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.
Daylight Saving Skate
Daylight saving steals an hour of sleep, and we’re giving it back the best way we know how: on the ice! On our final day at the skate trail, we’re inviting neighbours to reset their internal clocks together with complimentary coffee and an extra hour of skating –pajamas encouraged!
Howl’oween (2025)
It’s the ulti-mutt fall celebration: Howl’oween at The Bentway, presented with Ren’s Pets! Gather the family, two-legged and four, for our spook-tacular costume contest. Enjoy prizes, music, local vendors, and cozy fall treats on this festive afternoon full of laughter, wagging tails, and Halloween fun for pups and their people!
Documentary Screening: A Lake Story
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After the on-water performance, gather at Harbourfront Centre’s Concert Stage during Nuit Blanche for a celebration of A Lake Story. Enjoy a documentary chronicling the project’s creative journey, see the wind-activated colour field paintings up close, and honour the community partners, paddlers, and artists who brought this story to life.
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.
Cool Spots: Remapping a Hotter Toronto
Public submissions collected July to September, 2025
Discover and share the places that keep you cool in Toronto! From shaded underpasses to breezy green spaces, your submissions will help shape a growing community map of urban relief and resilience.
Nibwaakaawin: The Balance of Warmth and Coolness
Friday, July 25, 6:00pm-10:00pm; Saturday, July 26, 1:00pm-4:00pm
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!
Casting a Net, Casting a Spell Art Workshop with Celeste
Meet artists María Fernanda Camarena and Gabriel Rosas Alemán, who together form the Mexico City-based duo Celeste, for an afternoon of art activities! Inspired by their installation Casting a Net, Casting a Spell – a large-scale quilted canopy evocative of a suncatcher – come explore the power of the sun through family-friendly creative exercises.
Canopy Connections: Sunset Concert with The Taylor Academy
Students from The Taylor Academy – Canada’s leading classical music training program – share their music. Enjoy their showstopping virtuosity under the cover of the Moving Forest canopy and enjoy a beautiful sunset that will sweep you into the weekend.
Canopy Connections: Sunset Concert with The Taylor Academy
Students from The Taylor Academy – Canada’s leading classical music training program – share their music. Enjoy their showstopping virtuosity under the cover of the Moving Forest canopy and enjoy a beautiful sunset that will sweep you into the weekend.
Canopy Connections: Sunset Concert with The Taylor Academy
Students from The Taylor Academy – Canada’s leading classical music training program – share their music. Enjoy their showstopping virtuosity under the cover of the Moving Forest canopy and enjoy a beautiful sunset that will sweep you into the weekend.
Sun/Shade Curators’ Tours
May 24 & 25, 2:00pm-3:30pm. June 19, July 17, August 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm.
Go behind the scenes of our Sun/Shade outdoor art exhibition by joining a curators’ tour with The Bentway’s Programming team. Learn about the inspiration behind the season, the creation of each artwork, and how they fit together. Sun/Shade explores new ways of collaborating with the sun, as well as the importance of shade, in our urban spaces.
Sun/Shade Opening Night Party
Get ready to feel the heat at the summer’s coolest party! Join The Bentway, Fashion Art Toronto, and Canada’s Drag Race’s Jada Shada Hudson under the Gardiner for a Sunglasses at Night fashion show, celebrating the opening of The Bentway’s latest outdoor art exhibition. Runway shy? Come dance, mingle, and enjoy the show!
Canopy Connections: Doors Open at YZD Experience Centre
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Meet us for a tour at the YZD Experience Centre and catch shade under the Moving Forest canopy along route to learn more about the project and significance for our public spaces.
Canopy Connections: Weekends at YZD
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What could be hiding in the tree canopy? Join artist collective, The Buck Teeth Girls Club to explore what ecosystems can exist as a byproduct of the shade, from the tops of the trees to down below the ground. Tracing shadows of the moving forest onto paper and pavement, come and draw in the spaces all that exists in relation to the trees!
Free Hot Chocolate Mondays
January 6, 13, 20, 27, February 3, 10
Partner EventReady For It – a Taylor Swift-themed event
Partner EventSephora x Amy Harper: Makeup Master Class
To celebrate Beauty at The Bentway, inspired by Clean and Planet Aware at Sephora, Sephora Canada will host a FREE Clean Makeup Masterclass on Sunday, September 15th, led by Amy Harper, Sephora Pro Makeup Artist and National Beauty Educator.