Layers of Rush Lane 2018
On August 5, Toronto joined us for the third annual party in the city’s famed #GraffitiAlley. Layers of Rush Lane 2018 was a free, pop-up street party in the laneway south of Queen St W, in between Portland and Augusta, complete with beer, wine, music, art, giant games, and more. The event was co-hosted with the Queen West BIA.
View more photos from the event.
2017 Laneway Crawl Series
The 2017 Laneway Crawl Series included a number of local events and one big Laneway Bash (think music, beer, performances, food, graffiti, friends and laneway lovers from across Toronto)!
June 24, 2pm-6pm - Karma Coop Birthday Crawl, Karma Lane
August 6, 2pm-8pm - Layers of Rush Lane: A Party in Graffiti Alley, Rush Lane
September 9 - nookFEST, Danforth and Woodbine
Toronto Laneway Spring Clean-up
On April 22-23 we hosted the first ever Laneway Spring Clean-up. We provided 7 communities with everything they needed to clean up their laneways, including paint and brushes, garbage and recycling bags, and even coffee.
2016 Laneway Crawl Series
In Summer 2016 The Laneway Project worked with local communities to bring the Laneway Crawl Series to five different Toronto neighbourhoods.
September 25, 1pm to 5pm - Christie Crawlfest (Christie Pits), with the David Suzuki Foundation's Homegrown Park Crawl, the Friends of Christie Pits's Art Crawl and Bells on Bloor bike parade
August 28, 1pm to 5pm - Danforth East Laneway Crawl
July 16, 2pm to 6pm - Reggae Lane Crawl and Mural Unveiling (Little Jamaica), with an unveiling of the second Reggae Lane mural by artist Adrian Hayles
June 18, 3 to 9 pm - Summer Solstice Laneway Crawl (The Junction), with the Junction BIA's
June 11, 12 to 4 pm - Bloordale Laneway Crawl, with the Bloordale CIA's Community Garage Sale
the (lane)way forward
On November 30th, we held the third annual Laneway Summit and Exhibit will bring together designers, planners, artists, decision-makers and laneway lovers from across the city to imagine ways of unlocking the potential of these overlooked public spaces.
The Discussion was moderated by Annabel Vaughan, Project Manager at ERA Architects and principal of publicLAB, five panelists will discuss:
Opportunities and challenges to improving Toronto’s laneways
What needs to change to realize the potential of our laneways
Who and what we need to create a stronger laneway movement in Toronto
Panelists:
Jake Tobin Garrett, Manager, Policy and Research, Park People
Jessica Myers, Executive Director, Junction BIA
Jonathan Morrice, Community Safety and Social Media Officer, 55 Division, Toronto Police Service
Mark van Elsberg, Project Manager, Pedestrian Projects, Public Realm Section, Transportation Services, City of Toronto
Monica Wickeler, Laneway Mural Artist
LANEWAY CONFESSIONS 2015
On November 26, 2015 we held our second annual Laneway Summit at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Five laneway leaders shared their experiences with laneway transformation.
Thanks again to our sponsors and supporters: The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Murgatroid (food) and the Downtown Yonge BIA.
View the Presentations:
Christine Liber, Kenwood Laneway Art Initiative | Laneway street art in St Clair West
Roberto Garcia, Ecoquartier Rosemont-La Petite Patrie | Laneway greening in Montreal
Howard Tam, ThinkFresh Group | Micro-retail in the new Mirvish Village
Jo Flatt, Evergreen | Laneway Housing on UofT Campus
Al Smith & George Millbrandt, St Lawrence Market BIA | Expanding the Public Realm in St. Lawrence
THE BLOORDALE LANEWAY CRAWL
On Sunday, September 27 2015, from 2-6 pm, The Laneway Project partnered with the Bloordale BIA, the Bloor Improvement Group and the Bloordale CIA to transform Bloordale’s laneways into positive, safe and fun spaces for the whole neighbourhood to enjoy!
See our Bloordale Laneway Crawl photo gallery.
The event featured three components:
1. Fun, participative, pop-up activities on the properties beside the laneways (things like art workshops, music jams, pickup sports and more)
2. A garage mural program, in partnership with the STEPS Initiative, that saw artists painting beautiful murals on local garage doors
3. A laneway route that connected it all together
We were very excited to collaborate with Toronto School of Art and JR's Inside Out Project which happened simultaneously - just across the street. JR, a world renowned street artist from Paris, wheat pasted his famous portraits onto the community tennis court. The event took place at the south-west corner of Bloor and Dufferin.
EVENT ACTIVITIES
Inside Out project with JR and the Toronto School of Art
Live garage mural painting with artists from the STEPS Initiative
Dance demonstrations and workshops with Walker Dance Studios
Paper mural painting and flower-making with recycled materials with the Andrew Cash campaign
Funk, disco and deep house music with the Jay City Gritty Committee
Soundscape music with Matt Maaskant
Laneway texture rubbings and collage-making with Shape My City
Live mural painting and an artist talk with Richard Mongiat
Sandwiches and other cafe bites with Haven North
Food truck (TBD) at 615 Brock
All-ages drum circle with Ripple Rhythm
Laneway info zone and soccer challenges with The Laneway Project
Dental cavity checks for kids with Dr. Christine Magalhaes
Pay-What-You-Can haircuts with the Queen's Shoppe
Face painting and treats for kids with Councillor Ana Bailão
Welcome to Bloordale station with Lianne Mauladin
Book swap with the Bloor Improvement Group
Face painting with Maggie Godoy
Kite-making with 18 Blocks
Folk music with Borders
Canning swap with Leah Boucher
Click here for more photos.
TORONTO’S FIRST SUMMIT ON LANEWAYS
On November 20th The Laneway Project hosted Toronto’s First Summit on Laneways. Moderated by CBC’s Mary Wiens, 5 speakers gave short presentations on the potential of our city’s laneways.
Phil Bliss, BrightLane [ Presentation ]
Brandon Donnelly, TAS Design Build [ Presentation ]
Mark Garner, Downtown Yonge BIA [ Presentation ]
Dylan Reid, Walk Toronto and Spacing [ Laneways as Shared Spaces Blog Post ]
Victoria Taylor, Landscape Architect and Jonas Spring, Ecoman [ Presentation ]
More than 350 planners, designers, policy makers, artists, community organizers and laneway lovers from across the City attended the Summit to discuss:
Laneways as a shared street — a space where walkers, cyclists and cars all share the same space and work around each other.
Greening laneways and converting them into functioning landscapes
Transforming laneways into safe, vibrant, community spaces
Laneway housing and the potential for affordable low-rise residential development
The challenges and opportunities related to using laneways as thoroughfares and programmable spaces