On May 27th & 28th, 2022, The Bentway’s season kicked-off with The Street Summit, a two-day event hosted at The Bentway’s Strachan Gate that challenged traditional understandings of city streets and asked how we can create a more inclusive, equitable, and joyful public realm.
Equal parts conference, workshop, artistic intervention, and celebration, this free public event assembled local and international neighbours, urbanists, designers, researchers, city-builders, and artists alike to collectively explore familiar arteries and their potential for broader social, cultural, and political transformations.
Panels, presentations, and performances featured guests including: “Hip Hop Architect” Michael Ford; the Commissioner of Chicago Department of Transportation, Gia Biagi; a creative partnership with New York-based WXY Studio; Dane Gardener-Williams; Hayden King; Susan Blight; Adam Nicklin of PUBLIC WORK; a panel discussion on the renewal of our city’s streets presented in partnership with Doors Open Toronto; and a social event on Friday night featuring a hip hop/breaking battle with MC Switch B.
Interactive and drop-in workshops for participants of all ages included a pop-up exhibition of Myseum of Toronto’s 36 Questions That Lead to Loving Toronto; an exploration of the various flavours of street food across the city led by Tasha Shea and Howard Tam; a participatory roundtable focused on community care and mutual aid, led by Chemi Lhamo and Miru Yogarajah; a facilitated conversation on the subtle language of queer sexuality in urban ecologies guided by The Bentway Public Space Fellow Jess Misak and artist Maximilian Suillerot Wilke; and a workshop that unravels the processes and tools that define street and place-names, led by Bespoke Collective and The Bentway Public Space Fellow, Faizaan Khan.
ASL interpretation was provided by Toronto Sign Language Interpreter Service.
Photos by Shane Parent
collaborators
supporters
Frontier, Flash, BDP Quadrangle, Dialog, the City of Toronto, ArtworxTO, Murray Twohig, Diamond Schmitt, Lemay.
