STEPS Public Art

10/05/2026

🎉 We invite you to join our end-of-season celebration of From Weeds We Grow! Register now for an event you won’t want to miss! All ages welcome!

Join Lindsey Lickers, James Carpenter (Greycloud), Raiden (Adrien Levesque) and Andrea Josic for a gathering in the community! 🎵

📆 Saturday, October 17, 2026
⏰ 1 - 4 PM ET
📍Rowntree Mills Park, Picnic Area 1 and Parkland

We invite participants to reflect, celebrate community, and strengthen their relationships to the land and one another through a traditional opening, offerings from the land, teachings, and more!

👉👉 Sign up now to reserve your spot https://end-of-season-celebration-october.eventbrite.ca

📸 Selina McCallum

From Weeds We Grow 2026 is funded in part and supported by the Toronto Arts Council, funded by the City of Toronto, the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario, the Bulmash-Siegel Foundation, RBC and the Rexdale Community Hub.

10/01/2026

💫 This National Seniors Day, we’re celebrating the creativity, knowledge, and leadership that seniors bring to our communities through our latest initiative, Tales from the River.

🌊 This past summer, along the Humber River in Weston, we hosted a series of senior-coordinated workshops that created opportunities for seniors to lead, create, connect, and share their experiences with their community.

🎨 From greeting card collage-making (as seen in the video facilitated by Sabrina Chu) and poetry writing to nature-based activities, each workshop demonstrated the meaningful role seniors can play in shaping vibrant and connected communities https://youtu.be/dZKZPZ6tAgY

By creating spaces for seniors to share their skills, stories, and creativity, Tales from the River helped foster social connection, strengthen a sense of belonging, and ensure that seniors’ voices and contributions remain visible in our shared public spaces.

👀 Keep an eye out for more senior-coordinated events to come!

🎥 Tone Bailey

Tales from the River is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. We would also like to acknowledge funding and partnership support from RBC, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario and Crossroads Theatre.

Tales from the River offered a series of senior-coordinated worksho...

09/30/2026

🧡 We honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and invite you to reflect on the role we can each play in supporting meaningful learning, respect, and reconciliation.

🌿 This Summer, STEPS celebrated with Lindsey Lickers, Mushkiiki Nibi Kwe, Raiden (Adrien Levesque), and James Carpenter (Greycloud) through our programming From Weeds We Grow and our new initiative Tales from the River.

As seen in this video of the To***co Teaching and Medicine Bag Making Workshop, participants engaged in storytelling, teachings, and hands-on activities while learning more about the significance of to***co bundles and offerings within Indigenous practices https://youtu.be/k6Aj_t93cn8

These experiences remind us of the importance of creating space for Indigenous knowledge, voices, and ways of knowing within our communities.

Reconciliation is an ongoing responsibility. We encourage you to continue learning and reflect on how you can work towards reconciliation in your own life and create your own personal reconciliation plan.

🎥 Tone Bailey

In honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day, STEPS celebrated with...

09/10/2026

✨ Exciting news! Our public art projects with the City of Airdrie have been nominated for a Creative City Impact Award! So proud to celebrate this work! 🎉

09/10/2026

💫 Art can transform the way we see even the most familiar places!

If you’ve wandered through Winnipeg’s Historic Exchange District, you may have spotted two striking photographic artworks by local artist and 2026 STEPS Public Art Resident, Bret Parenteau.

Untitled and Timely, two large-scale vinyl installations, bring Parenteau’s photography into the public realm on the Artspace Building, home to project partner PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts.

As Parenteau describes the works: “Subtle, colourless familiarity. Placed, stuck in time, open for interpretation. Everyday memory redesigned and reimagined.”

💭 The works invite passersby to pause, reflect, and see familiar surroundings from a new perspective.

Images courtesy of the artist.

The 2026 STEPS Public Art Residency is made possible by support from TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.

08/26/2026

💭 Do you ever wonder how municipalities develop a cultural plan?

🌿 Our recent Fieldnotes Blog. “Cultural Planning 101: Reshaping communities one ‘step’ at a time” outlines the ‘steps’ our team takes to develop meaningful engagement processes with our latest partnerships, such as the Town of Oakville and the Town of Midland.

🎤 From the planning level to the consultation process, we spoke with our Cultural Planning Manager Sam Mitjavile and our Cultural Planning Consultant Parm Johal to discuss the best practices and the different realities of communities across Canada.

At STEPS, we believe in the importance of funding research that can help us better serve communities. Justine Bochenek, our Public Art Research Fellow, also shares their insights on how accessibility can be integrated into municipal planning.

👉 Check out the blog here: https://stepspublicart.org/cultural-planning-101/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thoughtleadership

📸 Tone Bailey

08/24/2026

🌱 Have you walked through Church and Wellesley recently?

🏳️‍🌈 In our most recent Fieldnotes blog, “12 Art Installations to Visit at Church-Wellesley”, we invite you to take a walk and explore the public art downtown (with our downloadable map)!

You can expect to see:

✨March of the Dragon by Jieun Kim
✨Pin Button Pride by William Craddock
✨Kiss and Tell by Natalie Wood
✨Intersections by Meera Sethi
✨LGBTQ+ History & Community by John Kuna and Christiano de Araujo
✨The Dandelions: Q***r and Trans* Performers in the Wind by Nadijah Robertson and Elicser
✨Lupus Inter Homo by Rocky Lawrence Green
✨Unknown by Rocky Lawrence Green
✨The Bathhouse Raids by Troy Brooks and Christiano de Araujo
✨ELLA by Red Dress Productions
✨Love makes community by Alex Flores

👉 Have a read and download the map here: https://stepspublicart.org/12-art-installations-to-visit-at-church-wellesley//?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thoughtleadership

08/20/2026

🎉 We invite you to join us this weekend for our end-of-season celebration of From Weeds We Grow! 🎶Join Lindsey Lickers, James Carpenter (Greycloud), Raiden (Adrien Levesque) and Andrea Josic as we invite participants to gather in community through spoken word poetry, teachings, ceremony and song! Sign up here: https://stepspublicart.org/events//?utm_source=sponsored&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=opps

🎉 From Weeds We Grow invites you to our end-of-season celebration! All are welcome to join!

From Weeds We Grow is a community art program that seeks to examine and strengthen the Rexdale community’s bond with nature and the environment.

Join Lindsey Lickers, James Carpenter (Greycloud), Raiden (Adrien Levesque) and Andrea Josic to gather in community through spoken word poetry, teachings, ceremony, and song! 🎶

📆 Sunday, August 23, 2026
⏰ 1 - 4 PM ET
📍Rowntree Mills Park

A traditional opening, offerings for the land, teachings, and songs will be featured at this event. We invite participants to reflect, celebrate community, and strengthen their relationships to the land and one another.

From Weeds We Grow 2026 is funded in part and supported by the Toronto Arts Council funded by the City of Toronto, the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario, the Bulmash-Siegel Foundation, RBC and the Rexdale Community Hub.

👉 Register now to reserve your spot at https://from-weeds-we-grow-August-23--workshop.eventbrite.ca

📸 Shot By Selina McCallum

08/11/2026

☀️ If you find yourself visiting Eglinton Way, you might notice vibrant, eye-catching sculptures along your journey!

Each sculpture showcases the local community and culture of Eglinton, while offering an accessible art exhibit that aligns with The Eglinton Way BIA’s vision of bringing liveliness to the area! These unique public art sculptures encourage visitors to engage with unique main street districts and patronize local businesses.

The sculptures you can find when you visit are:

🖌️ Gathering by Mark Puigmarti
🖌️ EG by Austin Emery
🖌️ All I Have by Soheyl Bastami
🖌️ The Key to Peace Vahid Misaghi
🖌️ Heart & Sole by Paul Slipper
🖌️ Fetch! By W.W. Hung
🖌️ The Butterfly Effect by Kyle Thornley
🖌️ A Tangential View of Eg West by Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky
🖌️Being Here by Ted Fullerton
🖌️ Exploring the Heart by Quentin VerCetty

This project was in partnership with The Eglinton Way BIA, the Government of Canada, and the City of Toronto.

💡 Have you visited yet? Let us know in the comments below!

The Eglinton Way BIA partnered with STEPS Public Arts to invest in ...

07/30/2026

📣 We are excited to announce that the Town of Midland has partnered with STEPS Public Art to update its Municipal Cultural Plan!

🌱 This new Municipal Cultural Plan will help grow the Town of Midland's cultural scene to reflect its culture, heritage, and history while responding to current realities and future opportunities.

📆 This survey will be available from July 30 to August 31 and will present a series of questions and multiple-choice answers surrounding your experiences and suggestions for the Town of Midland. Complete the survey through this link: midland.ca/engage

🌟 Your voice is essential as we work to understand how we can strengthen Midland’s cultural future and reflect the ideas, interests, and desires of residents in the plan.

📸 Images provided by the Town of Midland

Visit midland.ca/engage for the most up-to-date schedule of community engagement activities, locations, and participation opportunities.