Check out our ongoing and upcoming events and series.
events calendar
Communal Table 2023: Momo Party
Join Tsewang & Lhundup of TC’s Tibetan Momo, for a taste of traditional Tibetan fare. Momos — hearty dumplings of simple dough wrapped around delectable fillings, served steamed or fried with spicy sauce — are probably Tibet’s best known culinary export.
Insects of the Bentway with Anne Purvis
Join us for a Butterfly and Bee exploration walk! This workshop starts out at the Multispecies Lounge at the Bentway Studio, and includes games and activities that sharpen our observations to find the best habitat in the neighbourhood.
Tools For Care with Renelyn Quinicot: August
Join us in a monthly series to experience The Bentway environment as a space where we can gather to pause, ground, reset and drop into our senses together. Each session we will explore different techniques of getting to know ourselves, what we need, and how to nurture this through mindful different activities and movements.
Communal Table 2023: Viva Colombia
Chef Cookie Martinez brings Colombian street food to life at this shared dining experience, featuring a classic dish from Colombia, patacón pisao – green plantain that has been fried and pressed flat, then refried until crisp and served with a range of tasty toppings!
TPL Storytime at the Eco Library Pop-up
Join us for family storytime at the Bentway Studio Eco Library Pop-up! Enjoy stories and songs about nature and being eco-friendly in the city as part of the Bentway’s Beyond Concrete summer season.
The Bentway Block Party (2023)
The Bentway Block Party is back! Join us for our annual signature event with a full program of performances, music, street food and drink, art workshops, summertime vibes, and community celebration. All free, all are welcome.
Communal Table 2023: Mdaamiin Giizis (Corn Moon)
Join Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin (They Feed the People) for a shared meal that originates from the sky, the water, the land and the kitchens of our families. Experimental Photography: Lumen Printing and Phytograms with Julie Pasila and Gallery 44
Inspired by the work of season artist Genesis Báez, workshop participants will create ephemeral images in collaboration with the landscape. Together we’ll explore the environment beneath the Gardiner Expressway and Canoe Landing Park through the use of experimental photographic processes and foraged and found materials.
Goldenrod Foraging and Natural Dyeing Workshop with Julia Rose Sutherland
Join Julia Rose Sutherland in collaboration with The Bentway for an immersive and eco-conscious workshop where we’ll take a unique stroll under the Gardiner Expressway, exploring the urban landscape and foraging for native species of goldenrod.
Communal Table 2023: Trini Liming
Trinidadian cultural ambassador Rhoma Spencer shares the convivial spirit of an island lime — hanging out, drinking, joking and eating together with friends — with this lovely meal of Caribbean favourites.
Communal Table 2023: Filipino Feast
Long-time Depanneur collaborator Maria Polotan shares some of these traditional Filipino favourites incorporating fresh, local ingredients.
on view / ongoing
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Canopy Connections: Community Pop Up with Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre
Join us for this free event in the Moving Forest: Canopy Connections series! Join Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre community members for a vibrant afternoon of activities amongst the tree canopy and gardens, including a scavenger hunt, fitness demonstrations, and steel pans performances. Let’s surround Moving Forest with love and care from our dedicated community and foster…
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Roller Skating with SUSO Skate Co.
June 11 – September 28, 2025. Wednesday-Friday: 4pm-8pm, Saturday-Sunday: 1pm-7pm, Roller Skate Parties: 6pm-10pmOur friends at SUSO Skate Co. are back this summer, making The Bentway Skate Trail the best place to rock and roll! Book your skate rental and time slot ahead of time on the SUSO website, then come on down for good vibes and memorable moments. Whether you’re trying roller skating for the first time…
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Second Shade
toEchoing both the towering structures of downtown skyscrapers and a forest of trees, Mary Mattingly’s Second Shade combines lush greenery and repurposed construction materials to make a unique 20ft tall urban canopy, showcasing the cooling potential of green roofs, soft landscaping, and responsive architecture.
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la sombra que te cobija / the shadow that shelters you
toA geometric pavilion invites you to cross under the Gardiner, casting both a cooling effect and ornate shadow patterns. Edra Soto’s installation references the shade-making façades of working-class Puerto Rican bungalows to create an expansive, sun-filtering threshold, reflecting on the intersection of heat-responsive architecture, place-making, and cultural heritage.
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Casting a Net, Casting a Spell
toArtist duo Celeste’s majestic, quilted canopy casts welcomed shade down to a seating area below, offering relief from the heat and a space for gathering. Like a suncatcher, Casting a Net, Casting a Spell embraces and harnesses the sun, weaving in archetypes that have surrounded the sun since ancient times.
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Declaration of the Understory
toSecwépemc artist Tania Willard approaches the space below the highway as a tree canopy, reminiscent of the “understory” floor of southern Ontario forests, where pockets of shade and sunlight shape unique ecosystems below. In a stunning mixed-media installation, floral motifs, iridescence, and powerful slogans offer a mediation on the power of shade as a lifeforce.
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Bathed in Strange Light
toWorking in collaboration with the sun’s rhythms, Natalie Hunter’s photographs on the windows of The Bentway Studio (facing Canoe Landing Park) explore how ever-shifting sunlight shapes our experience of public spaces. As the sun moves throughout the day, translucent images cast down a colorful, slow-moving cinema.
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Seeing Celsius
toWhat happens when we can see heat? By adding thermal-imaging technology to the familiar viewfinder found at scenic lookout points, LeuWebb Projects enables you to see the temperature differences across The Bentway space and the bodies that move through it. It’s a new perspective that will shift how you view urban spaces and the materials…
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Moving Forest
toA flock of 50 trees in shopping carts playfully travels throughout the city, stopping to create a refreshing shade canopy in usually-sunny spaces. Follow their eight-week journey throughout the city – from The Bentway, to YZD at Downsview, to the Waterfront – enjoying pop-up readings and performances along the way.
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Waterfront ReConnect: Boom Town
On view nowBoom Town employs vibrant colour, playful characters, and environmental lighting to enliven the York Street intersection, improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.
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Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story
On view nowPixel Story references the multitude of vantages, scales, speeds, and distances at which to view the Expressway, enticing passersby to move forward towards the waterfront, or pause to reflect on its diverse stories.
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Bentway Staging Grounds
On view nowBentway Staging Grounds is a site of active, environmental learning that continues The Bentway’s creative work along the Gardiner Expressway. Visitors are invited into a living laboratory for urban ecology, with experimental gardens that use rainwater run-off from the highway above to support the growth of flowering plant species.
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Memory Work
On display May 1, 2022 onwardsSituated at the western entrance to The Bentway, Memory Work is a mural made up of twelve embellished photographic portraits of revolutionary women and non-binary figures from a future Toronto. Initiated by studio From Later with artist Rajni Perera and Memory Work Collective, this speculative monument imagines a city characterized by collective care and politics…