
Find out how fun and easy it can be to screen print designs on felt to create your own custom patch and pouch! Erin MacKeen will show you how to print using small frameless screens of illustrations inspired by The Bentway’s Sun/Shade exhibition and share simple techniques for stitching and assembly. You can use what you made to add a little personality to your favourite backpack and finally have a place to keep your headphones (or a secret snack).
Art Socials: August 27
Get ready for an all-ages drawing night centered around making comics. Comic books are a fantastic art form for sharing stories of all kinds. But if you’ve never made a comic before, then where do you start? Join professional comic book artist Josh Rosen as he leads a series of fun, beginner-friendly comics activities. He’ll be sharing tricks of the trade and teaching participants the quick path towards making comics of their own.
Art Socials: August 13
Explore linework and pattern making with this fun and accessible approach to creating prints. In this workshop with local artist Sarah Aranha, you’ll create your own designs by carving custom foam blocks and then apply ink to these forms to print your own set of greeting cards, just in time for the approaching fall season.
Art Socials: August 6
Curious about the world of bookmaking and type? In this workshop with local printmaker Phoebe Todd-Parish, you’ll ink and letterpress print your own alphabet from antique wood type on a line-o-scribe press—a midcentury sign press! While your print dries, cut out letters from previously printed alphabets to assemble your banner and share your message with the world to display wherever you please.
Art Socials: July 30
Find out how fun and easy it can be to screen print designs on felt to create your own custom patch and pouch! Erin MacKeen will show you how to print using small frameless screens of illustrations inspired by The Bentway’s Sun/Shade exhibition and share simple techniques for stitching and assembly. You can use what you made to add a little personality to your favourite backpack and finally have a place to keep your headphones (or a secret snack).
Art Socials: July 23
The gateway of visual art mediums, collage is as individual as it is accessible. This whimsical workshop led by local collective Collage Grad encourages free-expression and experimentation using a curated selection of rare and vintage print media. Curiosity and playfulness are the only prerequisites as you learn to cut, paste, and curate different materials.
Art Socials: July 16
Explore linework and pattern making with this fun and accessible approach to creating prints. In this workshop with local artist Sarah Aranha, you’ll create your own designs by carving custom foam blocks and then apply ink to these forms to print your own set of greeting cards, just in time for the approaching fall season.
Art Socials: July 2
Get ready for an all-ages drawing night full of games and activities. Characters are the heart of any story. They’re also one of the most fun things a person can draw! But what goes into making characters that really stand out? Join professional comic book artist Josh Rosen as he shares character design techniques used in comics and animation, and engage in fun drawing exercises based around inventing characters of your own.
Art Socials: June 25
The gateway of visual art mediums, collage is as individual as it is accessible. This whimsical workshop led by local collective Collage Grad encourages free-expression and experimentation using a curated selection of rare and vintage print media. Curiosity and playfulness are the only prerequisites as you learn to cut, paste, and curate different materials..
Art Socials: June 11
In this workshop, you will learn some of the basics of creating miniature foods using polymer clay. Together with instructor Kiana Simmons, participants will mix clay to achieve realistic colours, shape the pieces, and add details using clay and clay tools. You will take home a tiny wooden box of miniature food and the skills to continue exploring polymer clay miniatures at home! All supplies will be provided, and you may even have some extra clay to take home.