The Jamii Hub

The Jamii Hub Jamii is an arts organization based in the Esplanade, Toronto. Arts org committed to enhancing social cohesion within The Esplanade & beyond.

Our vision is to enhance togetherness within the communities we engage through creative experiences, arts events and workshops with, for and by the people of the Esplanade and beyond! Recipient of the 2020 Community Arts Award by Toronto Arts Foundation

09/14/2026

Since 2018, Jamii has been travelling to Pikangikum, an Indigenous community in Northern Ontario, where we met visual artist Darwin Peters.

Three of Darwin’s original paintings are available for purchase at The Jamii Hub.

Bring home an original artwork while supporting an Indigenous artist and his practice.

View the paintings and purchase yours through Jamii’s website. Link in bio.

Our LAINI Girls’ Movie Night brings girls ages 6 to 11 together at The Jamii Hub every month! It is an evening filled wi...
09/11/2026

Our LAINI Girls’ Movie Night brings girls ages 6 to 11 together at The Jamii Hub every month!
 
It is an evening filled with imagination, music, pizza, popcorn, and shared moments in a warm and welcoming space led and supervised by Jamii staff.
 
Through LAINI, these movie nights create space for girls to relax, connect, and enjoy time together through stories that centre courage, family, friendship, and creativity.
 
LAINI Girls’ Movie Nights is a free drop-off series at The Jamii Hub, part of Jamii’s ongoing work to support connection, creativity, and belonging for girls in our community.

Register your daughter to join us for the next movie night on Friday, September 25, 2026. We are watching Song of the Sea together!
 
For more details click the link in bio! Registration is required. Capacity is limited. Participants must register for each session individually if attending multiple dates.

09/09/2026

What happens when 19 girls from downtown Toronto leave the city behind for five days?

LAINI LAND is Jamii’s annual arts and leadership camp for girls and young women from The Esplanade. For five days, phones and everyday routines are left behind for tents, forests, rivers, art, music, shared meals, new responsibilities, and time together.

Some girls are camping for the first time. Some are returning for another summer. Together, they learn from the land, try things that feel unfamiliar, solve problems, make art, build friendships, and experience what it means to contribute to a community.

This year, music, swimming, dancing, gardening, campfires, and plenty of laughter filled the week. But some of the most meaningful parts were quieter: curiosity, conversations, listening, slowing down, and simply having space to be kids.

This is LAINI LAND. 💛

Want to be part of a permanent public artwork in Old Town Toronto?This September, we’re opening our community mosaic pro...
09/04/2026

Want to be part of a permanent public artwork in Old Town Toronto?

This September, we’re opening our community mosaic project to all ages, giving new participants the chance to contribute directly to three mosaic-covered tables that will remain outside 262 The Esplanade.

Created with Alex Ganassini of Alex Ganassini, the three designs explore Toronto before European colonization, industrial Toronto, and Toronto today, with the Don River flowing through all three artworks as a connection between past and present.

The designs are complete and production is underway. Now you can add your hands to the final artwork.

WHEN |
Thursdays, September 3, 10, 17
Wednesday, September 23
Thursdays, October 1, 8
TIME | 10am to 2pm
WHERE | The Jamii Hub, 264 The Esplanade

No mosaic experience needed. All materials provided.

Registration is required for new participants.

Children under 12 must attend with a parent or caregiver.

Photos by Alex Ganassini

LAINI LAND would not be what it is without the people who build it together every summer. 💛For five years, Jamii and Bec...
09/02/2026

LAINI LAND would not be what it is without the people who build it together every summer. 💛

For five years, Jamii and Becoming Praxis becoming.community have collaborated to create a camping experience where girls and young women from The Esplanade can spend time on the land, make art, take on new responsibilities, build friendships, and experience a different pace outside downtown Toronto.

At the heart of that collaboration are Isorine Marc .marc and Ayelen Liberona, who co-led LAINI LAND 2026 and have helped shape the program into what it has become over the years.

This summer, they were joined by Afnan Yakot Afnan.Y , who coordinated the project and supported the many pieces that make five days of camp possible, and Nairobi-based musician Liboi LIBOI , visiting through Jamii’s Baraza program, who brought music, drumming, and singing into the week.

Thank you Isorine, Ayelen, Afnan, and Liboi for the care, leadership, creativity, patience, laughter, and energy you brought to LAINI LAND.

And thank you to Becoming Praxis for five years of collaboration with Jamii and for helping us create a place where these girls can keep returning, growing, creating, and making memories together. 💛

LAINI LAND turned 5 this summer. 💛 This year, 19 girls and young women from The Esplanade spent five days together at Fa...
08/31/2026

LAINI LAND turned 5 this summer. 💛
 
This year, 19 girls and young women from The Esplanade spent five days together at Farming Futures Co-op, in partnership with Becoming Praxis.
 
LAINI LAND gives girls space outside their everyday routines to try new things, spend time in nature, take responsibility, make decisions, create art, and build deeper friendships with people they are growing up alongside.
 
Over five days, they slept in tents, shared meals and camp responsibilities, swam in the river, tried archery, made art, spent time with the cows, and joined music workshops led by Nairobi-based musician Liboi through Jamii’s Baraza program.
 
Some moments were big. Others were as simple as witnessing what care looks like in nature, as many of the girls saw a baby cow drinking milk from its mother, something they had never witnessed before.
 
That is part of why we keep coming back to the land each summer. For girls growing up in downtown Toronto, LAINI LAND offers a different pace and a chance to learn from being surrounded by forests, fields, animals, rivers, and each other. It creates time for curiosity, independence, friendship, and shared memories that can stay with them long after the tents come down.

LAINI LAND is open to girls and young women of The Esplanade who participate in or volunteer with Jamii through the LAINI program.
 
Special thanks to Berkeley Castle, Optic Zone, and our private donors for helping us keep this experience free for LAINI participants. 💛

08/28/2026

Follow the impulse. Sing without thinking.
 
This September, Natalie Fasheh Natalie نتالي leads ImPulse, a four-part singing workshop series. Come play with rhythm, voice, and creative freedom in a welcoming group space. Free to attend, with limited spots available. Registrations open on August 10.
 
WHEN | Tuesday, September 8, Monday, September 14, 21, and 28 from 7 PM to 8:30 PM
WHERE | The Jamii Hub (264 The Esplanade)
FACILITATOR | Natalie Fasheh
 
Free to attend.
 
If you’re able, help us reach $15,000 by December 15 with a $15 donation that supports free, community-rooted arts programs. Link in bio.
 
Jamii’s September Cycle is sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council Toronto Arts Council, TD Ready Commitment, Rama Gaming House Rama Gaming House, and Charitable Gaming Charitable Gaming. Community Good..
 

08/26/2026

You heard us describe WAYO Children’s Festival as unique, interactive, magical, full of story, surprise, and community. Now, hear it from the people who experienced it!

We asked participants to describe WAYO in their own words, and honestly, their answers were chef’s kiss 🤌

From children following a maze-like path through two historic buildings, to families experiencing live performances, music, movement, storytelling, and interactive art together, WAYO 2026 became something truly special.

Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts with us, and to every child, family, artist, volunteer, partner, and neighbour who made this record-breaking year possible!

WAYO will return in 2027. Subscribe to Jamii’s e-newsletter so you don’t miss the announcement.

2026 Artists: Jonelle Sills, Heidi Chan, Aline Morales, Michael Mortley, Caitlin Morris-Cornfield, Waleed Abdulhamid Rudy Ray Kwaku, Nickeshia Garrick, Ali Macdonald, Liboi

WAYO Children’s Festival is presented in partnership with Canadian Stage and Berkeley Castle Investments, and is funded by Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, Toronto Arts Council, Metcalf Foundation, Rama Gaming House, and Charitable Gaming

Jamii is 15! 🎉 Let us take you back to 2015, Jamii’s 5th year, when David Crombie Park was transformed into a full-on......
08/20/2026

Jamii is 15! 🎉

Let us take you back to 2015, Jamii’s 5th year, when David Crombie Park was transformed into a full-on... ✨Queendom✨

This was Jamii x Corpus magic at its finest!

Inspired by a show about two queens going on a camping trip, Camping Royale by Carolin Lindner, a theatrical production that has since toured the world and was also presented on Market St. last year in July, we reimagined the story right here on The Esplanade and something truly unforgettable was born: Queens of The Esplanade.

👑 18 girls and women from the community stepped into their power as Queens
⛺ Designed their own characters, stories… and dresses made from camping tents!

With Carolin Lindner, choreographer Kaitlin Torrance Kaitlin Torrance , and costume designer Margot Mercier, we created a wildly imaginative, site-specific performance that took over David Crombie Park during Nuit Blanche 2015 nuitblancheto.

And because no Queendom is complete without its orchestra… 12 more community members joined as Maestros!

Together, they transformed the park into a magical, whimsical, larger-than-life theatrical world. This project was pure imagination. Bold, joyful, a little bit wild—and deeply rooted in community.

Shoutout to all our incredible Queens and Maestros who brought this vision to life - you made history! Amanda, Aleina, Betsy, Cyesha, Dulce, Hiba, Helena, Hodan Ibrahim, Hodan, Georgia, Genevive, Keisha, Linda, Lula, Marah, Melody, Ribqah, Yasmin, Clarke, Dan, Danielle, Darren, Kai, Marcos, Markus, Maysam, Pauline, Raecheal, Robert, Scarlett and professional artists Ashima Suri, Ryan G Hinds, Takako Segawa, David Danzon, Indrit Kasapi!

This is what happens when a community dares to dream big ✨

Jamii’s 15th year anniversary posts will be continued! Stay tuned!

08/19/2026

WAYO Children’s Festival 2026 made history!
 
This year, 1,057 attendees joined us for The Mudlark’s Mother, making this our biggest WAYO Children’s Festival yet.
 
For five days, families moved through The Esplanade’s past, following a story carried by music, movement, storytelling, interactive art, and the energy of 11 incredible artists. Across Berkeley Castle and Berkeley Theatre, the neighbourhood became a place of memory, imagination, and shared wonder.
 
A big thank you to Berkeley Castle and Canadian Stage Canadian Stage for opening their doors for another year of WAYO Children’s Festival, and for helping us welcome families through two historic buildings in the neighbourhood.
 
Thank you to all the artists, the WAYO Festival Team, and our wonderful volunteers for bringing so much care, creativity, and energy to every part of the festival.
 
This record-breaking edition was made possible with the support of Canadian Heritage Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council Toronto Arts Council, Rama Gaming House Rama Gaming House, Charitable Gaming Charitable Gaming. Community Good. and Metcalf Foundation Booster Fund Metcalf Foundation.
 
WAYO will return next year. Subscribe to our e-newsletter to be the first to know when WAYO 2027 is announced! Link in bio.

Video and edit by Iris Unlu Işın Iris Unlu

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Toronto, ON

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

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