Check out our ongoing and upcoming events and series.
events calendar
Greening Your Grounds: Gardening for Birds, Butterflies and Beyond
Helping the environment starts in your balconies, backyard, and public spaces! Learn how to attract and protect native pollinators, such as Monarch butterflies and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Plus: learn how to start native wildflowers from seed in hand-decorated paper pots.
Tools For Care with Renelyn Quinicot: September
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: Tunisia Le Douce
Cousins Zeyneb Rejeb and Fatima Khlifi bonded in Toronto over their shared love of traditional Tunisian food, and are excited to share this traditionally-prepared couscous, a labour-intensive, time-consuming dish often reserved for special occasions and big family gatherings.
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.
Communal Table 2023: Mskomini Giizis (Raspberry 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.
Dance in Public Space Residency Showcase
Join our Dance in Public Space Artists-in-Residence for an evening of participatory presentations where they will share insights and inspirations gained through their summer of onsite research at The Bentway. Together, the artists and visitors will explore new possibilities for dance and movement in public spaces and beyond.
Communal Table 2023: Autumn Equinox Feast
Join Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin (They Feed the People) on September 14, in anticipation of the Autumn Equinox, for a specially curated feast that originates from the sky, the water, the land and the kitchens of our families.
City Sketching with Julie Ourceau
During this workshop you will learn to develop your sense of observation to depict a bit of everything that surrounds you in your sketchbook, this could include nature, buildings, people, market scenes, architectural details.
Staging Grounds Public Opening
Be the first to see Bentway Staging Grounds, a temporary public space under the Gardiner Expressway at the public opening on September 18!
Loop Sessions Toronto: Bentway Sound Art Jam
Join us for a site-specific walk where you’ll learn to make field recordings and use vinyl records to create new soundscapes with Loop Sessions Toronto.
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The Aliens of Manila
A companion to his installation at The Bentway, Leeroy New’s The Aliens of Manila is a set of sculptural costumes made from locally-sourced discarded plastics. At first glance eye-catching and whimsical, the Aliens call attention to experiences of overseas Filipino workers as an essential, yet invisible workforce across the globe.
Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan Showcase
Join us for a walking tour and presentation of the Under Gardiner Public Realm Plan on September 26, as we explore how the spaces under the Expressway can better serve Toronto.
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…